THE ARMY OF SANTA ANNA.
"Houston? You here? I've something to show you. Hurrah for Texas!"
The commander-in-chief had been sent for days earlier, and he had come
in haste, for a fast-riding courier had brought him word that Santa
Anna and his army were already across the Rio Grande.
"Bowie! Thank God!" almost roared the old hero, springing forward.
"Oh, Bowie! I'd begun to believe you were dead."
"Not a bit of it!" shouted back Bowie. "I've won a pot of money for
our side. Here it comes."
A train of horses was filing through the gate-way of the Alamo. They
were not the worn-out animals which had travelled so fast and so far,
for Crockett had made the rangers give up as many quadrupeds as were
necessary for the wounded men and the money-packs. Three horses,
indeed, bore sadder burdens, for the dead also had been brought in.
These had halted outside the walls and a burial party was at work.
"It costs us something to win freedom," was the sombre comment of
General Houston. "Many another brave fellow must go down before we
clean out the Greasers and the redskins. Now, Bowie, come in and tell
me what this means."
They walked on into an inner room of the fort, but not even to Houston
did Bowie as yet unfold the secret of the cavern.
"Too many know it already, or half know it," was the thought he did not
put into words. He told all about the Spanish dollars and doubloons,
however. In turning them over to the state, less the small sums agreed
upon as the allowance of his men, he stipulated that the first use made
of any money should be for provisions, powder and ball, for the defence
of the Alamo.
"Houston," he said, with emphasis, "my notion is that it can't get here
any too quick. Travis is wrong. Santa Anna will march straight for
the Alamo."
"He may. He may," replied the general. "At all events, I must set out
with the cash. I must send you all the help I can right away. Then I
must raise troops and march to meet the Mexicans. It's a blue time for
Texas, but this is a ray of light."
It was only one ray, for in all other directions the prospect seemed
dark. His own preparations for departure were made at once, and in the
gloom of that very evening he rode away.
"We must go all night," he said, "and not a soul outside the fort must
know what we're taking with us."
About an hour later, eleven men sat together in the upper corner room
of the convent building, and every man of them bound by an oath and by
his word of honor to keep secret all he might hear.
"Boys," said Bowie to his own men, "if Travis and Crockett are let in
and no more, the secret is just as safe. I don't feel as if they were
outsiders."
"Just the same as ourselves," replied Jim Cheyne. "They're to help us
git up the expedition. But what about the gold bars we fetched this
time? They'd tell it all if we showed 'em now."
"Keep 'em for expenses when we are ready for business," said Bowie. "I
didn't say a word of them to Houston. We can hole them right here in
the corner of this room. Safe as a bank."
"And if Santa Anna captures the fort, what then?" asked Joe.
"Nobody 'll ever hear of any gold he got here," replied Bowie, grimly.
"If one of his men found it, he'd take it away from him and have him
shot for desertion."
The bars belonging to the men were brought, and they made only a small
pile, after all, when packed in a corner, under the couch, with old
saddles stuffed in front of them. Red Wolf's prizes, of course, were
not included.
"Ugh!" said Castro, after watching the operation. "Big Knife kill
Travis. Kill Crockett. No kill all Texan. Heap shut mouth.
Montezuma talk, all bad medicine."
"All right, Castro," said Bowie. "When my time comes I shall die."
"What does he mean?" asked Travis.
"You couldn't root it out of him," said Bowie. "He believes that every
white man who meddles with this stuff is bound to go under. It's
poison."
"Out with your yarn, then," said Crockett. "I'll take my chances. You
kin name the day for my funeral."
Steadily, from step to step, the colonel told the story of his raid
into Mexico. Not a word was uttered by anybody else until he came to
the description of the cavern.
"Ugh!" exclaimed Castro. "Heap bad medicine. Now Travis go under.
Crockett lose hair."
He evidently did not wish to hear any more himself, but curiosity is a
strong tether, and, after all, he was an Indian, and upon him the
mysterious peril might not have so much power. Red Wolf knew the
secret already, and nothing evil had as yet happened to him. The chief
remained, therefore, in silence, while Bowie told of the human
sacrifices, the fate of Tetzcatl, and the heaps of ingots, tons and
tons of them.
"Go for it?" shouted Travis. "Of course we will. As soon as we've
beaten the Greasers I'll raise the men that can ride across Mexico to
get the stuff out of that cave. It's a wonderful thing to know, but
when you come to think of it, it's the most natural thing in the world.
