nimal had
disappeared. "Do you think he leaped into the water?"

"I heard a splash," answered the old frontiersman. "There it goes
again." He tried to pierce the darkness with his eyes. "There is
something over yonder, that---- Whoopee, Dan, look!"

There was no need for Poke Stover to call the boy's attention to what
was on the other side of the Medina, for Dan was already looking, "with
all eyes," as the saying is. He had made out a number of Mexican
cavalrymen, moving up and down along the west bank, and now he noted
two pieces of artillery, which the cannoneers were trying to run out on
two rafts moored close at hand.

"The Mexican army, as sure as you are born!" cried Stover, in an
excited whisper. "Lad, we have made an important discovery. They must
be bound for Bexar!"

"Yes, and there are thousands of them," answered Dan. His heart was
beating so rapidly that he could scarcely speak. "Poke, what had we
best do?"

"Find out what their game is, first, and then ride back to Bexar as
fast as our mustangs can make it. If the garrison isn't warned, there
will surely be a great slaughter."

There was a stiff norther blowing, making the swollen stream rough and
dangerous to cross, and the Mexicans were consulting among themselves
as to how they should proceed. With bated breath, the boy and the old
frontiersman watched every movement, and, at the same time, tried to
figure up mentally how many Mexicans there were.

"At least a thousand," said Poke Stover, but, as we know, he was
mistaken; the force of the enemy numbered nearly seven times that many,
although, to be sure, they were not all in that immediate vicinity.

"We will cross the river and investigate," said one of the officers,
presently, and a large flat-bottomed boat was brought around and a
dozen soldiers leaped into it.

"We had better get out now," whispered Poke Stover, and turned his pony
to ride away from the river bank.

"Halt! Who goes?" came the cry, in Spanish, from one of the Mexican
guards.

"We are discovered," whispered Dan. "Come on!"

He turned away from the river bank and dove straight into the pine
brake. Then came a shot of warning, but the Mexican fired high, not
daring to take aim for fear of hitting a friend.

The shot caused a commotion, and soon Dan and Stover felt that they
were being followed. They tried to make their mustangs move on a run,
but the animals could not be urged farther.

"They will catch us, sure," gas