"That is true, but come, have you any new plan."
Before answering, the general walked round the room, and opened all the doors to make certain that nobody was listening.
"Yes," he at length said, returning to don Jaime.
"Yes, my friend, I have a plan, for I wish to have an end to this once for all, I shall either succumb, or my enemies will be crushed for ever."
"Heaven grant you success, General."
"My victory of yesterday has given me back courage, if not hope; and I mean to attempt a decisive stroke. I have nothing at present to take into consideration; I mean to risk everything for everything, and fortune may again smile on me."
They then approached a table, on which was stretched out an immense map of the Mexican Confederation, with pins stuck into it at a great number of points.
The President continued:—"Don Benito Juárez, from his capital of Veracruz, has ordered the concentration of his troops, and their immediate march on Mexico, where we are shut in, the only point of the territory we still hold; alas! Here is General Ortega's corps composed of 11,000 veteran troops, it is coming from the interior, that is to say, from Guadalajara, picking up on its passage all the small detachments scattered over the country. Amondia and Gazza are coming from Jalapa, bringing with them nearly 6000 regulars, and flanked on the right and left by the guerillas of Cuéllar, Carvajal, and don Felipe Neri Irzabal."
"As for the last, General, you need not trouble yourself about him further: he is dead."
"Granted, but his band still exists."