Montezuma and Guatamoczin did exactly what you and I would have done,
both before Cortez came and afterwards. We wouldn't have given it up
neither, and they didn't."
"Thar's heaps of human natur' in this world," remarked Crockett. "I'd
ha' bet they'd ha' done just exactly what they did do. There's nothing
curious about it."
"No more there is about their idols," added Travis. "They kept them
just as all the other heathen do in Asia and Africa. Hundreds of
millions of idol-worshippers go it right along, with the missionaries
among 'em. They kill the missionaries, too, now and then. Some eat
'em, and these fellows cut their throats and pitch 'em into a hole."
It seemed as if every trace of anything mysterious or improbable
departed from the old legend of the Aztec gold and silver the moment
the truth concerning it came out to be studied by such matter-of-fact
men as these. Their hard common sense took it like any other business
affair, and they were almost ready to name beforehand the men they
meant to take with them on the expedition they planned to secure the
treasure.
After telling the story, however, Bowie grew silent and moody. He
looked around him upon the bare walls of the room. He passed a hand
over the low couch upon which he was sitting. He hardly seemed to
listen to what the others were saying. When at last there was a pause
and a silence, he arose to his feet, and a shadow, darker than usual,
was on his face.
"Travis," he said, "I want to get out of this room. It's close and
hot. I somehow don't like it. It keeps me thinking of Tetzcatl, too,
and of all he said when we talked with him here. He was a kind of
devil, he was. I'm glad he went down into that chasm. If it's good
and deep he 'll stay there."
He strode rapidly out of the room, and they heard Castro mutter,--
"Big Knife too much talk. Montezuma talk bad medicine. All lose hair.
Ugh!"
Red Wolf had listened but he had said nothing, for nothing was left him
to tell. He was a proud young brave, however, for the Big Knife, the
great white chief, had praised him tremendously, and his own father had
more than once said, "Heap young brave."
"Ugh!" said Castro, laying a hand upon the arm of his son; and they
arose and followed Bowie until they stood with him in the plaza.
"Well, Castro?" asked Bowie. "What is it?"
"Want horse," said the Lipan chief. "Good pony. Ride heap. See
Mexican. Come tell Bowie. Sleep now. Go before sun."
"Bully!" exclaimed Bowie. "I'll give you the best critters in the
fort. I want to know just where Santa Anna is. What you two want
first, though, is to sleep about ten hours and eat all you can hold."
Castro meant just that, for even the tough sinews of a Lipan warrior
could feel the strain they had borne. Away he went with Red Wolf, and
now the colonel's face grew brighter, for half the garrison was
gathering around him.
"I can't talk much now, boys," he said. "You know about all there is
to tell, but I'll add one thing."
He pointed westward in silence for a moment, and his eyes wore almost a
dreamy look as he went on:
"All that land, clean through to the Pacific, must belong to Texas.
Somewhere in yonder among the mountains, in the rocks and in the
gullies, there is more gold and more silver than the world has ever yet
heard of. The new Gulf republic must take in New Mexico, and Arizona,
and California, and it will become the treasure-house of all the time
to come. We are poor now, but we shall be the richest people on earth.
Only we must understand one thing at the outset. Gold is like freedom.
Every pound of it that was ever won was somehow paid for in blood. I'm
ready to give mine, right here, if I'm called for. Now I'm going in
for a hammock. I'm clean used up."
It was past the middle of February, in the year 1836. The weather had
been stormy, but was now better, bearing few traces of winter as it is
in more northerly latitudes. It was a season of the year that could be
expected to favor military movements, but the Mexican commander had
been disappointed and seriously delayed during all the earlier part of
his invasion. The rains and mud had been in the way of heavy
provision-trains and artillery.
A little after sunrise on the morning after the arrival of the
returning raiders, the sentry relieved at the Alamo gate-way reported
the departure, an hour earlier, of Castro and his son.
"Gone on a scout," said Travis. "Hope they'll have good luck. We
don't know half enough just now."
All that day was spent by the small garrison of the fort in what they
called getting ready for a better state of things. They expected
reinforcements and supplies, but Crockett and Bowie, rather than even
Travis, insisted upon putting all they had in the best possible order.
