hey will all be found ready to put their shoulders to the
wheel, use knife and rifle, and shed the last drop of their blood in
defence of their fellow citizens, and of the new and independent
republic of Texas. At this moment, we must wink at many things which
would be severely punished in an older and more settled country; each
man's arm is of immense value to the State; for, on the day of battle,
we shall have, not two to one, but twenty to one opposed to us."

I was awakened the following morning by the sound of a horse's feet;
and, looking out of the window, saw Bob dismounting from his mustang.
The last twenty-four hours had told fearfully upon him. His limbs
seemed powerless, and he reeled and staggered in such a manner, that I
at first thought him intoxicated. But such was not the case. His was the
deadly weariness caused by mental anguish. He looked like one just taken
off the rack.

Hastily pulling on my clothes, I hurried down stairs, and opened the
house door. Bob stood with his head resting on his horse's neck, and his
hands crossed, shivering, and groaning. When I spoke to him, he looked
up, but did not seem to know me. I tied his horse to a post, and taking
his hand, led him into the house. He followed like a child, apparently
without the will or the power to resist; and when I placed him in a
chair, he fell into it with a weight that made it crack under him, and
shook the house. I could not get him to speak, and was about to return
to my room to complete my toilet, when I again heard the tramp of
mustangs. This was a party of half a dozen horsemen, all dressed in
hunting shirts over buckskin breeches and jackets, and armed with rifles
and bowie-knives; stout, daring looking fellows, evidently from the
south-western states, with the true Kentucky half horse half alligator
profile, and the usual allowance of thunder, lightning, and earthquake.
It struck me when I saw them, that two or three thousand such men would
have small difficulty in dealing with a whole army of Mexicans, if the
latter were all of the pigmy, spindle-shanked breed I had seen on first
landing. These giants could easily have walked away with a Mexican in
each hand.

They jumped off their horses, and threw the bridles to the negroes in
the usual Kentuckian devil-may-care style, and then walked into the
house with the air of people who make themselves at home every where,
and who knew themselves to be more masters in Texas than the Mexica