"Come with me," she said. "There is a man up in Senora Tassara's room
who wishes to see you."

"O Senor Carfora!" whispered Felicia. "Don't say a word! I know who it
is. Go right along. He is an old friend of yours."

Up jumped Ned, and he and the senorita followed Senora Paez eagerly.
Half a minute later, he felt as if he had never been so astonished
before in all his life, for his hand was heartily grasped, and the voice
of General Zuroaga said to him:

"Here I am, Senor Carfora. How are you?"

"Oh, but I'm glad to see you!" exclaimed Ned. "I'm all right, but isn't
it awfully dangerous for you to be here?"

"It would be, if some men knew it," replied Zuroaga, "or if I were
unwise enough to remain too long. The fact is that I can give you only a
few minutes, anyhow, this evening. I must be out of the city before
daylight, if I can, but I will return at the end of a week or so. Then I
shall take you with me to the valley of the Tehuantepec. You must see
all that region. After that I shall have a tour to make on political
affairs, through several States, and you will have a chance to see two
thirds of the republic before winter."

"That is just what my father would wish me to do," said Ned, and he
proceeded to tell the general the contents of his letters and all the
news he had heard from Captain Kemp.

"Very good!" said Zuroaga, at last. "I would have been glad to have seen
the captain. He is a rough sort of fellow, but he can be depended on. It
is evident that your father's firm trusts him, but I believe they do not
know exactly all that he has been doing. He is quite willing to make a
few dollars for himself while he is working for others."

The general was in good spirits, but more than once he spoke of the
necessity he was under of keeping out of the reach of his old enemies,
and among these he appeared to consider the absent Santa Anna even more
dangerous, in the long run, than President Paredes himself. Senora
Tassara had now joined them, but she seemed disposed to be silent, and
most of the conversation was in the hands of Senora Paez. It was
noticeable that she appeared to have a remarkably good knowledge of the
politics of her country. Perhaps, if Ned had been a few years older and
the least bit of a politician, he might have suspected the truth, that
she was one of the most subtle plotters in the whole country. If she was
also a deadly enemy of President Paredes, it was because she was a
sister of a