water twenty-four feet wide and ten feet deep. The guns enfilade, or rake the length of the road for a long distance, and we cannot avoid them by leaving the road on account of marshes on either hand. To force El Peñon would cost three thousand men, and we would still be upon a narrow road, seven miles from the city, and unable to manœuvre. But southwest of El Peñon, and nearer the city, on a branch road or cut-off from the main road, you see another fortress called Mexicalcingo."
"Yes, sir."
"Mexicalcingo is a fortified town, commanding the passage of a bridge through the marsh at the head of Lake Xochimilco, which is the lake extending into the northwest from Lake Chalco. Mexicalcingo is scarcely five miles from the City of Mexico, but otherwise it gives much the same problem as El Peñon. We might carry the batteries and the bridge, and then we'd still be on a narrow road, flanked by marshes for four miles, before we struck another main road to the city. General Scott is having both fortifications reconnoitred, I believe, but his spies have already posted him."
"Then what can we do, sir?" Jerry asked.
"I'm not saying, although I am at liberty to have my own ideas. Anybody is permitted to think, but it's against regulations to think aloud sometimes. I'm telling you these things as man to man. When you grow up you may be an officer yourself, with maps at your disposal. Well, if we can't get at the capital from the east, there ought to be other ways. Napoleon laid down as a maxim of war: 'Never do what the enemy expects you to do.' Santa Anna
