The general was in good spirits, but more than once he spoke of the necessity he was under of keeping out of the reach of his old enemies, and among these he appeared to consider the absent Santa Anna even more dangerous, in the long run, than President Paredes himself. Senora Tassara had now joined them, but she seemed disposed to be silent, and most of the conversation was in the hands of Senora Paez. It was noticeable that she appeared to have a remarkably good knowledge of the politics of her country. Perhaps, if Ned had been a few years older and the least bit of a politician, he might have suspected the truth, that she was one of the most subtle plotters in the whole country. If she was also a deadly enemy of President Paredes, it was because she was a sister of a revolutionary leader whom he had caused to be shot, years ago, without the formality of a court-martial. Ned saw her eyes flash and her bosom heave when she spoke of him, and after that he somehow felt safer than ever under her roof. He also saw that she and General Zuroaga were the best of friends, and that they had a long private conference of their own. "I guess he feels at home here," thought Ned, as he went down-stairs with Felicia and Senora Tassara, and his confidence in that state of affairs grew stronger as he walked along the central hall of the house. "Pablo!" he exclaimed, to a man who lay sprawled out upon the floor, but the general's Oaxaca follower made him no reply. He and three more like him, who lay near him, were sound asleep, and there was no good cause for stirring them up just then. "They are all well armed," said Ned to himself. "The general will be protected when he rides away in the morning. But this is the biggest kind of thing to come to me. The best _I_ can do will be to take to my books till he gets back. Oh, but won't it be grand fun to make a complete tour of the mountains and of all the Pacific coast of Mexico? He says I shall see the tallest peaks of the Cordilleras and that I may visit some of the great silver mines." With all that exciting expectation running through his head, it was not easy for him to get to sleep that night. When he arose in the morning, his friend, the mysterious general, had already departed. CHAPTER XII. A STORM COMING