You will go with these men and so I bid you farewell."
Four barefooted soldiers took Ned down through the dirty and
evil-smelling streets of the city. He wondered where they were going,
but he would not ask. They came presently to the sea and Ned saw before
him, about a half mile away, a somber and massive pile rising upon a
rocky islet. He knew that it was the great and ancient Castle of San
Juan de Ulua. In the night, with only the moon's rays falling upon its
walls, it looked massive and forbidding beyond all description. That
cold shiver again appeared at the roots of the boy's hair. He knew now
the meaning of all this talk of Santa Anna and Cos about their
hospitality. He was to be buried in the gloomiest fortress of the New
World. It was a fate that might well make one so young shudder many
times. But he said not a word in protest. He got silently into a boat
with the soldiers, and they were rowed to the rocky islet on which stood
the huge castle.
Not much time was wasted on Ned. He was taken before the governor, his
name and age were registered, and then two of the prison guards, one
going before and the other behind, led him down a narrow and steep
stairway. It reminded him of his descent into the pyramid, but here the
air seemed damper.
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