"None at all; but the pillage of the convoy would entail considerable loss on some of my countrymen."
"There's no fear of that; a powerful but hidden protection is extended over the convoy. An extraordinary courier, that left town this morning, has seen it put into a place of safety. The chief muleteer will wait for the conclusion of events; and the escort has been intrusted to the command of a brave and faithful man. Why, I take as lively an interest in it as yourself."
"And for what reason?" I asked, astonished.
"Because we do not wish a crime to sully the glory of this coming revolution. And, besides, I am to be the commander of the escort of the conducta."
I could hardly explain the heat with which the lieutenant spoke of a piece of business that seemed to offer no apparent advantage to him. But, without asking any more questions, I contented myself by telling him of the project that I had entertained of joining the conducta. Don Blas received this news at first very coldly; then, seeing me determined in my resolution, he pretended that it would be no bad thing to have me for a companion on the road. Unfortunately, it was impossible yet to fix a day for our departure; and many dangers, although Don Blas perhaps exaggerated them, menaced the precious convoy.
Twenty-four hours after our arrival in the town, it was rumored that Generals Santa Anna and Valencia were advancing at the head of two divisions, to obtain redress of those grievances which they affirmed they had suffered under Bustamente's government. Events now succeeded each other with startling rapidity. A few skirmishes, and those not of an unimportant nature, had already taken place between the government troops and the factious, who had advanced to invest the Plaza Mayor, and had raised a barricade at the corner of the streets San Augustin and Secunda Monterilla. It was learned afterward, to the general consternation, that the garrison in the palace, corrupted by the rebels, had seized the person of the president even in the palace itself. While this conflict was raging I heard nothing of Don Blas, but on the morning of the day that followed these events, some blows, violently struck on the lodge gate of my house, awoke me with a start. A few minutes after, the lieutenant entered my chamber in a pretty plight. A long beard, disordered hair, and a face begrimed with the smoke of gunpowder, proved, or at least seemed to prove, that he had taken an active part in the engagements of yesterday. I congratulated him on his warlike appearance. Don Blas received my praises with the air of a man who knows his own merit, and informed me, with a certain air of importance, that he had come to occupy the terrace of my house with a body of his men, as it commanded the palace square.
"I have chosen your house without even asking your permission," said he to me, "because it is in the neighborhood of the presidential palace, and also to show you how a captain's rank is gained. I hope that you will follow me to the terrace, where my company is already stationed."
"I shall assist at your triumph with much pleasure," I said; "and, if you will allow me to dress, I shall be very happy to take my place near you; only I must keep out of the way of the balls, as I have not the least honor to gain. But you are still in the infantry, I see."
"I have very good reasons for making no change as yet," replied the lieutenant, with some slight hesitation. "In a hubbub like this, a horseman is too much exposed—he is quite useless, I mean; and, besides, how the devil have I the means of purchasing a horse?"