or jacals, made of
adobe, and sometimes of mere mud and wattles. As all the four spoke
Spanish, they advanced, confident in themselves, and the protecting
shadows of the night. A dog barked at them, but Obed cursed him in good,
strong Mexican, and he slunk away. Two peons wrapped to the eyes in
serapes passed them but Obed boldly gave them the salutations of the
night and they walked on, not dreaming that the dreaded Texans were by.

Fifty yards further they saw a long earthwork, with the spades and
shovels lying beside it, as if the Mexicans expected to resume work
there in the morning. Toward the north they saw another such defense but
they did not go very near, as Mexican soldiers were camped beside it.
But Ned retained a very clear idea of the location of the two
earthworks.

Then they curved in toward the more important portion of the town, the
center of which was two large squares, commonly called Main Plaza and
Military Plaza, separated only by the church of San Fernando. Here were
many houses built heavily of stone in the Spanish style. They had thick
walls and deep embrasured windows. Often they looked like and were
fortresses.

Ned and his comrades were extremely anxious to approach those squares,
but the danger was now much greater. They saw barricades on several
important streets and many soldiers were passing. They learned from a
peon that both the squares and many other open places also were filled
with the tents of the soldiers.

Ned, Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther having seen so much were eager to
see more, but Urrea hung back. He thought they should return with the
information they had obtained already, and not risk the loss of
everything by capture, but the Ring Tailed Panther was determined.

"I know San Antonio by heart," he said, "an' there's somethin' I want to
see. Down this street is the house of the Vice-Governor, Veramendi, and
I want to see what is going on there. If the rest of you feel that the
risk ain't justified you can turn back, but I'm goin' on."

"If you go I'm going with you," said Ned.

"Me, too," said Obed.

Urrea shrugged his shoulders.

"Very well," he said. "It's against my judgment, but I follow."

They had pulled their slouch hats down over their faces, in the Mexican
style, and they handled their rifles awkwardly, after the fashion of
Mexican recruits. The Ring Tailed Panther led boldly down the street,
until they came to the stone house of Veramendi. Lights sh