A strict account of rations was taken. Cannon were carefully cleaned,
and most of them needed it. Every weapon, large or small, was brought
out for inspection or repairs. Every ounce of powder was measured as
if it were gold. At least a dozen men were kept at work moulding
bullets, and for this purpose a number of leaden filigree ornaments
were taken from the window casings of the old church.
"Best that can be did with 'em," remarked Crockett. "Church lead is as
good as any other to kill Greasers with."
The supply of water was sure, for the Spanish builders had constructed
aqueducts which brought an abundance, like springs within the walls.
The men were in high spirits over their work, and even Colonel Bowie
lost some of the gloom which had been upon his face.
"Crockett," he remarked, however, "I hope Houston 'll make good time.
We shan't be ready for Santa Anna an hour too soon."
"Travis hardly believes he's comin'," replied Crockett. "He reckons
the old monte-player will strike for the middle of the State and the
coast towns."
"Not and leave the Alamo behind him," said Bowie. "We'll have the
first fight right here, and it 'll be a hard one."
So they talked and worked, and the day passed and another night came
and went. It was a little after the middle of the next day that a
brace of mustangs were reined in upon the brow of a low hill looking
southward.
"Ugh!" exclaimed one of them. "Red Wolf heap look. Santa Anna come!"
The younger rider was silent, but he was looking. For the first time
in their lives they had seen an army. The southerly prairie was nearly
level, traversed along its farther border by a winding stream of water.
On this side of the stream, in long lines, in columns and in
detachments, marched several regiments of infantry attended by
batteries of light artillery. On their flanks and in the advance rode
strong bodies of lancers. There were flags and pennons, and the
serried bayonets wore a warlike look. There were even bands of music.
"Heap Mexican!" exclaimed Red Wolf. "Tell Big Knife."
"Alamo men all die," replied Castro.
He did not move, however, during several minutes, for the bugles of the
lancers and the shouted orders of the infantry commanders had called a
halt. Very shortly there were sufficient indications that the invading
force had marched far enough for that day and that it was now going
into camp.
It was by no means a perfectly organized army, and there was a sad lack
of precision in its movements, but its dispositions for camping were
tolerably well made. Tents were put up for officers, but the rank and
file were expected, evidently, to bivouac. There would be little
hardship in that, but if the Lipan scouts had been able to make a
closer inspection, they might have noted that the entire array of over
five thousand men wore a hard-travelled, worn-out appearance, as if
they had been pushed and as if it were really about time that they
should have a rest.
There were clumps of trees on the prairie. Wood could be cut and fires
could be made, but before the first smoke began to rise Castro wheeled
his horse.
"Ugh!" he said. "Ride now. Kill pony. Comanche no come."
He had been staring at point after point to discover if any of his old
enemies were acting with the Mexicans. If they were, none of them
could as yet be seen among the troops of Santa Anna.
He and his son disappeared over the rolls of the prairie, and, unless
they should be intercepted, there would be news for the garrison of the
Alamo.
Not in the centre of the Mexican camp, but on the bank of the river, a
large and nearly new marquee tent had been put up as the first order
for a halt was given. At a little distance a fire had been quickly
kindled and cooking was already going on. In front of the tent stood a
group of officers and they were chatting merrily.
"We will crush the Alamo like an eggshell," asserted one of them.
"It will surrender at discretion on our arrival," added another!
"Travis will never be so foolhardy as to resist an overwhelming force,"
remarked a third; but he added to the dark-faced man in the middle of
the group, "General, what are we to do after dinner? I'm tired of
inspecting."
"So are the men," responded the general. "I think we shall have
something better. We can empty a coop."
He pointed as he spoke at a spot of ground fifty yards from the tent,
at the right, where several ragged _peons_ were at work with stakes and
cord. They were already constructing a cockpit, for the Mexican
commander did not propose to let so small a matter as the conquest of
Texas deprive him of his favorite amusement. Moreover, on the bank of
the river, beyond the cockpit, were drawn up two large wagons, and each
of these was almost over-piled with wicker coops, the occupants of
which were from time to time crowing defiantly at each other. If the
army was to rest there while the Texans were getting ready to receive
it, more than one of the coops might possibly be emptied by the
proposed combats of the gallant poultry.
Meantime, the disposition of battalions, regiments, and batteries was
left haphazard to subordinates who had no fowls to think of, and the
general and his brilliant staff went in to dinner.