wie called Ned up to his side, and had him to relate again all that he
had seen and heard in Mexico.

"Mr. Austin is at the camp," said Fannin, "and he has been asking about
you."

Ned's heart thrilled. There was a strong bond between him and the
gentle, kindly man who strove so hard to serve both Texas and Mexico,
and whom Santa Anna had long kept a prisoner for his pains.

"When will we reach the camp?" he asked Bowie.

"In less than a half hour. See, the scouts have already sighted us."

The scouts came up in a few moments, and then they drew near the camp.
Ned, eager of eye, observed everything.

The heart of the camp was in the center of a pecan grove, where a few
tents for the leading men stood, but the Texans were spread all about in
both groves and meadows, where they slept under the open sky. They wore
no uniforms. All were in hunting suits of dressed deerskin or homespun,
but they were well armed with the long rifles which they knew how to use
with such wonderful skill. They had no military tactics, but they
invariably pressed in where the foe was thickest and the danger
greatest. They were gathered now in hundreds from all the Texas
settlements to defend the homes that they had built in the wilderness,
and Cos with his Mexican army did not dare to come out of San Antonio.

The Texans welcomed Bowie and his men with loud acclaim. Ned and his
comrades unsaddled, tethered their horses and lay down luxuriously in
the grass. Mr. Austin was busy in his tent at a conference of the
leaders and Ned would wait until the afternoon to see him. Obed
suggested that they take a nap.

"In war eat when you can and sleep when you can," he said. "Sleep lost
once is lost forever."

"Obed has got some sense if he don't look like it," chuckled the Ring
Tailed Panther. "Here's to followin' his advice."

Ned took it, too, and slept until the afternoon, when a messenger asked
him to come to Mr. Austin's tent, a large one, with the sides now open.
Obed was invited to come with him, and, as Ned stood in the door of the
tent the mild, grave man advanced eagerly, a glow of pleasure and
affection on his face.

"My boy! my boy!" he said, putting both hands on Ned's shoulders. "I was
sure that I should never see you again, after you made your wonderful
escape from our prison in Mexico. But you are here in Texas none the
worse, and they tell me you have passed through a very Odyssey of
hardship and danger."

Water stood in Ned