"At least, the Mexicans ride well," said Obed.
Ned gazed from the crest of the mound at the flying men, rapidly becoming smaller and smaller as they sped over the prairie.
CHAPTER XVI
THE COMING OF URREA
Many of the Texans were hot for pursuit, but Moore recalled them. His reasons were brief and grim. "You will not overtake them," he said, "and you will need all your energies later on. This is only the beginning."
A number of the Mexicans had been slain, but none of the Texans had fallen, the aim of their opponents being so wild. The triumph had certainly been an easy one, but Ned perhaps rejoiced less than any other one present. The full mind again projected itself into the future, and foresaw great and terrible days. The Texans were but few, scattered thinly over a long frontier, and the rage of Cos and Santa Anna would be unbounded, when they heard of the fight and flight of their troops at Gonzales.
"Obed," he said to his friend, "we are victorious to-day without loss, but I feel that dark days are coming."
The Maine man looked curiously at the boy. He already considered Ned, despite his youth, superior in some ways to himself.
"You"ve been a reader and you"re a thinker, Ned," he said, "and I like to hear what you say. The dark days may come as you predict, because Santa Anna is a great man in the Mexican way, but night can"t come until the day is ended and it"s day just now. We won"t be gloomy yet."
After the fallen Mexicans had been buried, the little force of voluntary soldiers began to disperse, just as they had gathered, of their own accord. The work there was done, and they were riding for their own little villages or lone cabins, where they would find more work to do.
The Mexicans would soon fall on Texas like a cloud, and every one of them knew it.
Ned, Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther rode back to Gonzales, where the women and children welcomed the victors with joyous acclaim.
The three sat down with others to a great feast, spread on tables under the shade of oaks, and consisting chiefly of game, buffalo, deer, squirrels, rabbits and other animals which had helped the early Texans to live. But throughout the dinner Ned and Obed were rather quiet, although the Ring Tailed Panther roared to his heart"s content. It was Ned who spoke first the thought that was in the minds of both Obed and himself. Slowly and by an unconscious process he was becoming the leader.
"Obed," he said, "everybody can do as he pleases, and I propose that you and I and the Ring Tailed Panther scout toward San Antonio. Cos and his army are marching toward that town, and while the Texan campaign of defense is being arranged and the leaders are being chosen we might give a lot of help."
"Just what I was thinking," said Obed.
"Jest what I ought to have thought," said the Ring Tailed Panther.
San Antonio was a long journey to the westward, and they started at twilight fully equipped. They carried their usual arms, two blankets apiece, light but warm, food for several days, and double supplies of ammunition, the thing that they would now need most. Gonzales gave them a farewell full of good wishes. Some of the women exclaimed upon Ned"s youth, but Obed explained that the boy had lived through hardships and dangers that would have overcome many a veteran pioneer of Texas.
They forded the Guadalupe for the second time on the same day. Then they rode by the mound on which the Mexicans had made their brief stand. The three said little. Even the Ring Tailed Panther had thoughts that were not voiced. The hill, the site of the first battle in their great struggle, stood out, clear and sharp, in the moonlight. But it was very still now.
"We"ll date a good many things from that hill," said Ned as they rode on.
They followed in the path of the flying Mexicans who, they were quite sure, would make for Cos and San Antonio. The Ring Tailed Panther knew the most direct course and as the moon was good they could also see the trail left by the Mexicans. It was marked further by grim objects, two wounded horses that had died in the flight, and then by a man succ.u.mbing, who had been buried in a grave so shallow that no one could help noticing it.
A little after midnight they saw a light ahead, and they judged by the motions that a man was waving a torch.
"It can"t be a trap," said Obed, "because the Mexicans would not stop running until they were long past here."
"An" there ain"t no cover where that torch is," added the Ring Tailed Panther.
"Then suppose we ride forward and see what it means," said Ned.
They c.o.c.ked their rifles, ready for combat if need be, and rode forward slowly. Soon they made out the figure of a man standing on a swell of the prairie, and vigorously waving a torch made of a dead stick lighted at one end. He had a rifle, but it leaned against a bush beside him.
His belt held a pistol and knife, but his free hand made no movement toward them, as the three rode up. The man himself was young, slender, and of olive complexion with black hair and eyes. He was a Mexican, but he was dressed in the simple Texan style. Moreover, there were Mexicans born in Texas some of whom, belonging to the Liberal party, inclined to the Texan side. This man was distinctly handsome and the look with which he returned the gaze of the three was frank, free and open.
