where the sunlight shot down upon them. Nearer rose the spires of the
cathedral, and then the sea of tile roofs burnished by the vivid beams.

Santa Anna stood in a dramatic position, his finger still pointing.
There was scarcely a day that Ned did not feel the majesty of this
valley of Tenochtitlan, but Santa Anna deepened the spell. Could the
world hold another place its equal? Might not the Texans indeed have a
glorious future in the land of which this city was the capital? Poetry
and romance appealed powerfully to the boy's thoughtful mind, and he
felt that here in Mexico he was at their very heart. Nothing else had
ever moved him so much.

"You are pleased! It impresses you!" said Santa Anna to Austin. "I can
see it on your face. You are with us. You are one of us. Ah, my friend,
how noble it is to have a great heart."

"Do I go with your message to the Texans?" asked Austin.

"I must leave now, but I shall come again soon, and I will tell you
all. You shall carry words that will satisfy every one of them."

He threw his arms about Austin's shoulders, gave Ned a quick salute, and
then left the room, taking young de Zavala with him, Ned heard the heavy
bar fall in place on the outside of the door, and he knew that they were
shut in as tightly as ever. But Mr. Austin was in a glow.

"What a wonderful, flexible mind!" he said, more to himself than to the
boy. "I could have preferred a sort of independence for Texas, but since
we're to be ruled from the City of Mexico, Santa Anna will do the best
he can for us. As soon as he sweeps away the revolutionary troubles he