as possible from flying
shot and shell. It was not, they appeared to think, at all likely that
any wicked gringo gunner would take aim at that kitchen.

As for Ned, he had only come in to go out again, for keeping indoors,
with all that cannonading going on, was altogether out of the question.

CHAPTER XVI.

GENERAL SCOTT AND HIS ARMY

"There they come! They are going to march right in! But what I want,
most of all, is to see the general himself. There he is!"

Telescope in hand, Ned Crawford was standing on the parapet, near one of
the southerly gates of Vera Cruz, watching the triumphant entrance of
the American army. He could hardly have told whether he was more glad to
see them come, or because the siege and the bombardment were over. He
was already familiar with the various troops of Mexico, and he knew that
some of them, but not many, could perform their military evolutions in
pretty good style. The one thing which struck him most forcibly now,
however, as his glass was aimed here and there over the approaching
columns and lines, was that at no point was there a flaw or a defect in
the orderly movements of the American soldiers. With admirable drill
and under perfect management, they swung forward across the broad level
between their earthwork batteries and the badly shattered wall of the
captured city. Compared with them, the garrison which had surrendered
was, for the greater part, only a little better than an ill-provided,
half-armed, undisciplined mob. Wealth, arms, civilization, scientific
generalship, had all been on the side of the great republic of the
North, and there had been no doubt, from the beginning, as to what the
result must be. The one important seaport of Mexico, with all its
foreign commerce, was now under the control of the United States, and
could not be taken from them.

Ned saw one of the advancing lines melt beautifully into the shape of a
long column, and file through the gate near him. Then followed a section
of field artillery and a small detachment of cavalry. All these were to
be admired, of course, but his eyes watched them only for a moment, for
just behind the horsemen came an exceedingly brilliant cavalcade, in
front of which rode the remarkable man whom Ned was most anxious to see.

Beyond a doubt, General Winfield Scott had many severe critics and not a
few personal enemies. By these, he was said to be arrogant, blunt in
manners, opinionated, and also a military