“We had an idea that we would go to San Antonio,” said Crockett, “but I’m never above changin’ my opinion.  If you think it better to go somewhere else, an’ can prove it, why me an’ Betsy an’ the whole crowd are ready to go there instead.”

“What would you say?” asked the Panther, “if we told you that Santa Anna an’ 7,000 men were on the Rio Grande ready to march on San Antonio?”

“If you said it, I’d say it was true.  I’d also say that it was a thing the Texans had better consider.  If I was usin’ adjectives I’d call it alarmin’.”

“An’ what would you say if I told you there wasn’t a hundred Texan soldiers in San Antonio to meet them seven thousand Mexicans comin’ under Santa Anna?”

“If you told me that I’d say it was true.  I’d say also, if I was usin’ adjectives, that it was powerful alarmin’.  For Heaven’s sake, Mr. Panther, the state of affairs ain’t so bad as that, is it?”

“It certainly is,” replied the Panther.  “Ned Fulton here was all through their camp last night.  He can talk Mexican an’ Spanish like lightnin’ an’ he makes up wonderful—­an’ he saw their whole army.  He saw old Santa Anna, too, an’ fifty or a hundred generals, all covered with gold lace.  If we don’t get a lot of fightin’ men together an’ get ’em quick, Texas will be swept clean by that Mexican army same as if a field had been crossed by millions of locusts.”

It was obvious that Crockett was impressed deeply by these blunt statements.

“What do you wish us to do?” he asked the Panther.

“You an’ your friends come with us.  We’ve got some good men at a cabin in the woods that we can reach to-night.  We’ll join with them, raise as many more as we can, spread the alarm everywhere, an’ do everything possible for the defence of San Antonio.”

“A good plan, Mr. Panther,” said Crocket.  “You lead the way to this cabin of yours, an’ remember that we’re servin’ under you for the time bein’.”

The Panther rode on without another word and the party, now raised from three to sixteen, followed.  Crockett fell in by the side of Ned, and soon showed that he was not averse to talking.

“A good country,” he said, nodding at the landscape, “but it ain’t like Tennessee.  It would take me a long time to git used to the lack of hills an’ runnin’ water an’ trees which just cover the state of Tennessee.”

“We have them here, too,” replied Ned, “though I’ll admit they’re scattered.  But it’s a grand country to fight for.”

“An’ as I see it we’ll have a grand lot of fightin’ to do,” said Davy Crockett.

They continued at good speed until twilight, when they rested their horses and ate of the food that they carried.  The night promised to be cold but clear, and the crisp air quickened their blood.

“How much further is it?” asked Crockett of Ned.

“Fifteen or eighteen miles, but at the rate we’re going we should be there in three hours.  We’ve got a roof.  It isn’t a big one, and we don’t know who built it, but it will shelter us all.”