THE STARS AND STRIPES IN TENOCHTITLAN
“What a roar it is! And so very near! I hope General Scott will not bombard this city, as he did Vera Cruz. It would be awful to see bombshells falling among these crowds of people!”
The American commander had not the slightest idea of doing anything of the kind, but there had been almost continuous fighting in the days following the termination of the armistice. Perhaps the hardest of it had been at Molino del Rey, and the defences there had been carried by the assailants. There appeared now to be but the one barrier of the Chapultepec hill between them and a final victory.
A hand was on Ned’s shoulder, and a trembling voice said to him:
“Oh, Señor Carfora! Where have you been? I’m so frightened! Are those cannon coming right on into the city?”
“No,” said Ned, “but I have been out all day. I went almost everywhere, and it seems as if the city were full of wounded men. The soldiers are crowding in. Oh, how I wish I knew how things are going!”
There was a sound of sobbing behind them, and in a moment more the arms of Señora Paez were around Felicia.
“My darling! My dear little girl!” she exclaimed. “Señor Carfora, too! The end has come. The Americans have stormed Chapultepec, and the city is at their mercy. Alas, for me! General Bravo was taken prisoner, and my beloved old friend, Zuroaga, was killed at the head of his regiment. We shall never see him again!”
Ned felt as if somebody had struck him a heavy blow. He could not say a word for a moment, and then he whispered:
“Poor General Zuroaga! Why, I had no idea that he would be killed!”