Front matter
Reading edition
IT WAS SEVERE WORK, BUT IT WAS DONE WITH EAGER ENTHUSIASM
(See page 277)
AHEAD of the ARMY By W. O. STODDARD AUTHOR OF “THE ERRAND BOY OF ANDREW JACKSON,” “JACK MORGAN,” “THE NOANK’S LOG,” ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY C. CHASE EMERSON BOSTON LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1903, by LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published June, 1903
PREFACE
Lest any one should suspect exaggeration in the pictures of Mexican affairs in the old time, which are presented by Señor Carfora, it may be well to offer a few facts by way of explanation. During sixty-three years of the national life of the Republic of Mexico, from the establishment of its independence in 1821 to the year 1884, nearly all of its successive changes of government were accompanied by more or less violence and bloodshed. There have been fifty-five Mexican Presidents; at one revolutionary period, four within three months, and to this list must be added two emperors and one regency. Both of the emperors were shot, so were several of the Presidents, and nearly all of the others incurred the penalty of banishment. How this came to be so will possibly be better understood by the young Americans who will kindly travel with Señor Carfora and his generals and his two armies, commanded for him by General Scott and General Santa Anna. It is the wish of the author that all his young friends may cultivate a deeper and kinder interest in the wonderful land of Anahuac and its people. The now peaceful and rapidly improving republic of the South is, in fact, only a kind of younger brother of the United States. Mexico has no more sincere well-wisher than
William O. Stoddard.
CONTENTS
Far-away Guns 11
The Race of the Goshawk 22
The Fortune of War 47
Completely Stranded 69
The Work of the Norther 84
Forward, March 99
The Land of the Montezumas 119
Out of the Tierra Caliente 136
Leaving the Hacienda 157
Pictures of the Past 167
Ned’s News 181
A Storm Coming 193
The Revolution 207
The Despatch-bearer 221
Under Fire 240
General Scott and His Army 254
The Mountain Passes 267
Señor Carfora Trapped 281
The Stars and Stripes in Tenochtitlan 294
ILLUSTRATONS
It Was Severe Work, but it Was Done with Eager EnthusiasmFrontispiece
“Do You See That? What Does it Mean?”30
“We have Orders to Take Care of You”114
Ned Saw a Long, Bright Blade of a Lance Pointed At His Bosom286
AHEAD of the ARMY