The crisis had come. Did the light-footed stormers pause? At their very feet lurked an unseen danger. It was the train communicating with the magazine in the vault of the castle. With the rapidity of thought its springing might hurl them as lifeless as the toppling crags which may settle upon and crush them. Already the port-fire spit forth its envenomed blaze close by the fuse of the mine. No! their in

genuity had discovered and intercepted the serpent-like hose; and a ball from a faultless aim had struck down the youthful officer of engineers who at duty's call was about to involve himself, his friends, and all in one common immolation.

Now, while business is so brisk on the hill, let us look to our neighbors elsewhere engaged. Brevet-Brigadier-General P. F. Smith, who had recently thrown down his goose-quill, and forsaken the haunts where Justice is supposed to preside, was handsomely guiding the movements of his brigade. There might be seen the disciplined soldier who had forgot the clock-like precision of parade, busy in spoliation with willing heart and nimble hands; and scattered here and there were amateur performers, followers of the army, who waited for neither order nor invitation to mingle in the mêlée; and they were all sorts of men, who showed as great a contempt for life as for the aesthetics of dress. Those hardy teamsters in red shirts and half-ranchero costume were not less terrible to the foe than were the most spruce of the élite of the army. Many of them had apparently private accounts to settle. The temerity with which they sprang yelling into the midst of groups of ten times their numerical strength, and the effect of their mad efforts, as they plied the bayonet or the bowie-knife, instanced miracles of faith to which war as well as religion has a claim. Higher and higher our colors danced in the artificial breeze, which bore away small ribbons, and each step gave striking examples of confidence and valor. 'Ha! again we have met. That for the Alamo!'

The exclaimer was just such an one as we might expect to fall in with upon the horizon-bounded plains of the Far West. The unkempt locks of his sun-burnt hair fell in a mat upon his broad shoulders, and from his unshorn face depended a patriarchal beard one that without inconvenient crowding might afford nest-room for a family of swallows. His tout ensemble was in keeping with his upper gear. He was a personage with whom an encounter would scarcely be coveted in a waste and savage region, to which he seemed best fitted, were his heart half as fierce as his huge, red, aquiline nose, or the fire that blazed steadily from his large black eyes. Those few words too, which, in a second's lull, burst from him, did they whisper consolation to the man to whom he spoke? Alamo!- how portentous! That was the watch-word of the vengeance-seeking Texans the name of the Aceldama, the field of blood, where their fathers, brothers, friends were decoyed into a surrender, and then massacred! - the name that to this day is the password given by the frontiers'-man as he sends his ancient foe into eternity the name most expressive of deadly revenge, more than 'Guerra al Cuchillo!'

Were the two who thus strangely met former actors in that tragedy?

Doubtless they were: one an instrument of that most perfidious act; the other an avenger of blood, against whom no city of refuge closed its portals. As an accompaniment to his shriek of recognition, the Texan dashed his hat, a slouched, mis-shapen thing, into the eyes of the Mexican. The latter could not conceal his amazement at the untimely renewal of such an unpleasant acquaintance; but starting back, he gave vent to a loud Caramba!'. a quasi-oath in which his kind much indulge. Not improbably the wild-looking man had been schooled to sudden emergencies in contests with the red-men of the forest; for by what he deemed legitimate tact, he had thrown his adversary off his guard, and gained time to complete the loading of a long rifle. The dreaded crack was followed by a leap into the air and a howl of rage. Unfair, was it? Good reader, be not more scrupulous than all the world beside. Agree with Lysander, that ' When the lion's skin is too short, we must eke it out with the fox's case,' as witness Crimean warfare.

Por amor de Jesus! Miserecordia!' bawled some miserable fellows, as they still quakingly clung to their offensive weapons. Cuartel!' demanded others boldly in an unfaltering tone, as they brought their arms to a rest, and stood in the firm, erect attitude of the soldier. Quarter! The demand was futile. Bid the mill-stream stay its fleeting course, or the swift cascade return up the face of the rock, rather than hope for quarter at such a moment.

'Remember El Molino!' was the cry that hoarsely rose above the tumult. It was caught up and repeated, blending Anglo-Saxon, Milesian, and Allemanic into a confused jargon, a dissonant hum.

