or a theatre and it set me up again."

It did "set him up" in earnest. The President, who always had a warm
place in his heart for him, helped by sending him--not, perhaps, without
some insight into the future--to Texas, to examine into the value of
that country, in case the United States should decide to buy it. What
Jackson's private instructions were can only be surmised, but,
certainly, Houston showed no hesitation or uncertainty after he reached
the scene.

On December 10, 1832, he crossed into Mexican territory, and was soon at
the head of the Texas insurrectionists, who had determined to establish
a government of their own, and who found in Houston a leader after their
own hearts. Armed collisions between Texans and Mexican troops became
of common occurrence, and the spirit of revolt spread so rapidly that
Santa Anna, dictator of Mexico, sent an army under General Cos to pacify
the country and drive the Americans out.

It was the spark in the magazine. All Texas sprang to arms under such
leaders as Houston, Austin, Travis, Bonham, Fannin, "Deaf" Smith, and
"Ben" Milam; took Goliad, where Milam lost his life heading a desperate
assault; captured Concepcion and San Antonio, until, by the middle of
December, 1836, not a Mexican soldier was left north of the Rio Grande.
But Houston, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Texan
forces, knew they would return, and bent every effort to organize a
disciplined army. It was a difficult thing to do with the high-tempered
and lawless elements at hand; everything was disorder and confusion, and
meanwhile came word that Santa Anna himself, at the head of an army of
six thousand men, was entering Texas.

No effective opposition could be offered such an army; the San Antonio
garrison was entrapped in the old mission called The Alamo and killed to
the last man; Fannin and his force, three hundred and fifty strong, were
cornered at Goliad and brutally shot down in detachments after they had
surrendered; and Santa Anna, certain that Texas had been conquered,
divided his army into columns to occupy the country. Houston only was
left, and the fate of Texas hung on his little force; he knew he could
strike but once; if he were defeated, the war for independence would
end then and there; so he watched and waited, gathering together the
stragglers, keeping them in heart, laboring like a very Hercules.
Hundreds of miles away, in Washington, old Andrew Jackson, a map of
Texa