“De La Garcia, Ugartchea, Veramendi,” whispered the Ring Tailed Panther, indicating the others.  “Now we may hear something.”

Cos stood at the edge of the piazza and his face was troubled.  He held in his hand a small cane, with which he cut angrily at the flowers.  The others regarded him uneasily, but for a while he said nothing.  Ned hardly breathed, so intense was his interest and curiosity, but when Cos at last spoke his disappointment was great.

The General complimented Veramendi on his house and hospitality, and the Vice-Governor thanked him in ornate sentences.  Some more courtesies were exchanged, but Cos continued to cut off the heads of the flowers with his cane, and Ned knew now that they had come from the ballroom to talk of more important things.  Meanwhile, the music flowed on.  It was the swaying strains of the dance, and it would have been soothing to anyone, whose mind was not forced elsewhere.  The flowers and the palms rippled gently under a light breeze, but Ned did not hear them.  He was waiting to hear Cos speak of what was in the mind of himself and the other men on the piazza, the same things that were in the minds of the Texans in the shrubbery.

“Have you any further word from the Texan desperadoes, General?” asked Veramendi, at last.

Swish went the general’s cane, and a flower fell from its stem.

“Nothing direct,” he replied, his voice rising in anger.

“They have not sent again demanding my surrender knowing that a messenger would be shot.  The impudence of these border horsemen passes all belief.  How dare a few hundred such men undertake to besiege us here in San Antonio?  What an insult to Mexico!”

“But they can fight,” said Ugartchea.  “They ride and shoot like demons.  They will give us trouble.”

“I know it,” said Cos, “but the more trouble they make us the more they shall suffer.  It was an evil day when the first American was allowed to come into Texas.”

“Yet they will attack us here,” persisted Ugartchea, “They have driven our men off the prairies.  Our lances are not a match for their rifles.  Your pardon, General, but it will be wise for us to fortify still further.”

Cos frowned and made another wicked sweep with the cane.  But he said: 

“What you say is truth, Colonel Ugartchea, but with qualifications.  Our men are not a match for them on the open prairie, but should they attack us here in the city they will be destroyed.”

Then he asked further questions about the fortifications, and Ugartchea, who seemed to be in immediate charge, began to repeat the details.  It was for this that the Texans had come into the patio, and Ned leaned forward eagerly.  He saw Obed on one side of him and the Ring Tailed Panther on the other do the same.  Suddenly there was a noise as of something falling in the shrubbery, and then a sharp whistle.  The men on the piazza instantly looked in the direction of the hidden Texans.  Cos and Ugartchea drew pistols.