No one had been able to go to bed until he arrived, though Isabel slept restlessly in her father’s chair, and the Senora lay upon the couch, drowsing a little between her frequent attacks of weeping and angry anticipation. For she was sure it was the Americans. “Anything was possible with such a man as Sam Houston near the city.” “Perhaps it is Santa Anna,” at length suggested Antonia. “He has been making trouble ever since I can remember. He was born with a sword in his hand, I think.” “Ca! And every American with a rifle in his hand! Santa Anna is a monster, but at least he fights for his own country. Texas is not the country of the Americans.” “But, indeed, they believe that Texas is their country”; and to these words Doctor Worth entered. “What is the matter? What is the matter, Roberto? I have been made sick with these uncertainties. Why did you not come home at the Angelus?” “I have had a good reason for my delay, Maria. About three o’clock I received a message from the Senora Alveda, and I visited her. She is in great trouble, and she had not been able to bear it with her usual fortitude. She bad fainted.” “Ah, the poor mother! She has a son who will break her heart.” “She made no complaint of Luis. She is distracted about her country, and as I came home I understood why. For she is a very shrewd woman, and she perceives that Santa Anna is preparing trouble enough for it.” “Well, then, what is it?” “When I left her house, I noticed many Americans, as well as many Mexicans, on the streets. They were standing together, too; and there was something in their faces, and in the way their arms were carried, which was very striking and portentous. I fancied they looked coldly on me, and I was troubled by the circumstance. In the Plaza I saw the military band approaching, accompanied by half a dozen officers and a few soldiers. The noise stopped suddenly, and Captain Morello proclaimed as a bando (edict) of the highest authority, an order for all Americans to surrender their arms of every description to the officials and at the places notified.” “Very good!” “Maria, nothing could be worse! Nothing could be more shameful and disastrous. The Americans had evidently been expecting this useless bombast, and ere the words were well uttered, they answered them with a yell of defiance. I do not think more than one proclamation was necessary, but Morello went from point to point in the city and the Americans followed him. I can tell you this, Maria: all the millions in Mexico can not take their rifles from the ten thousand Americans in Texas, able to carry them.” “We shall see! We shall see! But, Roberto, you at least will not interfere in their quarrels. You have never done so hitherto.”