and the
others, helping to fight off Santa Anna and his horde," said Obed White.
"Bonham couldn't have made any mistake about him. If we had seen Bonham
himself we could have gone with him to the Alamo."

"But he gave Ned's name to Colonel Fannin," said Will, "and so it's sure
to be he."

"Our comrade is certainly there," said Obed White, "and we've got to
help rescue him as well as help rescue the others. It's hard not to
hurry on by ourselves, but we can be of most help by trying to push on
this force, although it seems as if everything had conspired against
us."

"It shorely looks as if things was tryin' to keep us back," exclaimed
the Panther angrily. "We've had such a hard time gettin' these men
together, an' look at this rain an' this mud! We ought to be at Bexar
right now, a-roarin', an' a-t'arin', an' a-rippin', an' a-chawin' among
them Mexicans!"

"Patience! Patience!" said Obed White soothingly. "Sometimes the more
haste the oftener you trip."

"Patience on our part ain't much good to men sixty or eighty miles away,
who need us yelling' an' shootin' for them this very minute."

"I'm bound to own that what you say is so," said Obed White.

They relapsed into silence. The pace of the column grew slower. The men
were compelled to adapt themselves to the cannon and ammunition wagon,
which were now almost mired. The face of the Panther grew black as
thunder with impatience and anger, but he forced himself into silence.

They stopped a little while at noon and scanty rations were doled out.
They had started in such haste that they had only a little rice and
dried beef, and there was no time to hunt game.

They started again in a half hour, creeping along through the mud, and
the Panther was not the only man who uttered hot words of impatience
under his breath. They were nearing the San Antonio River now, and
Fannin began to show anxiety about the fort. But the Panther was
watching the ammunition wagon, which was sinking deeper and deeper into
the mire. It seemed to him that it was groaning and creaking too much
even for the deep mud through which it was passing.

The driver of the ammunition wagon cracked his long whip over the oxen
and they tugged at the yoke. The wheels were now down to the hub, and
the wagon ceased to move. The driver cracked his whip again and again,
and the oxen threw their full weight into the effort. The wheels slowly
rose from their sticky bed, but then something cracked with a