IN SAN ANTONIO
It was a crisp October morning, and as he galloped through the fresh
air, all of Ned's spirits came back to him. He would soon be with the
full array of the Texans, marching forward boldly to meet Cos himself
and all his forces. The great strain of the fight the night before
passed away as he inhaled the sparkling air. The red came back to his
cheeks, and he felt that he was ready to go wherever the boldest of the
Texans led. The Ring Tailed Panther shared his emotions.
"Fine, isn't it?" said he. "Great valley, too, but it oughtn't to belong
to the Mexicans. It's been going down under them for a long time. They
haven't been able to protect it from Comanches, Apaches and Lipans. The
old convent that we held last night had been abandoned for fear of the
Indians, an' lots of other work that the Spaniards an' Mexicans did has
gone the same way."
The beauty of the country increased, as they rode. Fine springs of cold
water gushed from the hills and flowed down into the clear green stream
of the San Antonio. The groves of oaks and pecans were superb, but they
passed more desolate and abandoned buildings and crossed more irrigation
ditches choked up with refuse.
Bowie called Ned up to his side, and had him to relate again all that he
had seen and heard in Mexico.
"Mr. Austin is at the camp," said Fannin, "and he has been asking about
you."
Ned's heart thrilled. There was a strong bond between him and the
gentle, kindly man who strove so hard to serve both Texas and Mexico,
and whom Santa Anna had long kept a prisoner for his pains.
"When will we reach the camp?" he asked Bowie.
"In less than a half hour. See, the scouts have already sighted us."
The scouts came up in a few moments, and then they drew near the camp.
Ned, eager of eye, observed everything.
The heart of the camp was in the center of a pecan grove, where a few
tents for the leading men stood, but the Texans were spread all about in
both groves and meadows, where they slept under the open sky. They wore
no uniforms. All were in hunting suits of dressed deerskin or homespun,
but they were well armed with the long rifles which they knew how to use
with such wonderful skill. They had no military tactics, but they
invariably pressed in where the foe was thickest and the danger
greatest. They were gathered now in hundreds from all the Texas
settlements to defend the homes that they had built in the wilderness,
and Cos with his Mexican army did not dare to come out of San Antonio.
The Texans welcomed Bowie and his men with loud acclaim. Ned and his
comrades unsaddled, tethered their horses and lay down luxuriously in
the grass. Mr. Austin was busy in his tent at a conference of the
leaders and Ned would wait until the afternoon to see him. Obed
suggested that they take a nap.
"In war eat when you can and sleep when you can," he said. "Sleep lost
once is lost forever."
"Obed has got some sense if he don't look like it," chuckled the Ring
Tailed Panther. "Here's to followin' his advice."
Ned took it, too, and slept until the afternoon, when a messenger asked
him to come to Mr. Austin's tent, a large one, with the sides now open.
Obed was invited to come with him, and, as Ned stood in the door of the
tent the mild, grave man advanced eagerly, a glow of pleasure and
affection on his face.
"My boy! my boy!" he said, putting both hands on Ned's shoulders. "I was
sure that I should never see you again, after you made your wonderful
escape from our prison in Mexico. But you are here in Texas none the
worse, and they tell me you have passed through a very Odyssey of
hardship and danger."
Water stood in Ned's eyes. He rejoiced in the affection and esteem of
this man, and yet Mr. Austin was very unlike the rest of the Texans.
They were rough riders; men of the plains always ready to fight, but he,
cultivated and scholarly, was for peace and soft words. He had used his
methods, and they had failed, inuring only to the advantage of Santa
Anna and Mexico. He had failed most honorably, but he looked very much
worn and depressed. He was now heart and soul for the war, knowing that
there was no other resort, but for battle he did not feel himself
fitted.
Ned introduced Obed as the companion of most of his wanderings, and Obed
received a warm greeting. Then other men in the great tent came forward,
and Ned, surprised, saw that one of them was Urrea, dressed neatly,
handsome and smiling. But the boy was glad to see him.
"Ah, Señor Ned," he said, "you did not expect that I would get here
before you. I came by another way, and I have brought information for
our leader."
Ned met the other men in the tent, all destined to become famous in the
great war, and then he gave in detail once more all that he knew of the
Mexicans and their plans. Mr. Austin sat on a little camp stool, as he
listened, and Ned noticed how pale and weak he looked. The boy's heart
sank, and then flamed up again as he thought of Santa Anna. It was he
who had done this. Away from Santa Anna and free from his magnetism he
had a heart full of hatred for him. Yet it depressed him to see Mr.
