Sleep alone was kind to him, though he usually awoke to find his dreams a mockery.  That night the answer to the second demand would arrive.  A number of the band came in during the day and brought the rumor that the governor of the State had been notified of their high-handed actions.  It was thought that a company of Texas Rangers would be ordered to the Rio Grande.  This meant action, and soon.  When the reply came from the son of Don Ramon, he was notified to have the money ready at a certain abandoned ranchita, though the amount, now increased, was not as large as was expected.  It required two days longer for the delivery, which was to be made at midnight, and to be accompanied by not over two messengers.

At this juncture, a squad of ten Texas Rangers disembarked at the nearest point on the railroad to this river village.  The emergency appeal, which had finally reached the governor’s ear, was acted upon promptly, and though the men seemed very few in number, they were tried, experienced, fearless Rangers, from the crack company of the State.  There was no waste of time after leaving the train.  The little command set out apparently for the river home of Don Ramon, distant nearly a hundred miles.  After darkness had set in, the captain of the squad cut his already small command in two, sending a lieutenant with four men to proceed by way of Agua Dulce ranch, the remainder continuing on to the river.  The captain refused them even pack horse or blanket, allowing them only their arms.  He instructed them to call themselves cowboys, and in case they met any Mexicans, to make inquiries for a well-known American ranch which was located in the chaparral.  With a few simple instructions from his superior, the lieutenant and squad rode away into the darkness of a June night.

It was in reality the dark hour before dawn when they reached Agua Dulce.  As secretly as possible the lieutenant aroused Don Ramon’s wife and sought an interview with her.  Speaking Spanish fluently, he explained his errand and her duty to put him in possession of all the facts in the case.  Bewildered, as any gentlewoman would be under the circumstances, she reluctantly told the main facts.  This officer treated Senora Mora with every courtesy, and was eventually rewarded when she requested him and his men to remain her guests until her son should return, which would be before noon.  She explained that he would bring a large sum of money with him, which was to be the ransom price of her husband, and which was to be paid over at midnight within twenty miles of Agua Dulce.  This information was food and raiment to the Ranger.

The senora of Agua Dulce sent a servant to secrete the Ranger’s horses in a near-by pasture, and with saddles hidden inside the house, before the people of the ranch or the sun arose, five Rangers were sleeping under the roof of the Casa primero.