"Spy?" exclaimed Ned. "No, I'm not any such thing, but my name is Edward Crawford, and I'm from New York. I got stuck in Mexico and I couldn't get out. I've been all around everywhere. Things are mixed--" "Grant," said Captain Lee, "he may have something worth while. I'll take him in to see Schuyler Hamilton. Let the captain pump him." Captain Robert E. Lee was not exactly off duty at that hour, for he and other engineer officers had been ordered to make a survey of the fortifications, but he was there to receive instructions and he could take Ned in with him. He was a taller, handsomer fellow than Grant, and he was all of three times as polite in his treatment of Ned. Perhaps, however, Grant's first manners had been damaged by being addressed in such a style, in Spanish, by an excited young Mexican. In went Ned and Lee, and there was no difficulty in obtaining an interview with Captain Hamilton. Ned had never heard of him before, but he was now aware, from Captain Lee, that he was a descendant of General Philip Schuyler and General Alexander Hamilton of the Revolutionary War. Ned thought of Senora Tassara's great ancestors for a moment, and then he did not really care a cent for pedigree. He even startled Hamilton himself by the energy and rapidity with which he told what he knew of the condition of things throughout the country, the movements of Santa Anna, and the political plots and conspiracies. Hamilton was a slender, graceful young man, handsomer than even Lee, and with piercing black eyes. "Lee," he said, "the cub is a genuine curiosity. I can't imagine how on earth he learned so much. He isn't a fool, by any means. General Scott will be at liberty in a few minutes, and Crawford must see him." "All right," said Lee. "I have my instructions now, and I'll leave him with you. They say the old castle's badly knocked in pieces."