Austin who, good man, was obviously unfit for the leadership of an army,
about to enter upon a desperate war against great odds.
When Ned was excused, and left the tent he found that Smith, Karnes and
the rest of their force had come up. The camp which was more like that
of hunters than of an army, was in joyous mood. Several buffaloes had
been killed on the plains and the men had brought them in, quartered.
Now they were cooking the meat over great fires, scattered about the
groves. The younger spirits were in boisterous mood. Several groups were
singing, and others were dancing the breakdowns of the border.
Ned and Obed were joined by the Ring Tailed Panther and then by Urrea.
Ned felt the high spirits of the young Texans, but he did not join in
the singing and dancing. He learned from Urrea that Houston would arrive
in a day or two with more volunteers from Eastern Texas, and the young
Mexican also told him something about San Antonio.
"Cos has a large force of regular troops," he said, "but he is alarmed.
He did not think that the Texans were in such earnest, and that they
would dare so much. Now, he is barricading the streets and building
breastworks."
The Texans were so resolute and confident that the next day they sent a
demand to Cos for his surrender. He would not receive it, and threatened
that if another white flag appeared he would fire upon it. A day or two
later, Houston and the Eastern Texans arrived, and Ned, Obed, the Ring
Tailed Panther and Urrea planned a daring adventure for the following
night. They had heard how Cos was fortifying San Antonio, and as they
expected the Texan army to make an assault they intended to see just
what he was doing.
They made their way very cautiously toward the town, left on foot when
the full dark had come. It was only four miles to San Antonio, and they
could reach the line of Mexican sentinels within an hour. The Ring
Tailed Panther was growling pleasantly between his teeth. He had tired
of inaction. His was a character such as only the rough world of the
border could produce. If he did not live by the sword he lived by the
rifle, and since childhood he had been in the midst of alarms. Long
habit had made anything else tiresome to him beyond endurance, but he
was by nature generous and kindly. Like Obed he had formed a strong
attachment for Ned who appealed to him as a high-souled and generous
youth.
They made their way very cautiously toward the town, passing by
abandoned houses and crossing fields, overgrown with weeds. Both the
Ring Tailed Panther and Urrea knew San Antonio well, and Obed had been
there once. They were of the opinion that the town with its narrow
streets, stone and adobe houses was adapted particularly to defense, but
it was of the greatest importance to know just where the new outworks
were placed.
The four came within sight of Mexican lights about nine o'clock. The
town was in the midst of gently rolling prairies and as nearly as they
could judge these lights--evidently those of camp fires--were about a
quarter of a mile from San Antonio. They were three in number and
appeared to be two or three hundred yards apart. They watched a little
while but they did not see any human outlines passing in front of the
fires.
"They are learnin' caution," said the Ring Tailed Panther. "They are
afraid of the Texan rifles, an' while those fires light up a lot of
ground they keep their own bodies back in the shadow."
"Wise men," said Obed.
The Ring Tailed Panther looked his companions in the eye, one by one.
"We come out here for business," he said. "What we want to acquire is
learnin', learnin' about the new defenses of San Antonio, an' we'd feel
cheap if we went back without it. Now, I don't care to feel cheap
myself. Good, careful, quiet fellows could slip between them sentinels,
an' get into San Antonio. I mean to do it. Are you game to go with me?"
"I am," said Urrea, speaking very quickly and eagerly.
"And I," said Ned.
"To turn back is to confess one's weakness," said Obed.
The Ring Tailed Panther roared gently, and with satisfaction.
"That's the talk I like to hear an' expected to hear," he said. "You
boys ain't afraid of rippin' an' tearin', when it's in a good cause.
There's pretty good grass here. We'll just kneel down in it, an' crawl."
The Panther marked a point about midway between the nearest two lights
and they advanced straight for it on hands and knees, stopping at
intervals of a hundred yards or so to rest, as that method of locomotion
was neither convenient nor comfortable. As they drew near to the fires
they saw the sentinels some distance back of them, and entirely in the
shadow, pacing up and down, musket on shoulder. The four were now near
enough to have been seen had they been standing erect, but they lay very
close to the earth, while they conferred a moment or two.
"There's a patch of bushes between those two sentinels," whispered the
Ring Tailed Panther, "an' I think we'd better creep by in its shelter.
If either of the sentinels should look suspicious every one of us must
lay flat an' hold his breath. We could handle the sentinels, but what we
want to do is to get into San Antonio."
