chapparal, about seven miles from
Matamoros. Here he detached Walker and six of his rangers, best skilled
in woodcraft, to communicate according to orders, with Major Brown,
while he awaited their return in his concealed position.

It was between two and three o'clock in the morning that Walker crept up
to the bastions of our fort and was hailed by the sentinel. As soon as
he was recognized his party was placed in a secure position, and the
bold ranger admitted by a ladder to the fort. Major Brown reported the
facts of the assault from Matamoros and the condition of his defences,
as speedily as possible, and Walker and his men, mounting fresh horses,
dashed off towards May so as to pass the enemy's lines before day-light.
But, as he approached the thicket where he left the command, he found
the troopers gone; and returning to the fort, which he reached before
_reveille_, he awaited the approach of night before he again attempted
to perform his dangerous service.

Meanwhile May and his men had remained in their saddles until about half
an hour before day, when, from the protracted absence of the ranger,
they believed that the enemy's scouts had detected him. Walker had been
already away about six hours; and as May's force was unable to cope with
the supposed numbers of the Mexicans, and peremptory orders had been
given to retire to Isabel, he immediately passed down the enemy's lines
at a brisk gallop over the prairie. About twelve miles from our camp he
suddenly discovered a hundred and fifty lancers drawn up across the road
to dispute his passage, but speedily forming his line, he charged the
troop, and, driving it towards the Mexican camp, followed the fugitives
for three miles on his wearied horses. Fearing, however, that larger
forces might be lying in ambush in the fields, and perceiving that the
enemy's cavalry was fleeter than his own, he abandoned the pursuit and
reached Point Isabel about nine o'clock.

But Walker was not to be defeated in his gallant effort to bear tidings
to Taylor of the fortunes of the fort. As soon as it was dark on the
4th, he remounted with his trusty band and concealed on his person the
despatch which Major Brown had prepared in the interval. Every copse and
thicket along the road, suitable for an ambush, was filled with foes
anxious to cut off his return to camp, for, as it was subsequently
ascertained, the Mexicans had obtained information of his purposes. But
Walker passed unhurt t