"
Don Miguel's face was now working convulsively, his hands, clenched,
were fanning the air in denial, and it seemed as if he would spring
upon the boy.
"It is false!" he shouted. "All false!"
"Suspicious that the arms and ammunition were to be used against
his own country, Mr. Cameron drew you out on this point, how
cleverly you well know, until the whole plot lay revealed. You
were purchasing the goods in the interest of a junta which
proposed to arm such outlaws and rag-a-muffins as could be
assembled, and to send them across the Rio Grande on a hostile
mission in the guise of Mexican soldiers."
"False! False!" almost howled the diplomat. "How is it that you,
a boy, a mere child, who should be with his mother in the nursery,
should know such things?" he demanded; then seeing his error, he
added, "should place such a construction on a plain business transaction?"
"It was the purpose of this junta," Nestor went on, not noticing the
interruption, "in marching this ragged army across the border to
precipitate war between the United States and Mexico. With an
invader on their soil, the members of the junta reasoned, all
Mexicans would flock to the standard of their country, and the
war with the United States would be fought out by a united Mexico."
"Lies! Lies!"
Don Miguel was now walking fiercely about the little dent in the
side of the mountain where the camp was built, pressing close to
the loaded guns of the guards, each time, before he turned back
to swing and rave over the ground again.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127