They continued their slow and tiresome creeping. Only once did they
stop, and then it was because one of the sentinels paused in his walk
and took his musket from his shoulder. But it was only to light a
cigarette and, relieved, they crept on until they were well beyond the
fires, and within the ring of sentinels. Then at the signal of the Ring
Tailed Panther they rose to their feet, and stretched their cramped
limbs.
"It is certainly good," whispered Obed, "to stand up on two legs again
and walk like a man."
They were now very near to the town and they saw the dark shapes of
houses, in some of which lights burned. It was the poorer portion of San
Antonio, where the Mexican homes were mostly huts or jacals, made of
adobe, and sometimes of mere mud and wattles. As all the four spoke
Spanish, they advanced, confident in themselves, and the protecting
shadows of the night. A dog barked at them, but Obed cursed him in good,
strong Mexican, and he slunk away. Two peons wrapped to the eyes in
serapes passed them but Obed boldly gave them the salutations of the
night and they walked on, not dreaming that the dreaded Texans were by.
Fifty yards further they saw a long earthwork, with the spades and
shovels lying beside it, as if the Mexicans expected to resume work
there in the morning. Toward the north they saw another such defense but
they did not go very near, as Mexican soldiers were camped beside it.
But Ned retained a very clear idea of the location of the two
earthworks.
Then they curved in toward the more important portion of the town, the
center of which was two large squares, commonly called Main Plaza and
Military Plaza, separated only by the church of San Fernando. Here were
many houses built heavily of stone in the Spanish style. They had thick
walls and deep embrasured windows. Often they looked like and were
fortresses.
Ned and his comrades were extremely anxious to approach those squares,
but the danger was now much greater. They saw barricades on several
important streets and many soldiers were passing. They learned from a
peon that both the squares and many other open places also were filled
with the tents of the soldiers.
Ned, Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther having seen so much were eager to
see more, but Urrea hung back. He thought they should return with the
information they had obtained already, and not risk the loss of
everything by capture, but the Ring Tailed Panther was determined.
"I know San Antonio by heart," he said, "an' there's somethin' I want to
see. Down this street is the house of the Vice-Governor, Veramendi, and
I want to see what is going on there. If the rest of you feel that the
risk ain't justified you can turn back, but I'm goin' on."
"If you go I'm going with you," said Ned.
"Me, too," said Obed.
Urrea shrugged his shoulders.
"Very well," he said. "It's against my judgment, but I follow."
They had pulled their slouch hats down over their faces, in the Mexican
style, and they handled their rifles awkwardly, after the fashion of
Mexican recruits. The Ring Tailed Panther led boldly down the street,
until they came to the stone house of Veramendi. Lights shone from the
deep embrasured windows of both the first and second floors. The Ring
Tailed Panther saw a small door in the stone wall, and he pushed it
open.
"Come in! Come quick!" he said to his comrades.
His tone was so sharp and commanding that they obeyed him by impulse,
and he quickly closed the door behind the little party. They stood in a
small, dark alley that ran beside the house and they heard the sound of
music. Crouching against the wall they listened, and heard also the
sounds of laughter and feminine voices.
The Ring Tailed Panther grinned in the darkness.
"Some kind of a fandango is goin' on," he said. "It's just like the
Mexicans to dance and sing at such a time. I wouldn't be s'prised if Cos
himself was here, an' I mean to see."
He led the way down the little alley, which was roughly paved with
stone, and, as they advanced, the sounds of music and laughter
increased. Unquestionably Governor Veramendi was giving a ball, and Ned
did not doubt that the Panther's surmise about the presence of Cos would
prove correct.
They found a little gate opening from the alley into a large patio or
enclosed court. This gate, like the first, was not locked and the Ring
Tailed Panther pushed it open also. The patio was filled with palms,
flowering plants and a dense shrubbery.
The Ring Tailed Panther again led boldly on, and entered the patio,
hiding instantly among the palms and flowers. The others followed and
did likewise. Ned quivered with excitement. He knew that the danger was
great. He knew also that if they lay close and waited they were likely
to hear what was worth hearing.
The boy was in a dense mat of shrubbery. To his right was Obed and to
his left were the Ring Tailed Panther and Urrea. He saw that the patio
was faced on three sides by piazzas or porticos, from which wide doors
opened into the house. He heard the music now as clearly as if it were
at his side. It was the music of a full band, and it was played with a
mellow, gliding rhythm. He saw, also, officers in brilliant uniform and
handsome women, as in the dance they passed and repassed the open doors.
