The tropical dawn came swiftly, the stars vanishing as the sky lightened. The mountain tops glowed red, then the jungle slopes appeared as the sun cleared the horizon. The captain was using his binoculars.
“Two ships offshore there, I can just make them out. But they’re big, I can see that much.”
Now as the light grew the whitewashed shapes of the buildings in the village came into view, clearer and sharper, as well as the hills beyond. A number of sailing ships were at anchor just offshore.
“Those are warships — I can see their guns now. And the shore beyond the village — good God!”
“What is it? Tell me!” O’Higgins pleaded. Captain Weaver shook his head, then passed over the glasses.
“Look for yourself. Beyond the village, and on both sides of it.”
The air was clear as crystal. O’Higgins raised the glasses, looked through them. “I don’t understand. Raw earth, dug up…”
“Look closely and you will see the muzzles. Those are gun emplacements, well dug in. Big guns at that. Coastal defenses. No one is going to land on that shore, not with those guns there.”
“Captain, sir—” the lookout called out from the bow. “One of those ships is getting up steam. I can see the smoke. It’s an ironclad warship.”
“Hard about!” the captain shouted. “Twenty-five revolutions. Back to Vera Cruz.”
O’Higgins examined the gun emplacements in the growing light. Counted them carefully. Then raised the glasses to the hills beyond the village. Cursed fluently in both Spanish and English as he handed the captain back his glasses and turned to the chartroom. Traced his finger across the map and cursed the harder.
A few minutes later the captain joined him. “The ship turned back. Satisfied I suppose with scaring us off I guess. Good thing too. From the look of her she can do twice our speed.”
“They have tricked us!” O’Higgins shouted as he slammed his fist onto the chart. “Tricked us royally. I did not think the English were capable of such subtlety and foresight.”
“What do you mean?”
“The road — you know about the road?”
“Of course. That’s why we landed all those guns and ammunition. For the armed bands of Mexicans that are supposed to be attacking it.”
O’Higgins pointed to the chart. “The British troops were first landed here at Salina Cruz to start digging the road across the isthmus. To the coastal plain on the Atlantic. So that the British could march from the Pacific to the port of Vera Cruz on the Atlantic. I myself heard them say that. Thick-headed British officers. They could not have simulated, the way they talked — they surely believed every word that they said. But their masters didn’t. From the very beginning they intended the road to go here! A shorter and easier route.”
He went back to the bridge, watched the village and the defenses around it vanishing behind them.
“The enemy will soon be able to march across the isthmus to this heavily defended port. There will be gun batteries on land and ironclads in the harbor. When the troops get there they can board their transports unmolested. And invade the American Gulf ports with impunity. This is the very worst news possible.”
The rising sun lit the village of Coatzacoalcos, lit as well the new gun positions that surrounded it. Rising higher it shone down on the track slashed through the jungle that would soon be a military road. Soldiers were already moving down this unfinished track. Not widening it and grading it — not yet. They were building defensive positions instead. Just squads and companies of riflemen now, trenches and revetments bristling with guns. Further west the sun shone on the completed sections of road — and on the defenses there.
Lieutenant Calles was new to the business of war. His family was part of the governing elite, the corregidores, who, aided by the church, had ruled Mexico with austere harshness for hundreds of years. He had never thought about this state of affairs, but just accepted it as a natural part of life. There were the rulers and the ruled. Blessed by good birth he accepted the fact that the world was made the way it was. He did not begin to query the harsh treatment of the native Indians until after he had gone off to school in Spain. Then, as he had received his education at the University of Salamanca, he had also learned of the new wave of liberalism that was sweeping across the world. Only when he had returned to the family estate in Oaxaca did he begin to question matters he had always taken for granted. Now, educated as an historian, he looked at his native land through an historian’s eyes — and was not pleased. But the invasion of the State of Oaxaca by the British had wiped away any feelings of doubt. His country must be defended at any cost. He had made his way into the mountains and joined the guerrilleros.
Now, as a lieutenant, he had become accustomed to the hardships of guerrilla warfare. That he had survived this far proved that in addition to his intelligence he had bravery, and a strong sense of survival. The illiterate peasant soldiers were aware of this and respected him. More important, they followed him into battle.
Now they followed him along an almost invisible path through the jungle. Ahead of him was an Indian guide who found his way with unerring skill. Lieutenant Calles had told him where he had wanted to go, knew that the command would be carried out precisely. They were paralleling the defenses that flanked the British road, looking for places where it could be attacked.
It had been a grueling day — and a frustrating one. The last time they had come this way there had been a bridge here under construction, where the working soldiers had made fine targets until hastily summoned guards had driven them away. Now, when they reached the gully, they found that the wooden bridge was hidden by a stout dirt rampart. Any attempt to storm it would have been suicidal.
It was late afternoon before they reached their goal. A deep valley that cut through the h
ills. So steep it could not be bridged. Here the road wound down the valley wall, crossed at the bottom and up the other side. There was ample opportunity for the guerrilleros to slip through the jungle to make their surprise attacks. But no more.
“The lines…” he said under his breath.
“Mande?” the guide said.
“Nothing. I was talking to myself. But look ahead. Do you see that?”
“The British have been very busy. They must want to build this road very badly.”