We had been twelve hours in the saddle, and had ridden over nearly a hundred miles of ground.  We began to despair of finding the game we were in quest of, and were thinking of abandoning the chase, when at a distance of about seven miles from the camp, one of our most experienced hunters discovered the print of a small and delicate boot upon some soft ground leading to a marsh.  Following this trail, it at last led us to a man sunk up to his waist in the swamp, and so covered with mud and filth, as to be quite unrecognizable.  We drew him from his hiding-place, half dead with cold and terror, and, having washed the dirt from his face, we found him to be a man of about forty years of age, with blue eyes, of a mild, but crafty expression; a narrow, high forehead; long, thin nose, rather fleshy at the tip; projecting upper lip, and long chin.  These features tallied too exactly with the description we had had of the Mexican president, for us to doubt that our prisoner was Santa Anna himself.

The only thing that at all tended to shake this conviction, was the extraordinary poltroonery of our new captive.  He threw himself on his knees, begging us, in the name of God and all the saints, to spare his life.  Our reiterated assurances and promises were insufficient to convince him of his being in perfect safety, or to induce him to adopt a demeanour more consistent with his dignity and high station.

The events which succeeded this fortunate capture are too well known to require more than a very brief recapitulation.  The same evening a truce was agreed upon between Houston and Santa Anna, the latter sending orders to his different generals to retire upon San Antonio de Bexar, and other places in the direction of the Mexican frontier.  These orders, valueless as emanating from a prisoner, most of the generals were weak or cowardly enough to obey, an obedience for which they were afterwards brought to trial by the Mexican congress.  In a few days, two-thirds of Texas were in our possession.

The news of these successes brought crowds of volunteers to our standard.  In three weeks, we had an army of several thousand men, with which we advanced against the Mexicans.  There was no more fighting, however, for our antagonists had had enough, and allowed themselves to be driven from one position to another, till, in a month’s time, there was not one of them left in the country.

The Struggle was over, and Texas was Free!

* * * * *

CLITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE.