htin' for its independence. An' what a change! From marble halls in
Washington to a night in the brush on the frontier, an' with an unknown
enemy before you."

They stopped talking now and, kneeling down in a thicket, began to creep
forward. The cabin was not more than four or five hundred yards away,
but a long silence had succeeded the latest shots, and after an advance
of thirty or forty yards they lay still for a while. Then they heard two
shots ahead of them, and saw little pink dots of flame from the
exploding gunpowder.

"It cannot be Mexicans who are besieging the cabin," said Ned. "They
would shout or make some kind of a noise. We have not heard a thing but
the rifle shots."

"Your argyment is good," whispered the Panther. "Look! Did you see that
figure passin' between us an' the cabin?"

"I saw it," said Davy Crockett, "an' although it was but a glimpse an'
this is night it did not seem to me to be clad in full Christian
raiment. I am quite sure it is not the kind of costume that would be
admitted to the galleries of Congress."

"You're right, doubly right," said the Panther. "That was an Injun you
saw, but whether a Comanche or a Lipan I couldn't tell. The boys are
besieged not by Mexicans, but by Injuns. Hark to that!"

There was a flash from the cabin, a dusky figure in the woods leaped
into the air, uttered a death cry, fell and lay still.

"An', as you see," continued the Panther, in his whisper, "the boys in
the house are not asleep, dreamin' beautiful dreams. Looks to me as if
they was watchin' mighty sharp for them fellers who have broke up their
rest."

Crack! went a second shot from the house, but there was no answering
cry, and they could not tell whether it hit anything. But they soon saw
more dark figures flitting through the bushes, and their own position
grew very precarious. If a band of the Indians stumbled upon them they
might be annihilated before they gave their besieged comrades any help.

"I make the motion, Mr. Panther," said Crockett, "that you form a speedy
plan of action for us, an' I trust that our young friend Ned here will
second it."

"I second the motion," said Ned.

"It is carried unanimously. Now, Mr. Panther, we await your will."

"It's my will that we git back to the rest of the men as soon as we can.
I reckon, Mr. Crockett, that them Tennesseans of yours wouldn't head in
the other direction if a fight grew hot."

"I reckon that wild horses couldn't drag 'em a