f the little
town which was great, at least so far as food was concerned. They longed
for action, but the rest was really necessary. Both body and spirit were
preparing for greater deeds. Meanwhile, Houston, the scouts and the
Texan government went away, but Ned and Obed stayed, awaiting the call.
They knew that the signals had now passed through all Texas and they did
not think that they would have to remain there long.

They heard soon that Houston's prediction in regard to Austin had come
true. Santa Anna had released him, and he had arrived in Texas. But he
had not been cajoled. His eyes had been opened at last to the designs of
the dictator and immediately upon his return to Texas he had warned his
countrymen in a great speech. Meanwhile, the army of Cos was approaching
San Antonio, preceded by the heralds of coming Texan ruin.

Ned and Obed sat under the shade of some live oaks, when a horseman came
to the little village. He was a strange man, great in size, dressed in
buckskin, very brown of countenance and with long hair, tied as the
western Indians would wear it. He was something of a genial boaster,
was this man, and he was known up and down the Texas border as the Ring
Tailed Panther although his right name was Martin Palmer. But he had
lived long among the Osage, Kiowa and Pawnee Indians, and he was
renowned throughout all the Southwestern country for his bravery, skill
and eccentricity. An Indian had killed a white man and eaten his heart.
He captured the Indian and compelled him to eat until he died. When his
favorite bear dog died he rode sixty miles and brought a minister to
preach a sermon over his body. A little boy was captured on the
outskirts of a settlement by some Comanche Indians. He followed them
alone for three hundred miles, stole the boy away from them in the
night, and carried him back safely to his father and mother.

Such was the Ring Tailed Panther, a name that he had originally given to
himself and which the people had adopted, one who boasted that he feared
no man, the boast being true. He was heavily armed and he rode a black
and powerful horse, which he directed straight toward the place where
Ned and Obed were sitting.

"You are Ned Fulton an' Obed White, if report tells no lie?" he said in
a deep growling voice.

"We are," said Ned, who did not know the identity of their formidable
visitor.

"So I knew. I just wanted to see if you'd deny it. Glad to meet you,
gentlemen. As fo