General Worth and staff rode on, leaving excitement in their wake. “I told you so,” Hannibal cried. “Old Zach had mostly Volunteers, too. But that made no difference. And now you’ve seen Worth. Just like him to publish those orders this way, instead of waiting for parade. And fight? Oh, my! I guess _so_!” “I’ve seen him before,” Jerry exclaimed, remembering. “He jumped ashore first when you all landed on the beach.” “He did that. The First Division led and his boat beat and he was first out. But did you see us land? Where were you?” “Here in these sand hills, cutting brush.” “Wasn’t that a landing, though! We set a record. General Scott and Commodore Conner of the navy put twelve thousand men ashore in ten hours, and all we got was wet. Never lost a life. That’s discipline for you. Whoo-ee! Listen to those guns talk! The dons are right angry to-day. Guess they’ve discovered those batteries out in front. Come on, now, if you want to see the fun.” They left the camp; trudged fast until they approached the edge of the dunes, toward the city, crossed a shallow trench or road that wound along, and climbing to the top of a sand hill were in view of the plain and the Mexican batteries. A number of soldiers were here, watching. They had dug little hollows, as a protection from shell fragments. The firing had increased. The city and the castle of San Ulloa were shrouded in the dense smoke; the plain was spouting earth and brush, but it was spouting smoke and shot and shell also, for American batteries were replying. And the entrenched line of blue-coats, supporting the artillery, might be glimpsed. “Those dons are trying to find our guns,” asserted Hannibal. “That plain is full of trenches. Golly, but it was a job to dig them. We Regulars, and the Mohawks, too, had to work by night, in shifts; and we got jolly well peppered, you bet. We didn’t dare use lanterns; worked by the feel, in the cactus and brush, and the northers near smothered us, besides. We were marched out after dark, and every man grabbed a spade and his orders were to dig a hole eight feet long and five feet wide and six feet deep. When the holes were connected they made a ditch all ’round the city, five miles not counting the sand-bags and parapets and battery emplacements and caves for magazines. Then we and the sailors dragged the guns clear from the beach, three miles and more, through the sand and swamps. We haven’t guns enough yet. Only sixteen out of about sixty that the general expected. The most of ’em are ten-inch mortars, and they’re no good for breaching walls. The castle’s firing thirteen-inch shells at us――sockdologers! But the navy’s helping the army with three six-inch solid-shot guns and three eight-inch Paixhan shell guns, for direct fire into the walls. Wait till that Battery Five opens. It’s point-blank range of the walls on this side.” “Is the army all ’round the city?”