He
smiled down at Ned, and Ned, despite himself, smiled back.
"I know you," said he, speaking perfect English. "You are Edward Fulton,
the lad who was held in the prison with Stephen Austin, the Texan, the
lad who starved himself that he might slip between the bars of his
window. There was much talk at the capital about it, and you were not
without admirers. You showed so much courage and resource that you
deserved to escape, but we could not let you go."
"I got lost and I was without food."
"Rather serious obstacles. They have held many a boy and man. But since
I know so much about you and you know nothing about me I will tell you
who I am. My name is Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, and I am a colonel in the
service of Mexico and of our great Santa Anna. I was educated in that
United States of yours, Texan, though you call yourself. That is why I
speak the English that you hear. I have friends, too, among your
people."
"Well, Colonel Almonte," said Ned, "since I had to be recaptured, I'm
glad I fell into your hands."
"I wish I could keep you in them," he said, "but I am under the command
of General Cos, and I have to rejoin the main force which he leads."
Ned understood. Cos was a man of another type.
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