Suddenly, Ord's head was erect, and the old, clear light was in his blue eyes. "Now I understand!" he shouted. "I thought Travis was raving back there, before he shot himself--and your talk of the Emperor! American respect for Indian rights! Jeffersonian form of government! Oh, those ponces who peddled me that X-4-A--the _track jumper_! I'm not back in my own past. I've jumped the time track--_I'm back in a screaming alternate!_" "Please, not so loud, _Señor_ Ord," Santa Anna sighed. "Now, we must shoot a few more American officers, of course. I regret this, you understand, and I shall no doubt be much criticized in French Canada and Russia, where there are still civilized values. But we must establish the Republic of the Empire once and for all upon this continent, that aristocratic tyranny shall not perish from the earth. Of course, as an Englishman, you understand perfectly, Señor Ord." "Of course, excellency," Ord said. "There are soft hearts--soft heads, I say--in Mexico who cry for civil rights for the Americans. But I must make sure that Mexican dominance is never again threatened north of the Rio Grande." "_Seguro_, excellency," Ord said, suddenly. If the bloody X-4-A _had_ jumped the track, there was no getting back, none at all. He was stuck here. Ord's blue eyes narrowed. "After all, it ... it is manifest destiny that the Latin peoples of North America meet at the center of the continent. Canada and Mexico shall share the Mississippi." Santa Anna's dark eyes glowed. "You say what I have often thought. You are a man of vision, and much sense. You realize the _Indios_ must go, whether they were here first or not. I think I will make you my secretary, with the rank of captain." "_Gracias_, Excellency." "Now, let us write my communique to the capital, _Capitán_ Ord. We must describe how the American abandonment of the Alamo allowed me to press the traitor Houston so closely he had no chance to maneuver his men into the trap he sought. _Ay, Capitán_, it is a cardinal principle of the Anglo-Saxons, to get themselves into a trap from which they must fight their way out. This I never let them do, which is why I succeed where others fail ... you said something, _Capitán_?" "_Sí_, Excellency. I said, I shall title our communique: 'Remember the Alamo,'" Ord said, standing at attention. "_Bueno!_ You have a gift for words. Indeed, if ever we feel the _gringos_ are too much for us, your words shall once again remind us of the truth!" Santa Anna smiled. "I think I shall make you a major. You have indeed coined a phrase which shall live in history forever!" * * * * * End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Remember the Alamo, by R. R. Fehrenbach