the roofs and spires of Puebla itself, twelve miles distant from the ridge.
So the column quick-stepped manfully, and with the fifes and drums pealing descended to the pretty town of Amozoc, ten miles from the city of Puebla.
Amozoc proved to be a pleasant surprise. That had been a long and hard march from Perote: with the days warm and showery, and the nights cold and frosty, and the men sleeping on the ground in the dirt, without tents, and trudging by day through mud and dust both. But here at Amozoc, the alcalde or mayor met General Worth on the outskirts of the town and invited him in, and when the column entered the women came running from their adobe houses, bringing fruit and pitchers of cold water.
"They call Puebla the City of the Angels, do they? Faith, what's the matter with Amozoc? Here be rale angels."
"The first white women we've seen since Jalapy."
"Bless their purty faces an' black eyes."
Such were the comments by the ranks behind the Fourth Infantry music.
An aide came galloping back to Colonel Garland.
"The general's compliments, colonel, and he directs that you quarter your infantry battalion in the town corral, near the plaza. I will show you."
Presently the Fourth had stacked arms in the corral.
