n'."

"To-morrow," said Obed, "more of our friends will be here and when we
all get together we will discuss it and make a decision."

"Of course we'll discuss it!" roared the Ring Tailed Panther, "an' then
we'll come to a decision, an' there's only one decision that we can come
to. We'll cross the river an' mighty quick we'll make them Mexicans wish
they'd chose a camp a hundred miles from Gonzales."

The others laughed, but after all, the Ring Tailed Panther had stated
their position truly. Every man agreed with him. The watch at the river
that night was as vigilant as ever, and the next morning parties of
Texans arrived from different points, swelling their numbers to more
than one hundred and fifty men, fully equaling the company of Castenada,
after allowing for reinforcements received by the Mexican captain.

With one of the Texan troops came a quiet man of confident bearing,
dressed like the others in buckskin, but with more authority in his
manner. The Ring Tailed Panther greeted him with great warmth, shaking
his hand and saying:

"John! John! We're awful glad you've come 'cause there's to be a lot of
roarin' an' tearin' an' clawin' to be done."

The man smiled and replied in his quiet tones:

"We know it and that's why we've come. Now, I suggest that while we
leave ten men at each ford, we hold a meeting in the village. Everything
we have is at stake and as one Texan is as good as another we ought to
talk it over."

"Who is he?" asked Ned of Obed.

"That's John Moore. He's been a great Indian fighter and one of the
defenders of the frontier. I think it likely that he'll be our leader in
whatever we undertake. He's certainly the man for the place."

"Oyez! Oyez!" roared the Ring Tailed Panther with mouth wide open. "Come
all ye upon the common, an' hear the case of Texas against Mexico which
is now about to be debated. The gentlemen representin' the other side
are on the west shore of the river about a mile from here, an' after
decidin' upon our argyment an' the manner of it we'll communicate it to
'em later whether they like our decision or not."

They poured upon the common in a tumultuous throng, the women and
children forming a continuous fringe about them.

"I move that John Moore be made the Chairman of this here meetin' an'
the leader in whatever it decides to do, 'specially as we know already
what it's goin' to decide," roared the Ring Tailed Panther, "an'
wherever he leads we will follow."