his faithful head. Already he had
taken his resolution. There would be no place for Old Jack in the Alamo,
but this good friend of his should not fall into the hands of the
Mexicans.

He slipped off saddle and bridle, struck him smartly on the shoulder and
exclaimed:

"Good-by, Old Jack, good-by! Keep away from our enemies and wait for
me."

The horse looked a moment at his master, and, to Ned's excited eyes, it
seemed for a moment that he wished to speak. Old Jack had never before
been dismissed in this manner. Ned struck him again and yet more
sharply.

"Go, old friend!" he cried.

The good horse trotted away across the plain. Once he looked back as if
in reproach, but as Ned did not call him he kept on and disappeared over
a swell. It was to Ned like the passing of a friend, but he knew that
Old Jack would not allow the Mexicans to take him. He would fight with
both teeth and hoofs against any such ignominious capture.

Then Ned turned his attention to the retreat. It was a little band that
went toward the Alamo, and there were three women and three children in
it, but since they knew definitely that Santa Anna and his great army
had come there was not a Texan who shrank from his duty. They had been
lax in their watch and careless of the future, faults frequent in
irregular troops, but in the presence of overwhelming danger they showed
not the least fear of death.

They reached the Alamo side of the river. Before them they saw the hewn
stone walls of the mission rising up in the form of a cross and facing
the river and the town. It certainly seemed welcome to a little band of
desperate men who were going to fight against overwhelming odds. Ned
also saw not far away the Mexican cavalry advancing in masses. The
foremost groups were lancers, and the sun glittered on the blades of
their long weapons.

Ned believed that Urrea was somewhere in one of these leading groups.
Urrea he knew was full of skill and enterprise, but his heart filled
with bitterness against him. He had tasted the Texan salt, he had broken
bread with those faithful friends of his, the Panther and Obed White,
and now he was at Santa Anna's right hand, seeking to destroy the Texans
utterly.

"Looks as if I'd have a lot of use for Old Betsy," said a whimsical
voice beside him. "Somebody said when I started away from Tennessee that
I'd have nothing to do with it, might as well leave my rifle at home.
But I 'low that Old Betsy is the most usef