we passed on to the chevaux de frize, which was about twelve feet high, of pointed timbers set upright in the ground. These upright timbers passed through a horizontal sill about six feet from the ground, which we could reach with our hands, and then pull ourselves up, from which we could then climb over the sharp points of the [326] upright posts, thence down to the bottom of the outside ditch, up the outside bank of which we crawled, it not being walled. When we reached the top we breathed more freely, for we were now in the wide world, and felt more like freemen; and as the sentinels drolled out their sleepy notes of "centinela alerta," we jumped up, and cracked our heels together three times, as a substitute for cheers three times three.
 

Chapter Eighteen

 
RESIDENCE IN THE MOUNTAINS, AND ENTRY INTO JALAPA

Two hundred Yards east of the Castle. Separation. Parting Speeches. Pass the Powder-house. Meet with Reese and Toowig. Divide Rations with. Take to the Mountains. Residence and Sufferings in. Return to the Valley. Charge of Cavalry and Escape. Separation from Toowig. Narrow Escape from a Precipice. Make Coffee. Approach to Jalapa. Our Distress from Sore Feet and Thorns. Entry and Peregrination in the City. Our Location in the Suburbs. Re-entry, mode of. Don: his Wife, and warm Supper. Meet Toowig. Residence in City. Kind Treatment. Robbers employed, and we delivered over to them in a dark Hollow.

As the castle bell tolled "half past twelve," we were in the open common, about two hundred yards east of the outer ditch. Here we had to await the return of Ike Allen, who had gone ahead with Captain Reese, Ogden, and Toowig, on the following account:

Reese, Ogden, and Toowig, who were more flush [327] of funds than the balance of us, had, previous to leaving the castle, perfected an arrangement, through a friend living at a considerable distance from Perote, to have a confidential guide and three extra horses near by on this night. The guide was to kindle a fire as a signal, one mile east of the castle, between the hours of ten and one, at which fire they were to have met; then to ride with relays of horses, and get into Vera Cruz ahead of the alarm. The guide, as we afterward learned, came to the place, but owing to some shepherds astir in the neighbourhood, they failed to kindle the fire through fear of discovery. Ike had accompanied these gentlemen to the appointed place to meet a second guide, who was promised just previously to