ns are slackened, the spurs sent home, and,
with a shout making the rocks ring, and the trees reverberate its
echoes, they gallop straight towards the Indian encampment, and in a
moment are in its midst.

They meet little resistance--scarce any. Too far from the settlements
to fear pursuit--in full confidence they have not been followed, the red
robbers have been abandoning themselves to pleasure, spending the night
in a grand gluttonous feast, furnished by the captured kine.

Engrossed with sensual joys, they have neglected guard; and, in the
midst of their festivities, they are suddenly set upon from all sides;
the sharp cracking of rifles, with the quick detonation of repeating
pistols, soon silences their cacchinations, scattering them like chaff.

After the first fusillade, there is but little left of them. Those not
instantly shot down retreat in the darkness, skulking of! among the
pecan trees. It is altogether an affair of firearms: and for once the
bowie--the Texan's trusted weapon--has no part in the fray.

The first rays of next morning's sun throw light upon a sanguinary
scene--a tableau terrible, though not regrettable. On the contrary, it
discloses a sight which, but for the red surroundings, might give
gladness. Fathers, half frantic with joy, are kissing children they
never expected to see again; brothers clasping the hands of sisters late
deemed lost for ever; husbands, nigh broken-hearted, once more happy,
holding their wives in fond, affectionate embrace.

Near by, things strangely contrasting--corpses strewn over the ground,
stark and bleeding, but not yet stiff, all of coppery complexion, but
bedaubed with paint of many diverse colours. All surely savages.

A fearful spectacle, but one too often witnessed on the far frontier
land of Texas.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

A FORCED CONFESSION.

The party of Texans has made what prairie men call a "coup." On
counting the corpses of their slain enemies they find that at least
one-half of the Tenawa warriors have fallen, including their chief.
They can make an approximate estimate of the number that was opposed to
them by the signs visible around the camp, as also upon the trail they
have been for several days following. Those who escaped have got off,
some on their horses, hastily caught and mounted; others afoot, by
taking to the timber. They were not pursued, as it was still dark night
when the action ended, and by daylight these wild c