Ned had been in the very front of the rush, Obed on one side and the Ring Tailed Panther on the other.  His heart was beating hard and there was a fiery mist before his eyes.  He heard the bullets whiz past, but once more Providence was good to him.  None touched him, and when the first tremors were over he was as eager as any of them to reach the crest of the mound, and come to grips with the enemy.  Suddenly he heard a tremendous roar of disgust.  The Ring Tailed Panther was the author of it.

“Escaped after all!” he cried.  “They wouldn’t stay an’ fight, when they promised they would!”

“At least, the Mexicans ride well,” said Obed.

Ned gazed from the crest of the mound at the flying men, rapidly becoming smaller and smaller as they sped over the prairie.

CHAPTER XVI

THE COMING OF URREA

Many of the Texans were hot for pursuit, but Moore recalled them.  His reasons were brief and grim.  “You will not overtake them,” he said, “and you will need all your energies later on.  This is only the beginning.”

A number of the Mexicans had been slain, but none of the Texans had fallen, the aim of their opponents being so wild.  The triumph had certainly been an easy one, but Ned perhaps rejoiced less than any other one present.  The full mind again projected itself into the future, and foresaw great and terrible days.  The Texans were but few, scattered thinly over a long frontier, and the rage of Cos and Santa Anna would be unbounded, when they heard of the fight and flight of their troops at Gonzales.

“Obed,” he said to his friend, “we are victorious to-day without loss, but I feel that dark days are coming.”

The Maine man looked curiously at the boy.  He already considered Ned, despite his youth, superior in some ways to himself.

“You’ve been a reader and you’re a thinker, Ned,” he said, “and I like to hear what you say.  The dark days may come as you predict, because Santa Anna is a great man in the Mexican way, but night can’t come until the day is ended and it’s day just now.  We won’t be gloomy yet.”

After the fallen Mexicans had been buried, the little force of voluntary soldiers began to disperse, just as they had gathered, of their own accord.  The work there was done, and they were riding for their own little villages or lone cabins, where they would find more work to do.  The Mexicans would soon fall on Texas like a cloud, and every one of them knew it.

Ned, Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther rode back to Gonzales, where the women and children welcomed the victors with joyous acclaim.

The three sat down with others to a great feast, spread on tables under the shade of oaks, and consisting chiefly of game, buffalo, deer, squirrels, rabbits and other animals which had helped the early Texans to live.  But throughout the dinner Ned and Obed were rather quiet, although the Ring Tailed Panther roared to his heart’s content.  It was Ned who spoke first the thought that was in the minds of both Obed and himself.  Slowly and by an unconscious process he was becoming the leader.