“A staunch man and true,” said Obed.  “He will be a great help to Texas.”

Then they turned back to the cabin, the four of them, because they did not intend to go forth until night.  They missed their comrades, but the cabin was a pleasant place, well stored now with meat of buffalo, deer and wild turkey.  Floor and walls alike were covered with dressed skins.

“Why not fasten it up just as tightly as we can before we go away,” said Allen.  “The Comanches are not likely to come back, the war is swinging another way, and maybe we’ll find it here handy for us again some day.”

“You’re talkin’ sense, Will Allen,” said the Panther.  “It’s been a shelter to us once, and it might be a shelter to us twice.  The smell of the meat will, of course, draw wolves an’ panthers, but we can fix it so they can’t get in.”

Taking sufficient provisions for themselves, they put the rest high up on the rafters.  Then they secured the windows, and heaped logs before the door in such a manner that the smartest wolves and panthers in the world could not force an entrance.  As they sat on their horses in the twilight preparatory to riding away, they regarded their work with great content.

“There it is, waiting for us when we come again,” said Obed White.  “It’s a pleasant thing to have a castle for refuge when your enemies are making it too hot for you out in the open.”

“So it is,” said the Panther, “and a man finds that out more than once in his life.”

Then they turned their horses and rode southward in the dusk.  But before long they made an angle and turned almost due west.  It was their intention to intersect the settlements that lay between the Rio Grande and San Antonio and give warning of the approach of Santa Anna.

They went on steadily over a rolling country, mostly bare, but with occasional clumps of trees.

CHAPTER VII

THE HERALD OF ATTACK

About midnight they rode into the thickest part of the woods that they could find, and slept there until day.  Then they continued their course toward the west, and before night they saw afar small bands of horsemen.

“What do you say they are?” asked the Panther of Ned when they beheld the first group.  “Seems to me they are Mexican.”

Ned looked long before returning an answer.  Then he replied with confidence: 

“Yes, they are Mexicans.  The two men in the rear have lances, and no Texan ever carried such a weapon.”

“Then,” said Obed White, “it behooves us to have a care.  We’re scouts now and we’re not looking for a battle.  He who dodges the fight and runs away may live to scout another day.”

The Mexican horsemen were on their right, and the four continued their steady course to the west.  They were reassured by the fact that the Mexicans were likely to take them in the distance for other Mexicans.  It became evident now that Santa Anna was taking every precaution.  He was sending forward scouts and skirmishers in force, and the task of the four was likely to become one of great danger.