range Ned and his comrades stood up
on the deck, and looked back at the long low coastline, which had
offered to them so much danger. At first they saw Mexican horsemen on
the beach, but as they went further and further out to sea they
disappeared.

A strong wind hummed through the sails and the schooner, heeling over a
little, went swiftly northward, leaving a long white wake. Ned and his
comrades sat on the benches that ran around the sides of the deck. Some
of the rich brown color faded from the Panther's face, and his eyes
looked a little bit uneasy.

"I'm glad to be here," he said, "glad to be out of reach of the
Mexicans, but I wish I was on somethin' a lot steadier than this."

Obed White, familiar with the waters of the Maine coast, laughed.

"This is just a spanking good breeze," he said. "Look how the waves
dance!"

"Let 'em dance," said the Panther, "an' they can do my share of dancin',
too. I never felt less like roarin' an' t'arin' an' rippin' in my life."

"Any way, we're getting a fine rest," said Will Allen. "It's pleasant to
be out here, where nobody can drop suddenly on you from ambush."

The schooner made another curve to the eastward, the water became
smoother and the Panther's qualms disappeared. Food and water were
brought to them on deck, and they ate and drank with good appetites.
Then John Roylston, who had gone below, as soon as they were out of
range, reappeared. He went directly to Ned, shook hands with him with
great energy, and said in a tone of deep gratitude:

"I had given you up for lost. But you reappeared with your friends, just
in time to save the most valuable of all cargoes for the Texans. I
should like to hear now how you rose from the dead, because I had direct
information that you were in the Alamo, and I know that everybody there
perished."

"I come, nevertheless, as the bearer of bad news," said Ned, with Goliad
fresh in his mind.

"How is that?"

Then Ned told for the second time the dreadful deed done by order of
Santa Anna, and it seemed to him as he told it that all the details were
as vivid and terrible as ever. His desire for revenge upon the dictator
and the Mexicans had not diminished a particle. Roylston's face, usually
a mask, showed horror.

"It was an awful thing to do," he said, "but it means now that Santa
Anna will never conquer Texas. No man can do such a deed and yet
triumph. Now, tell me how it is that you are not among the slain in the
Alamo."