Then the victors did remember what was so ineffaceably traced on their memory. Only five days-five days of comparative quiet — had elapsed since the action of El Molino del Rey. There the wounded of our army and their name was Legion - who fell into the hands of the semi-barbarians, the lancers, were ruthlessly slaughtered, and that too within sight of comrades, who could stretch forth no arm to save. Exasperated as were now the Americans of the North by the sullen resistance they met, that appeal to their feelings of retaliation wrought them up to such a molten degree of intensity, that for some minutes they were carried beyond the control of officers. The demand for quarter fell but coldly on the ears of those whose burning thoughts recalled some friend who, when incapacitated for defence, had perished by assassin-steel. Nor was it heeded by others who well knew that, were the relative positions of the contending parties transposed, none of the benignant spirit of mercy would have beamed on them. Like baleful lightning, flash fell the bright bayonets to the horizon, and quickly found sheaths in palpitating bosoms. Cold steel and feverish breasts! The scale had not yet preponderated in our favor, although so soon to kick the beam. The expiring hymn of the doomed was the thundering music of battle. Thus raged the strife below.

Nor had the carnage upon the hill-top abated a whit. That was fully attested by the mangled figures which ever and anon crimsoned the rocks. Hurled headlong from the windows and walls, some dashed

from peak to crag down a declivity which had not so much as a foothold for fifty feet, appearing as messengers of bloody tidings to those below. It seemed as if a communion with visible nature had imparted some of the savage wildness of the dizzy rocks to the hearts of those engaged. Certain it is, that our men exhibited more ferocity there than at any other time during the war; excitement acted upon their souls as wine upon the physical system. Our troops on the azotea were playing a game of bodily agility, and they scrupled not to avail themselves of the readiest means of terminating the conflict.

The castle had been used as a military college, and it contained about forty élèves, most of whom were boys just at that age when the sentiments of chivalry are the strongest, before unworthy motives are apt to creep in and influence the mind. Like the many mere boys of our own army, no class did better service. To do the little officers in embryo (the cadets) the justice they deserve, they contributed considerably to the resistance made to the substitution of our bunting for theirs, and they would not give in until the ephemeral light of victory, which for some instants had flickered upon their standards, left them in deepest gloom, and the full-grown men gave up their arms. The nation did well to trust its military honor in the charge of such youths; and unless a future mingling in demoralizing political contests contaminate them, they bid fair to re-brighten the tarnished escutcheon of their degenerate native land.

The partial subsiding of the noise and clangor announced that the struggle had passed the culminating point, and our flag floated upward in the zenith whence the tri-color had been torn. Then Reason resumed her sway. Noble fellows sprang forward to ward off the avenging blows of their infuriate comrades. In many instances they shielded from harm foemen, who, in the blindness of despair, perceived not the flight of all hope, and who still wielded their arms. It was fortunate for such that the net of the fowler had not ensnared them a few minutes earlier, at the time when some infatuated sub-chieftain so it was said and believed-caused to be displayed a black banner, inscribed, Doi no Cuartel.' There is little doubt that was the case; for it was spoken of on the spot, although soon invisible. In the event of success, the intention of the enemy was manifest, and a pirate's flag might strike terror into assailants less daring.

During the engagement, the attention of more than one was attracted to the spectacle of a plain civilian with belted sword, who appeared more anxious to get a good position, from which he could view the scene, than to slay his kind. It was Walker, the artist. From the sketch then made he subsequently portrayed the battle upon canvas in an able manner. He saw the whole with a professional eye, as if so many mannikins had suddenly been imbued with life and motion for his especial benefit. A little more dark in this spot; a fine smoke. Ah! that's better! Major of Marines hit; it breaks the stiffness of the picture. Upon the hill, eh? Good dresses make a pleasing variety. Now, a touch more of crayon in this place. Capital!-the effect is fine. Must thin out those ranks; must indeed. Splendid!

Who'd a thought it?-last charge of grape just the thing. Good again! general shot! Whew! what a-a-dust they do kick up! Assault on redan; hit me, I suppose. Just a touch more of shade in this corner; yes, that does help it; relieves the smoke. Beautiful! — a shell right in the middle of 'em! Could n't be nicer; very kind, I'm sure; will hit - me- if - do n't - look out! That will work up finely. There! rim shot off of sombrero! Must leave leave as soon- soon-as-get - this part, part done. Now, think that 'll do!'

We can easily imagine his soliloquy. It was time for him to leave, after unconsciously sketching through the worst of the turmoil. All who came within the sweep of his eye were put down by his facile pencil; and when he subsequently called forth his blade to protect his picture, and as an incident thereto, his life, those who were so rash as to oppose him shared a similar fate.