"I saw you from afar," he said in excellent English. "I climbed the cottonwood there in order to see what might be pa.s.sing on the prairie, and as my eyes happen to be very good I detected three black dots in the moonlight, coming out of the east. As I saw the men of Santa Anna going west as fast as hoofs would carry them I knew that only Texans could be riding out of the east."
He laughed, threw his torch on the ground and stamped out the light.
"I felt that sooner or later someone would come upon Castenada"s track,"
he said, "and you see that I was not wrong."
He smiled again. Ned"s impression was distinctly favorable, and when he glanced at Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther he saw that they, too, were attracted.
"Who are you, stranger?" asked Palmer. "People who meet by night in Texas in these times had best know the names and business of one another."
"Not a doubt of it," replied the young Mexican. "My name is Francisco Urrea, and I was born on the Guadalupe. So, you see, I am a Texan, perhaps more truly a Texan than any of you, because I know by looking at you that all three of you were born in the States. As for my business?"
He grew very serious and looked at the three one after another.
"My business," he said, "is to fight for Texas."
"Well spoke, by the great horn spoon," roared the Ring Tailed Panther.
"Yes, to fight for Texas," resumed young Urrea. "I was on my way to Gonzales to join you. I was too late for the fight, but I saw the men of Castenada, with Castenada himself at their head, flying across the prairie. I a.s.sure you there was no delay on their part. First they were here and then they were gone. The prairie rumbled with their hasty tread, their lances glittered for only a single instant, and then they were lost over the horizon."
He laughed again, and his laugh was so infectious that the three laughed with him.
"I know most people in Texas," rumbled the Ring Tailed Panther, "though there are some Mexican families I don"t know. But I"ve heard of the Urreas, an" if you want to go with us an" join in tearin" an" chawin"
we"ll be glad to have you."
"So we will," said Ned and Obed together, and Obed added: "Three are company, four are better."
"Very well, then," said Urrea, "I shall be happy to become one of your band, and we will ride on together. I"ve no doubt that I can be of help if you mean to keep a watch on Cos. My horse is tied here in a clump of chaparral. Wait a moment and I will rejoin you."
He came back, riding a fine horse, and he was as well equipped as the Texans. Then the four rode on toward San Antonio de Bexar. They found that Urrea knew much. Cos himself would probably be in San Antonio within a week, and heavy reinforcements would arrive later. The three in return gave him a description of the fight at the mound, and they told how the Texans afterward had scattered for different points on the border.
They were not the only riders that night. Men were carrying along the whole frontier the news that the war had begun, that the death struggle was now on between Mexico and Texas, the giant on one side and the pigmy on the other.
But the ride of the four in the trail of Castenada"s flying troop was peaceful enough. About three hours after midnight they stopped under the shelter of some cottonwoods. The Ring Tailed Panther took the watch while the other three slept. Ned lay awake for a little while between his blankets, but he saw that Urrea, who was not ten feet away, had gone sound asleep almost instantly. His olive face lighted dimly by the moon"s rays was smooth and peaceful, and Ned was quite sure that he would be a good comrade. Then he, too, entered the land of slumber.
The Ring Tailed Panther stalked up and down, his broad powerful figure becoming gigantic in the moonlight. Belligerent by nature and the born frontiersman, he was very serious now.
He knew that they were riding toward great danger and he glanced at the face of the sleeping boy. The Ring Tailed Panther had a heart within him, and the temptation to make Ned go back, if he could, was very strong. But he quickly dismissed it as useless. The boy would not go.
Besides, he was skillful, strong and daring.
The Ring Tailed Panther tramped on. Coyotes howled on the prairie, and the deeper note of a timber wolf came from the right, where there was a thick fringe of trees along a creek. But he paid no attention to them.
All the while he watched the circle of the horizon, narrow by night, for hors.e.m.e.n. If they came he believed that his warning must be quick, because they were likely to be either Mexicans or Indians. He saw no riders but toward daylight he saw horses in the west. They were without riders and he walked to the nearest swell to look at them.
He looked down upon a herd of wild horses, many of them clean and fine of build. At their head was a great black stallion and when the Ring Tailed Panther saw him he sighed. At another time, he would have made a try for the stallion"s capture, but now there was other business afoot.