Phil saw that the officers had been watching something intently with their glasses, and now he was able to see it himself with the naked eye. "A messenger with a white flag is coming from Santa Anna," he announced. "Now what can he want?" "He can want only one thing," said Breakstone; "but we’ll wait and let him tell it himself." The herald, holding his white flag aloft, rode straight toward the American army. When within three hundred yards of the American line he was met by skirmishers, who brought him forward. "Don’t you see something familiar in that figure and face, Phil?" asked Bill Breakstone. "Yes, I know him," replied Phil. "I thought I knew him when he rode over the first ridge, but there can be no doubt now. It is our old friend de Armijo." "It is he," said Breakstone, "and it is a safe thing to say that no man was ever more stuffed with pride, vanity, and conceit than he is now. Let’s press forward and see him as he passes. Maybe, too, we can hear what he and General Taylor say." De Armijo rode up the ravine at the edge of which Phil and his comrades stood. He saw them, and his look was not one of friendship. "Good morning, Señor de Armijo," said the irreverent Bill Breakstone, "have you come to announce the surrender of Santa Anna’s army?" The Mexican glared, but he made no answer, riding on in silence toward General Taylor. He was magnificently mounted, his uniform was heavy with gold lace, and a small gold-hilted sword hung at his side. Evidently the nephew of the governor of New Mexico was not ashamed of himself. It was also evident that the wound Phil had given him was very slight. An officer met de Armijo, and they saluted each other with punctilious courtesy. The Mexican produced a note which was handed to General Taylor. Old Rough and Ready did not dismount, but rested the note on his saddle-horn and read it. This note, signed by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of the Mexican Republic and Commander-in-Chief of its armies, was written in rounded sentences. It stated that the American army was surrounded by twenty thousand men and could not possibly escape. Hence Santa Anna demanded General Taylor’s immediate and unconditional surrender. "I will treat you well," he added in generous conclusion. Phil thought that he could see the white hair around old Rough and Ready’s temples fairly bristle with defiance. He did see him lean over and say to de Armijo: "Tell him to come and take me." But the next instant he called to Middleton and dictated to him a short answer, more polite but of the same tenor. He looked over it once, folded it, and handed it to de Armijo. "Take that to your master."