It was Spanish, Mexican to the core, full of the South, full of warmth
and color. The lean, brown Texans crouching in the shrubbery furnished a
striking contrast.
While they waited, several officers and ladies came out on the piazzas,
ate ices and drank sweet drinks. They were so near that the four easily
heard all they said. It was mostly idle chatter, high-pitched
compliments, allusions to people in the distant City of Mexico, and now
and then a jest at the expense of the Texans. Ned realized that many of
the younger Mexicans did not take the siege of San Antonio seriously.
They could not understand how a strong city, held by an army of Mexican
regulars, could have anything to fear from a few hundred Texan
horsemen, mostly hunters in buckskin.
The music began again and the officers and women went in, but presently
several older men, also in uniform, came out. Ned instantly recognized
in the first the square figure and the dark, lowering face of Cos.
"De La Garcia, Ugartchea, Veramendi," whispered the Ring Tailed Panther,
indicating the others. "Now we may hear something."
Cos stood at the edge of the piazza and his face was troubled. He held
in his hand a small cane, with which he cut angrily at the flowers. The
others regarded him uneasily, but for a while he said nothing. Ned
hardly breathed, so intense was his interest and curiosity, but when Cos
at last spoke his disappointment was great.
The General complimented Veramendi on his house and hospitality, and the
Vice-Governor thanked him in ornate sentences. Some more courtesies were
exchanged, but Cos continued to cut off the heads of the flowers with
his cane, and Ned knew now that they had come from the ballroom to talk
of more important things. Meanwhile, the music flowed on. It was the
swaying strains of the dance, and it would have been soothing to anyone,
whose mind was not forced elsewhere. The flowers and the palms rippled
gently under a light breeze, but Ned did not hear them. He was waiting
to hear Cos speak of what was in the mind of himself and the other men
on the piazza, the same things that were in the minds of the Texans in
the shrubbery.
"Have you any further word from the Texan desperadoes, General?" asked
Veramendi, at last.
Swish went the general's cane, and a flower fell from its stem.
"Nothing direct," he replied, his voice rising in anger.
"They have not sent again demanding my surrender knowing that a
messenger would be shot. The impudence of these border horsemen passes
all belief. How dare a few hundred such men undertake to besiege us here
in San Antonio? What an insult to Mexico!"
"But they can fight," said Ugartchea. "They ride and shoot like demons.
They will give us trouble."
"I know it," said Cos, "but the more trouble they make us the more they
shall suffer. It was an evil day when the first American was allowed to
come into Texas."
"Yet they will attack us here," persisted Ugartchea, "They have driven
our men off the prairies. Our lances are not a match for their rifles.
Your pardon, General, but it will be wise for us to fortify still
further."
Cos frowned and made another wicked sweep with the cane. But he said:
"What you say is truth, Colonel Ugartchea, but with qualifications. Our
men are not a match for them on the open prairie, but should they attack
us here in the city they will be destroyed."
Then he asked further questions about the fortifications, and Ugartchea,
who seemed to be in immediate charge, began to repeat the details. It
was for this that the Texans had come into the patio, and Ned leaned
forward eagerly. He saw Obed on one side of him and the Ring Tailed
Panther on the other do the same. Suddenly there was a noise as of
something falling in the shrubbery, and then a sharp whistle. The men on
the piazza instantly looked in the direction of the hidden Texans. Cos
and Ugartchea drew pistols.
The Ring Tailed Panther acted with the greatest promptness and decision.
"We must run for it, boys," he exclaimed in a loud whisper. "Something,
I don't know what, has happened to warn them that we are here. Keep your
heads low."
Still partly hidden by the palms and flowers they ran for the gate. Cos
and Veramendi fired at the flitting forms and shouted for soldiers. Ned
felt one of the bullets scorch the back of his hand, but in a few
moments he was out of the gate and in the little dark alley. The Ring
Tailed Panther was just before him, and Obed was just behind. The
Panther, instead of running toward the street continued up the alley
which led to a large building of adobe, in the rear of the governor's
house.
"It's a stable and storehouse," said the Ring Tailed Panther, "an' we'll
hide in it while the hunt roars on through the city."
He jerked open a door, and they rushed in. Ned in the dusk saw some
horses eating in their stalls, and he also saw a steep ladder leading to
lofts above. The Ring Tailed Panther never hesitated, but ran up the
ladder and Ned followed sharply after him. He heard Obed panting at his
heels.
