uption, and found that
indecision still reigned there. The blockade of San Antonio was going
on, and the men were eager for the assault, but the leaders were
convinced that the force was too small and weak. They would not consent
to what they considered sure disaster. The recruits that the three
brought were welcomed, but Ned noticed a state of depression in the
camp. He found yet there his old friends, Bowie, Smith, Karnes, and the
others. His news that Urrea was a spy and traitor created a sensation.

Ned was asked by "Deaf" Smith the morning after his arrival to go with
him on a scout, and he promptly accepted. A rest of a single day was
enough for him and he was pining for new action.

The two rode toward the town, and then curved away to one side, keeping
to the open prairie where they might see the approach of a superior
enemy, in time. They observed the Mexican sentinels at a distance, but
the two forces had grown so used to each other that no hostile
demonstration was made, unless one or the other came too close.

Smith and Ned rode some distance, and then turned on another course,
which brought them presently to a hill covered with ash and oak. They
rode among the trees and from that point of vantage searched the whole
horizon. Ned caught the glint of something in the south, and called
Smith's attention to it.

"What do you think it is?" he asked after Smith had looked a long time.

"It's the sun shining on metal, either a lance head or a rifle barrel.
Ah, now I see horsemen riding this way."

"And they are Mexicans, too," said Ned. "What does it mean?"

A considerable force of mounted Mexicans was coming into view, and
Smith's opinion was formed at once.

"It's reinforcements for Cos," he cried. "We heard that Ugartchea was
going to bring fresh troops from Laredo, and that he would also have
with him mule loads of silver to pay off Cos' men. We'll just cut off
this force and take their silver. We'll ride to Bowie!"

They galloped at full speed to the camp and found the redoubtable
Georgian, who instantly gathered together a hundred men including the
Ring Tailed Panther and Obed and raced back. The Mexican horsemen were
still in the valley, seeming to move slowly, and Bowie at once formed up
the Texans for a charge. But before he could give the word a trumpet
pealed, and the Mexicans rode at full speed toward a great gully at the
end of the valley into which they disappeared. The last that the Texans