ich arose from thousands of soldiers, for there was no
longer any need for silence or secrecy. That part of the Mexican army
which had been posted beyond the head of the pass was taken utterly by
surprise. Its commanders were for the moment unable to imagine whence
had come this numerous body of United States infantry, which appeared so
suddenly upon their unprotected flank. They therefore retreated, and the
Mexican army was cut in two, so that all of it which had been stationed
in the pass itself was caught as in a trap, and compelled to surrender.
These trapped prisoners were about three thousand in number, and Ned
kindly remarked concerning them:

"Oh, but ain't I glad we didn't have to kill 'em! We didn't catch old
Santa Anna himself, though. They say the Mexicans made him President for
the battle of Angostura. I guess they wouldn't have done it if they had
waited till now."

Whether or not he was correct in that calculation, the road to the city
of Mexico seemed now to be open, unless the unfortunate republic could
provide its President with another army. As for the American commander,
his troops had more faith in him than ever, and with better reasons for
it. It was afterward said that General Scott's written orders for the
battle of Cerro Gordo, and for others which followed, would answer very
well for full reports of them after they were won.

The whole American army, except the garrison of Vera Cruz and small
parties posted here and there along the road, had now escaped from the
_tierra caliente_ and the yellow fever. Immediately after the battle of
Cerro Gordo, it marched on to the old city of Jalapa, among the
mountains, where its quarters were cool and comfortable. Not many miles
beyond Jalapa begins the great central tableland of Anahuac, and it was
needful that the road leading into it should be taken possession of
before the remnant of Santa Anna's army should rally and construct
barriers at positions from which it might prove difficult to drive them.

"If they do," thought Ned, when he heard that matter under discussion by
the soldiers, "I hope General Scott'll send for me and the other
engineers. I'd like to trap some more prisoners."

He was not to have any such chance as that, but he was not to be idle
altogether,--he and his engineers and his army. The division to which he
and the Seventh Regiment belonged, under the command of General Worth,
was shortly ordered on in the advance, to take and hol