The lofts contained dried maize and some vegetables, but they were
mostly filled with hay. The fugitives plunged into the hay and pulled it
around them, until only their heads and the muzzles of their rifles
protruded. They lay for a few moments in silence, save for the sound of
their own hard breathing, and then Ned suddenly noticed something. They
were only three!
"Why, where is Urrea?" he exclaimed.
"Yes, where in thunder is Don Francisco?" said the Ring Tailed Panther
in startled tones.
Urrea was certainly missing, and no one could tell when they had lost
him. Their flight had been too hurried to take any count of numbers.
There could be only one conclusion. Urrea had been taken in the patio.
The Ring Tailed Panther roared between his teeth, low but savagely.
"I don't like many Mexicans," he said, "but I got to like Don Francisco.
The Mexicans have shorely got him, an' it will go 'specially hard with
him, he bein' of their own race."
Ned sighed. He did not like to think of Don Francisco at the mercy of
Cos. But they could do nothing, absolutely nothing. To leave the hay
meant certain capture within a few minutes. Already they heard the
sounds of the hunt, the shouts of soldiers and the mob, of men calling
to one another. Through the chinks in the wall they saw the light of
torches in the alley. They lay still for a few minutes and then the
noise of the search drifted down toward the plazas. The torches passed
out of the alley.
"Did you hear that whistle just before Cos and Ugartchea fired?" asked
Ned.
"I did," replied Obed. "I don't understand it, and what I don't
understand bothers me."
The Ring Tailed Panther growled, and his growl was the most savage that
Ned had ever heard from him. The growl did not turn into words for at
least a minute. Then he said:
"I'm like you, Obed; I hate riddles, an' this is the worst one that I
was ever mixed up with. Somethin' fell in the shrubbery; then came the
whistle, the Mexicans shot, away we went, lickety split, an' now we're
here. That's all I know, an' it ain't much."
"I wonder if we'll ever find out," said Ned.
"Doubtful," replied the Ring Tailed Panther. "I'm afeard, boys, they
won't waste much time on Urrea, he bein' a spy an' of their own blood,
too. It's war an' we've got to make the best of it."
But Ned could not make very well of it. A fugitive hidden there in the
hay and the dark, the fate of Urrea seemed very terrible to him. The
three sank into silence. Occasionally they heard cries from distant
parts of the town, but the hunt did not seem to come back toward them.
Ned was thankful that the Ring Tailed Panther had been so ready of wit.
The Mexicans would not dream that the Texans were hiding in the
Vice-Governor's own barn, just behind the Vice-Governor's own house. He
made himself cozy in the hay and waited.
After about an hour, the town turned quiet, and Ned inferred that the
hunt was over. The Mexicans, no doubt, would assume that the three had
escaped from San Antonio, and they would not dare to hunt far out on the
prairies. But what of Urrea! Poor Urrea! Ned could not keep from
thinking of him, but think as hard as he could he saw no way to find out
about his fate. Perhaps the Ring Tailed Panther was right. They would
never know.
The three did not stir for a long time. Ned felt very comfortable in the
hay. The night was cold without, but here he was snug and warm. He
waited for those older and more experienced than himself to decide upon
their course and he knew that Obed or the Ring Tailed Panther would
speak in time. He was almost in a doze when Obed said that it must be
about one o'clock in the morning.
"You ain't far wrong," said the Ring Tailed Panther, "but I'd wait at
least another hour. That ball will be over then, if we didn't break it
up when we were in the garden."
They waited the full hour, and then they stole from the hay.
Veramendi's house was silent and dark, and they passed safely into the
street. Ned had a faint hope that Urrea would yet appear from some dark
hiding place, but there was no sign of the young Mexican.
They chose the boldest possible course, thinking that it would be
safest, claiming to one soldier whom they passed that they were
sentinels going to their duty at the farthest outposts. Luck, as it
usually does, came to the aid of courage and skill, and they reached the
outskirts of San Antonio, without any attempt at interference.
Once more, after long and painful creeping, they stole between the
sentinels, took mental note of the earthworks again, and also a last
look at the dark bulk that was the town.
"Poor Urrea!" said Ned.
"Poor Urrea," said Obed. "I wonder what in the name of the moon and the
stars gave the alarm!"
"Poor Urrea!" said the Ring Tailed Panther. "This is the worst riddle I
ever run up ag'inst an' the more I think about it the more riddlin' it
gets."
The three sighed together and then sped over the prairie toward the camp
on the Salado.