the same time it bade all who opposed to beware. The boy felt
as if he were before a splendid leopard with no bars of a cage between.

Santa Anna took three or four rapid steps back and forth. He kept his
hat upon his head, a right, it seemed, due to his superiority to other
people. He looked like a man who had a great thought which he was
shaping into quick words. Presently he stopped before Austin, and shot
him one of those piercing glances.

"My friend and guest," he said in the sonorous Spanish.

Austin bowed. Whether the subtle Mexican meant the words in satire or
in earnest he did not know, nor did he care greatly.

"When I call you my friend and guest I speak truth," said Santa Anna.
"It is true that we had you brought here from Saltillo, and we insist
that you accept our continued hospitality, but it is because we know how
devoted you are to our common Mexico, and we would have you here at our
right hand for advice and help."

Ned saw Mr. Austin smile a little sadly. It all seemed very strange to
the boy. How could one talk of friendship and hospitality to those whom
he held as prisoners? Why could not these people say what they meant?
Again he longed for the free winds of the plains.

"You and I together should be able to quiet these troublesome Texans,"
continued Santa Anna--and his voice had a hard metallic quality that
rasped the boy's nerves. "You know, Stephen Austin, that I and Mexico
have endured much from the people whom you have brought within our
borders. They shed good Mexican blood at the fort, Velasco, and they
have attacked us elsewhere. They do not pay their taxes or obey our
decrees, and when I send my officers to make them obey they take down
their long rifles."

Austin smiled again, and now the watching boy thought the smile was not
sad at all. If Santa Anna took notice he gave no sign.

"But you are reasonable," continued the Mexican, and now his manner was
winning to an extraordinary degree. "It was my predecessor, Farias, who
brought you here, but I would not see you go, because I love you like a
brother, and now I have come to you, that between us we may calm your
turbulent Texans."

"But you must bear in mind," said Austin, "that our rights have been
taken from us. All the clauses of our charter have been broken, and now
your Congress has decreed that we shall have only one soldier to every
five hundred inhabitants and that all the rest of us shall be disarmed.
How are we, in a