r me, I'm the Ring Tailed Panther."

"The Ring Tailed Panther?"

"Exactly. Didn't you hear me say so? I'm the Ring Tailed Panther, an' I
can whip anything livin', man or beast, lion or grizzly bear. That's why
I'm the Ring Tailed Panther."

"Happy to know you, Mr. Ring Tailed Panther," said Ned, "and having no
quarrel with you we don't wish to fight you."

The man laughed, his broad face radiating good humor.

"And I don't want to fight you, either," he said, "'cause all of us have
got to fight somebody else. See here, your name's Obed an' yours is Ned,
and that's what I'm goin' to call you. No Mistering for me. It don't
look well for a Ring Tailed Panther to be givin' handles to people's
names."

"Ned and Obed it is," said Ned with warmth.

"Then, Ned an' Obed, it's Mexicans. I've been fightin' Indians a long
time. Besides bein' a Ring Tailed Panther, I'm three parts grizzly bear
an' one part tiger, an' I want you both to come with guns."

"Is it fighting?" asked Ned, starting up.

"It's ridin' first an' then fightin'. Our people down at Gonzales have a
cannon. The Mexicans are comin' to take it away from them, an' I think
there's goin' to be trouble over the bargain. The Texans got the gun as
a defense against the Indians an' they need it. Some of us are goin'
down there to take a hand in the matter of that gun, an' you are goin'
with us."

"Of course we are!" said Ned and Obed together. In five minutes they
were riding, fully armed, with the Ring Tailed Panther over the prairie.
He gave them more details as they rode along.

"Some of our people had been gatherin' at San Felipe to stop the march
of Cos if they could," he said, "but they've been drawn off now to help
Gonzales. They're comin' from Bastrop, too, an' other places, an' if
there ain't a fight then I'm the Ring Tailed Panther for nothing. If we
keep a good pace we can join a lot of the boys by nightfall."

"We'll keep it," said Ned. The boy's heart was pounding. Somehow he felt
that an event of great importance was at hand, and he was glad to have a
share in it. But the three spoke little. The Panther led the way. Ned
saw that despite his boasting words he was a man of action. Certainly he
was acting swiftly now, and it was quite evident that he knew what he
was doing. At last he turned to Ned and said:

"You're only a boy. You know what you're goin' into, of course?"

"A fight, I think."

"And you may get killed?"

"I know it. One can't