with great eagerness, and the soul of the Ring Tailed Panther,
foreseeing an impending crisis of some kind, responded.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A crowd is gathering to march on Goliad," replied Potter. "The Mexican
commander there is treating the people with great cruelty and he is
sending out parties to harass lone Texan homes. We mean to smite him."

Potter spoke with a certain solemnity of manner and he had the lean,
ascetic face of the Puritan. Ned judged that he was from one of the
Northern States of New England, but Obed, a Maine man, was sure of it.

"Friend," said Obed, "from which state do you come, New Hampshire or
Vermont? I take it that it is Vermont."

"It is Vermont as you rightly surmise," replied Potter, "and the accent
with which you speak, if I mistake not is found only in Maine."

"A good guess, also," said Obed, "but we are both now Texans, heart and
soul; is it not so?"

"It is even so," replied Potter gravely. Then he and Obed reached across
from their horses and gave each other a powerful clasp.

"You will go with us to Goliad and help smite the heathen?" said Potter.

Obed glanced at his comrades, and all of them nodded.

"We were riding to San Antonio," said the Maine man, "to find out what
was going on there, but I see no reason why we should not turn aside to
help you, since we seem to be needed."

"Our need of you is great," said Potter in his solemn, unchanging tones,
"as we are but few, and the enemy may be wary. Yet we must smite him and
smite him hard."

"Then lead the way," said Obed. "It's better to be too soon than too
late."

Without another word Potter turned his horse toward the south. He was
tall and rawboned, his face burned well by the sun, but he had an
angularity and he bore himself with a certain stiffness that did not
belong to the "Texans" of Southern birth. Ned did not doubt that he
would be most formidable in combat.

After riding at least two hours without anyone speaking a word, Potter
said:

"We will meet the remainder of our friends and comrades about nightfall.
We will not exceed fifty, and more probably we shall be scarcely so many
as that, but with the strength of a just cause in our arms it is likely
that we shall be enough."

"When we charged at Gonzales they stayed for but one look at our faces,"
said the Ring Tailed Panther. "Then they ran so fast that they were
rippin' an' tearin' up the prairie for the next twenty-four hours."

"I have