Page:Into Mexico with General Scott (1920).djvu/65

 II

A SURPRISE FOR VERA CRUZ

"Boom!"

It was such a tremendous explosion that it shook the solid buildings of the city. It also brought Jerry upon his feet, all standing, where he had been asleep for the night in a vacant niche against a stone warehouse. A great many of the people slept this night in the open air, just where they chanced to be, so that they might miss no excitement.

The explosion awakened them all. There was a rush for good viewpoints; perhaps the battle had begun. Right speedily Jerry had scrambled atop the wall at a place between batteries, from which he could see the harbor and the Americans' beach eastward. Nobody objected to him, here.

"Boom—Boom!" A double explosion well-nigh knocked him backward. A cloud of black smoke had spurted from the walls of San Juan de Ulloa castle, a quarter of a mile before; but yonder amidst the sand hills the louder "Boom!" had raised a much greater, blacker smoke, where the shell had burst.

The people upon the wall cheered.

"Viva, viva!"

"Now we shall see. San Juan is speaking with his giants."

"Yes, the Paixhans," said a Volunteer. "It is the Paixhans that he is turning loose, to blow the Yankees up. Viva!"