"The President cannot be insulted in my presence," said Cos ominously.
"He is only a boy, General," said Almonte appealingly.
"Boys can do mischief," said Cos, "and this seems to be an unusually cunning and wicked one. You are zealous, Colonel Almonte, I will give you that much credit, but you do not hate the Gringos enough."
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."