"
Almonte flushed, but he bowed and said nothing. Cos turned again to Ned.
"You will bear no message to the Texans," he said. "I think that instead
you will stay a long time in this hospitable Mexico of ours."
Ned paled a little. The words were full of menace, and he knew that they
came straight from the cruel heart of Cos. But his pride would not
permit him to reply.
"You will be kept under close guard," said the General. "I will give
that duty to the men of Tlascala. They are infantry and to-morrow you
march on foot with them. Colonel Almonte, you did well to take the
prisoner, but you need trouble yourself no longer about him."
Two men of the Tlascalan company were summoned and they took Ned with
them. The name "Tlascala" had appealed to Ned at first. It was the brave
Tlascalan mountaineers who had helped Cortez and who had made possible
his conquest of the great Mexican empire. But these were not the
Tlascalans of that day. They were a mongrel breed, short, dirty and
barefooted. He ate of the food they gave him, said nothing, and lay down
on his serape to seek sleep. Almonte came to him there.
"I feared this," he said. "I would have saved you from General Cos had I
been able."
"I know it," said Ned warmly, "and I want to thank you, Colonel
Almonte.
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