The rapidity with which he moved and the persistency of his attacks won him most of his battles. He lost no time,--he did not wait. As soon as he had taken San Blas, he did not even wait long enough to give his tired soldiers a good rest. He moved on to his destination immediately. With his characteristic rapid fire action, he moved towards Guadalajara in the State of Jalisco. The most interesting thing about the storming of that city was the capture of fifty-six train loads of supplies. Never before had they had such luck. The trains were packed with all kinds of provisions, guns, rifles, cannon and ammunition. It was one of the richest hauls they ever made. The conclusion of his march towards the capital was marked by a series of successful battles, in spite of the difficulties he had in guarding his base of supplies and the frontier towns. After his victory at Guadalajara, he marched on towards Irapuato, where he again succeeded in routing the Federal troops, and thence proceeded to the city of Mexico. CHAPTER XIII VILLA AND HIS CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH So much has been written about Francisco Villa that only a few preliminary remarks are necessary to describe the personality of the famous general. The enemies of Villa made the accusation that the rebel chief was not respectable because he had been an outlaw under the Diaz régime. Those who have studied the Diaz rule with a mind unbiased by profits and interests, will have discovered that if Villa was a bandit under the Diaz reign, he certainly must have been an honest one; for almost without exception all the officials from the President down to the lowest Jefe Político, were robbers, cut-throats and grafters. Villa is not better nor worse than the average Mexican, but his weaknesses are those of his unfortunate countrymen, and his strength is the latent strength of his people. Villa, although directly responsible for the mutiny at Juarez in 1911, when with Orozco he almost succeeded in eliminating F. I. Madero, discovered that the three cientifico agents in El Paso were the instigators of the plot. Ever since then Villa remained loyal to Madero and continued to fight against Huerta, in memory of Madero. [Illustration: GENERAL S. ALVARADO Second in Command under General Obregon] All the biographers of Villa spoke of him as a Napoleon, who had created an army out of nothing. It must not be forgotten that out of one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers who fought against the military dictatorship, there were at least forty generals who created armies out of nothing. They, too, were without money, ammunition, arms and with even less experience than Villa. During his ten or more years as an outlaw, Villa was roaming all over the States of Chihuahua and Durango, as a leader of lesser outlaws, and his guerrilla experience was invaluable to him later.