green, and men spoke the truth.

They rode until nearly noon, when they stopped in a fine grove of oaks
and pecans by the side of a clear creek. The grass was also rich and
deep here, and they did not take the trouble to tether their horses. Ned
was exceedingly glad to dismount as he was stiff and sore from the long
ride, and he was also as hungry as a wolf.

"Lay down on the grass, Ned, an' stretch yourself," said Karnes. "When
you're tired the best way to rest is to be just as lazy as you can be.
The ground will hold you up an' let your lungs do their own breathin'.
Don't you go to workin' 'em yourself."

Ned thought it good advice and took it. It was certainly a great luxury
to make no physical exertion and just to let the ground hold him up, as
Karnes had said. Obed imitated his example, stretching himself out to
his great thin length on the soft turf.

"Two are company and twenty are more so," he said, "especially if you're
in a wild country. My burden of care isn't a quarter as heavy since we
met Jim Bowie, and all the rest of these sure friends and sure shots.
This isn't much like San Juan de Ulua is it, Ned? You wouldn't like to
be back there."

The boy looked up at the vast blue dome of the heavens, then he listened
a moment to the sigh of the free wind which came unchecked a thousand
miles and he replied with so much emphasis that his words snapped:

"Not for worlds, Obed!"

Obed White laughed and rolled over in the grass.

"I do believe you mean that, Ned," he said, "and the sentiments that you
speak so well are also mine own."

Smith and Karnes went a little distance up the creek, and found some
buffalo feeding. They shot a young cow, and in an incredibly short space
tender steaks were broiling over a fire. After dinner all but two went
to sleep. They understood well the old maxim that the more haste the
less speed, and that the sleep and rest through the hours of the
afternoon would make them fit for the long riding that was yet before
them.

At five o'clock they were in the saddle again, and rode until midnight.
The next morning the party separated. The men were to carry the blazing
torch throughout the settlements, telling all the Texans that the
Mexicans were coming and that they were bringing war with them. But
Bowie, "Deaf" Smith and Karnes kept on with Ned and Obed.

"We're taking you to Sam Houston," said Bowie to Ned. "He's to be the
general of all the Texan forces, we think, and we wan