mostly idle chatter, high-pitched
compliments, allusions to people in the distant City of Mexico, and now
and then a jest at the expense of the Texans. Ned realized that many of
the younger Mexicans did not take the siege of San Antonio seriously.
They could not understand how a strong city, held by an army of Mexican
regulars, could have anything to fear from a few hundred Texan
horsemen, mostly hunters in buckskin.

The music began again and the officers and women went in, but presently
several older men, also in uniform, came out. Ned instantly recognized
in the first the square figure and the dark, lowering face of Cos.

"De La Garcia, Ugartchea, Veramendi," whispered the Ring Tailed Panther,
indicating the others. "Now we may hear something."

Cos stood at the edge of the piazza and his face was troubled. He held
in his hand a small cane, with which he cut angrily at the flowers. The
others regarded him uneasily, but for a while he said nothing. Ned
hardly breathed, so intense was his interest and curiosity, but when Cos
at last spoke his disappointment was great.

The General complimented Veramendi on his house and hospitality, and the
Vice-Governor thanked him in ornate sentences. Some more courtesies were
exchanged, but Cos continued to cut off the heads of the flowers with
his cane, and Ned knew now that they had come from the ballroom to talk
of more important things. Meanwhile, the music flowed on. It was the
swaying strains of the dance, and it would have been soothing to anyone,
whose mind was not forced elsewhere. The flowers and the palms rippled
gently under a light breeze, but Ned did not hear them. He was waiting
to hear Cos speak of what was in the mind of himself and the other men
on the piazza, the same things that were in the minds of the Texans in
the shrubbery.

"Have you any further word from the Texan desperadoes, General?" asked
Veramendi, at last.

Swish went the general's cane, and a flower fell from its stem.

"Nothing direct," he replied, his voice rising in anger.

"They have not sent again demanding my surrender knowing that a
messenger would be shot. The impudence of these border horsemen passes
all belief. How dare a few hundred such men undertake to besiege us here
in San Antonio? What an insult to Mexico!"

"But they can fight," said Ugartchea. "They ride and shoot like demons.
They will give us trouble."

"I know it," said Cos, "but the more trouble they make us the more