He and Lieutenant Fry and Jerry tumbled below; ran for the road. The Fourth Infantry was well inside the gate; the men, breathless, laughing, peering, asking what next. Save for a few shots the place was singularly silent. General Worth arrived in haste.
"What regiment is this?"
"Fourth Infantry, sir."
"God bless the Fourth Infantry. Where's Major Lee? Hold your position, major; you will be supported."
"B' gorry, first in, an' here we stay," cried old Sergeant Mulligan. "Hooray for the Fourth!"
The enemy was rallying. His bugles pealed, his officers were shouting and urging, a column boiled into the street before. As quick as thought the two guns of the gateway battery had been reversed—"Clear the way, there!"—and a shower of grape scattered the column.
The bugles sounded again, with the Mexican signal for recall.
The other regiments thronged in: the Second Artillery, the Sixth Infantry, the Eighth (with Hannibal rolling his drum and cheering lustily), the Third Artillery, the Fifth Infantry, the Voltigeurs; all the Worth foot. Then, after the troops had been assigned to position, Captain Huger, of the ordnance, and two heavy guns, a twenty-four-pounder and a ten-inch mortar came on; were planted in the gateway, General Worth overseeing.
Save for the tolling of bells, the distant cries of frightened people, and the muffled notes of Mexican drums and bugles, the city was quiet. Now what?
