perceives that Santa Anna is preparing trouble enough for it."

"Well, then, what is it?"

"When I left her house, I noticed many Americans, as well as many
Mexicans, on the streets. They were standing together, too; and there
was something in their faces, and in the way their arms were carried,
which was very striking and portentous. I fancied they looked coldly
on me, and I was troubled by the circumstance. In the Plaza I saw the
military band approaching, accompanied by half a dozen officers and a
few soldiers. The noise stopped suddenly, and Captain Morello proclaimed
as a bando (edict) of the highest authority, an order for all Americans
to surrender their arms of every description to the officials and at the
places notified."

"Very good!"

"Maria, nothing could be worse! Nothing could be more shameful and
disastrous. The Americans had evidently been expecting this useless
bombast, and ere the words were well uttered, they answered them with
a yell of defiance. I do not think more than one proclamation was
necessary, but Morello went from point to point in the city and the
Americans followed him. I can tell you this, Maria: all the millions
in Mexico can not take their rifles from the ten thousand Americans in
Texas, able to carry them."

"We shall see! We shall see! But, Roberto, you at least will not
interfere in their quarrels. You have never done so hitherto."

"No one has ever proposed to disarm me before, Maria. I tell you
frankly, I will not give up a single rifle, or revolver, or weapon of
any kind, that I possess. I would rather be slain with them. I have
never carried arms before, but I shall carry them now. I apologize to my
countrymen for not having them with me this afternoon. My dearest wife!
My good Maria! do not cry in that despairing way."

"You will be killed, Roberto! You will be a rebel! You will be shot like
a dog, and then what will become of me and my daughters?"

"You have two sons, Maria. They will avenge their father, and protect
their mother and sisters."

"I shall die of shame! I shall die of shame and sorrow!"

"Not of shame, Maria. If I permitted these men to deprive me of my arms,
you might well die of shame."

"What is it? Only a gun, or a pistol, that you never use?"

"Great God, Maria! It is everything! It is honor! It is liberty! It is
respect to myself! It is loyalty to my country! It is fidelity to
my countrymen! It is true that for many years the garrison has fu