o Obed White, "are a man, too. But they
certainly do grow tall where you come from."

"I'm not as wide as a barn door, but I may be long enough to reach the
bottom of a well," said Obed modestly. "Anyway, I thank you for the
compliment. Praise from Sir Davy is sweet music in my ear, indeed. And
since we Texans have to stand together, and since to stand together we
must know about one another, may I ask you, Mr. Crockett, which way you
are going?"

"We had an idea that we would go to San Antonio," said Crockett, "but
I'm never above changin' my opinion. If you think it better to go
somewhere else, an' can prove it, why me an' Betsy an' the whole crowd
are ready to go there instead."

"What would you say?" asked the Panther, "if we told you that Santa Anna
an' 7,000 men were on the Rio Grande ready to march on San Antonio?"

"If you said it, I'd say it was true. I'd also say that it was a thing
the Texans had better consider. If I was usin' adjectives I'd call it
alarmin'."

"An' what would you say if I told you there wasn't a hundred Texan
soldiers in San Antonio to meet them seven thousand Mexicans comin'
under Santa Anna?"

"If you told me that I'd say it was true. I'd say also, if I was usin'
adjectives, that it was powerful alarmin'. For Heaven's sake, Mr.
Panther, the state of affairs ain't so bad as that, is it?"

"It certainly is," replied the Panther. "Ned Fulton here was all through
their camp last night. He can talk Mexican an' Spanish like lightnin'
an' he makes up wonderful--an' he saw their whole army. He saw old Santa
Anna, too, an' fifty or a hundred generals, all covered with gold lace.
If we don't get a lot of fightin' men together an' get 'em quick, Texas
will be swept clean by that Mexican army same as if a field had been
crossed by millions of locusts."

It was obvious that Crockett was impressed deeply by these blunt
statements.

"What do you wish us to do?" he asked the Panther.

"You an' your friends come with us. We've got some good men at a cabin
in the woods that we can reach to-night. We'll join with them, raise as
many more as we can, spread the alarm everywhere, an' do everything
possible for the defence of San Antonio."

"A good plan, Mr. Panther," said Crocket. "You lead the way to this
cabin of yours, an' remember that we're servin' under you for the time
bein'."

The Panther rode on without another word and the party, now raised from
three to sixteen, followed. Crockett fe