ary, the countenance of Deaf Smith was
stern and passionless as ever. A side view of his features might have
been mistaken for a profile done in cast iron. The one, too, was
dressed in the richest cloth; the other in smoke-tinted leather. But
that made no difference in Texas then; for the heirs of heroic courage
were all considered peers--the class of inferiors embraced none
but cowards.

Presently two rifles exploded with simultaneous roars. Colonel Morton
gave a prodigious bound upward, and dropped to the earth a corpse! Deaf
Smith stood erect, and immediately began to reload his rifle; and then,
having finished his brief task, he hastened away into the
adjacent forest.

Three days afterward, General Houston, accompanied by Deaf Smith and ten
other men, appeared in Austin, and, without further opposition, removed
the state papers.

The history of the hero of the foregoing anecdote was one of the most
extraordinary ever known in the West. He made his advent in Texas at an
early period, and continued to reside there until his death, which
happened some two years ago; but, although he had many warm personal
friends, no one could ever ascertain either the land of his birth, or a
single gleam of his previous biography. When he was questioned on the
subject, he laid his finger on his lip; and if pressed more urgently,
his brow writhed, and his dark eye seemed to shoot sparks of livid fire!
He could write with astonishing correctness and facility, considering
his situation; and, although denied the exquisite pleasure and priceless
advantages of the sense of hearing, nature had given him ample
compensation, by an eye, quick and far-seeing as an eagle's; and a
smell, keen and incredible as that of a raven. He could discover objects
moving miles away in the far-off prairie, when others could perceive
nothing but earth and sky; and the rangers used to declare that he could
catch the scent of a Mexican or Indian at as great a distance as a
buzzard could distinguish the odor of a dead carcass.

It was these qualities which fitted him so well for a spy, in which
capacity he rendered invaluable services to Houston's army during the
war of independence. He always went alone, and generally obtained the
information desired. His habits in private life were equally singular.
He could never be persuaded to sleep under the roof of a house, or even
to use a tent-cloth. Wrapped in his blanket, he loved to lie out in the
open air, under