A table loaded with silver dishes was between the generals, and a dozen lamps on the walls shed a bright light over velvet carpet, silver dishes and the faces of the two men who held the fortunes of Mexico in the hollows of their hands.

General Cos smiled the same cold and evil smile that Ned had noticed at their first meeting, but Santa Anna spoke in a tone half of surprise and half of pity.
"Ah, it is the young Fulton! And he is in evil plight! You would not accept my continued hospitality at the capital, and behold what you have suffered!" Ned looked steadily at him.

He could not fathom the thought that lay behind the words of Santa Anna.

The man was always appearing to him in changing colors.

So he merely waited.
"It was a pleasure to me," said Santa Anna, "to learn from General Cos that you had been retaken.