t he drew a long breath and stood as straight
as a ramrod, looking very red indeed. In three minutes more he was
brought face to face with the commander-in-chief of the armies of the
United States, and he felt as if he had been surrounded and compelled to
surrender. Captain Hamilton reported the matter in the fewest words
possible, but all the while the general had been watching Ned, looking
right through him, and in a moment Ned found himself feeling perfectly
easy. If General Scott had been his uncle, he could not have spoken to
him in a kinder or more carelessly familiar way. He questioned him about
all his experiences, and an acute listener might have gathered that he
paid more attention to Ned's political information than to anything of
a strictly military nature.

"Hamilton," he slowly remarked, at last, "General Taylor did an
exceedingly good thing for us down here, after all. The battle of Buena
Vista was our own battle. Santa Anna will not be able to raise another
army like the one that was so roughly handled up there. If it had been
here, in good shape, we would have had ten times as much trouble in
taking Vera Cruz. Santa Anna's power is already half broken."

"Perhaps a little more," suggested Hamilton.

"Perhaps," said the general, "but our patriotic young friend here has
made a valuable report. Ah, McClellan! You and Beauregard are to make
the inspection of the castle with Captain Lee. Take Crawford back to
Grant, as you go. He may serve with the Seventh as an unenlisted man.
Let him have his orders, Hamilton. He is a brave fellow."

Out went Ned with a pair of as yet undistinguished officers, both of
whom were to be heard of again in after time, and it did not occur to
the very much elated "scout," as he now considered himself, to correct
General Scott's apparent idea that Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant was a
particular friend and guardian of his.

"Now, if this isn't bully!" he thought. "I've been on the Mexican side
all the while till now. I've been kind of part of the garrison of Vera
Cruz, but I've been praised by General Scott, for all that. I wonder
what our folks at home would say to it!"

It was a grand thing to think of, and Ned felt as proud as if he had
been promoted for storming an enemy's entrenchments.

There was another experience of an entirely unexpected character just
before him, however. Hardly had McClellan and Beauregard turned him over
to Grant, and while the latter was inspectin