a mere passenger. His father
had sent him out as a kind of honorary supercargo, or ship's clerk, in
the hope that he might learn something which would be of use to him when
he should grow up into a full-sized merchant. Perhaps he had already
found out a number of things upon which his father had not calculated
when he said good-by to him. He was about to learn some other things
which were not upon the ship's books, for he had reached the heel of the
bowsprit, where Senor Zuroaga was standing, gazing dreamily westward.

"Good morning, senor!" said Ned. "We did get away."

"I don't know how good a morning it is for me," replied the dark-faced
Mexican, wearily. "I may have only three or four days to wait before I
shall know whether or not I am to be shot at Vera Cruz by order of his
Excellency, President Paredes. My best chance is that he cannot know
that I am coming. After I get ashore, my life may very soon depend upon
his being beaten out of power by the armies of the United States."

"It couldn't be so in any other country," said Ned. "What have you ever
done against him?"

"I won't say just now," replied the senor, "but he knows that I am his
enemy. So I am of Santa Anna, if he is to get back. He murdered my
father and confiscated our property in Oaxaca. Do you know where that
is?"

"No," said Ned; "I don't know anything about the States of Mexico. It's
hard enough to keep track of the United States. They make a new one
every few weeks. They may have let in half a dozen while we've been at
sea."

"No," said Zuroaga, "but they've tightened their grip on Texas, and I
hope they'll hold on hard, if only to keep Paredes and Santa Anna from
murdering all the best men in it. Well, Oaxaca lies due south of the
State of Vera Cruz, and I can escape into it if I have half a chance.
I'd be safe then, for I have plenty of friends there. We have owned huge
tracts of land in Oaxaca ever since the Spaniards conquered Mexico."

"How did your folks get so much of it?" inquired Ned.

"I'll tell you," said the senor, proudly, and with a fiery flash in his
coal-black eyes. "A man by the name of Hernando Cortes really conquered
Mexico, without much help from the King of Spain. The king made a great
deal of him for it, at first. He made him a marquis, which was a great
thing in those days, whatever it is now. He also gave him a royal grant
of some of the land he had won for Spain. This land was the valley of
the Tehuantepec River,