PART TWO.

CERTES, it needed no reference to the notes in my minute-book to make this feeble transcript of the occurrences of that day; for although like old Bernal Diaz, I have permitted years to interveningly roll between the action and this record of it, yet the whole tableau rises as vividly before me as if it were but of yesterday.

The plantain, which, emblematic of repose and cooling airs, Egyptian superstition has consecrated to the Genii of the Shades, now flung its umbrageous mantle over many forms, who, in the long sleep given to recover from a life-long fatigue, were for ever unmindful of the maddening strife. Each face seemed to say:

'I DIED no felon's death:

A warrior's weapon freed a warrior's soul.'

Their firmly-compressed lips told of determination. It was a place for a poet to die. The only one in my regiment then fell, and but for one or two trifling considerations that made life still palatable, his remains would have enriched the soil upon which he lay. The last act of the Chevalier Bayard, when from faintness he could no longer fight, was to command his steward to set him with his back against a tree, that he might die facing the enemy. When R for he it was,

kissed his mother earth, under what was thought to be a mortal wound, his anguish was much alleviated by the reflection that his name would be historically associated with the famed Chapultepec - the hill of the grasshopper whose glories the copper-skinned poet so often had sung; and waving his hand to his nearest men, he bade them to bear him to the nearest tree, that he might expire with the halo of glory on his brow and the pean of triumph in his ears. And then, as he took a pull at a flask, he gave a sigh of satisfaction, took a lingering look in the direction of Tacubaya, from whose house-tops many of the soft sex witnessed the doings, and sank back with the words: Fare-ye-well,

Guadalupe! they 've done for me!' and died? No, he did nothing of the kind. A swig from a mess-mate's spirit-flask revived him; he lived to be borne into the city of Mexico on a litter raised on men's shoulders, the admiration of all the young misses, who peeped through the lattices when they heard the martial strains; and to this day he has indefinitely postponed his epithalmium or his exit.

On one side of the castle were haciendas, with orchards and planted fields in a state of luxuriant cultivation; on another, the green savannahs left by the receding lake, which once had washed the base of the hill. Within the garden rose the gigantic trees whose tops, when the blue clouds of battle enveloped them, became as indistinct as a mountain in a mist, though towering almost to a level with the troops on the summit of the Cerro. I would not risk drawing upon credulity by a description of those prodigies of vegetable creation, were it not for their well-authenticated loftiness and dimensions. The girth of one of them near the ground is one hundred and seventeen feet and ten inches. They loom up as monuments of an age so long agone, that the royal eagle, which, perched upon a nopal, furnished a design for the national arms ever since in use, might also have perched upon them; and in a hale old age of many centuries, they still stand as sentinels who were posted long before the first descent of the Aztecs from the North.

How I can recall the whole scenery as first we entered its precincts! Incongenial was it with the air-drawn picture wrought by the enchantment of distance. The time and place, with all its attendant train of circumstances, could not fail to awaken thrilling emotions in a bosom more immobile than mine. In the grove that girdles the great rock is the spot where the ill-fated monarch Montezuma was wont to seek that refuge from the noon-tide heat denied him by his shadeless city. There, surrounded by sweet-smelling flowers, which spring not less spontaneously than worthless weeds in climes not so highly favored, he gave audience to the few, and inhaled at every breath the fragrance of medicinal herbs. There, surrounded by courtiers, he sipped the delicious vanilla-flavored chocolatl, amid the carolling of melodious and brightlyplumed songsters, which fluttered through their capacious aviaries. There too were the fish-ponds, upon whose lilied margins the courtly companions of the angle could loll and discuss good living and earn a meal. The permanent abode of beauty is no longer there; she only hovers over the place with a sad countenance. In the entangling thicket we might vainly seek the marks of ancient state, where nature and art combined to make it the hallowed haunt of royalty. The government or people that could remorsely demolish the bas-reliefs cut in the living rock, to represent the faces and perpetuate the memory the two Montezumas, would hardly delight in the preservation of minor legendary curiosities. The Vandals deserved to have their own faces chiseled likewise. Peering through the untrimmed vines that know not a gardener's care, and half-covered with dead-leaves, soil, and rubbish, are remnants of fountains that shall warble forth no song again. Elaborately cut in hieroglyphics, they are so stained and disfigured that the mystic designs are untraceable. What charm may lie hid in the undeciphered stone, which ignorance or want of refinement has thrust

of