For the Liberty of Texas | Page 5

back and to gaze around them. But neither man nor beast was in sight.
On hurried the two boys, through a tangle of brush and tall pines, the
latter of the long straw variety and smelling strongly of turpentine
whereever the last storm had broken off a top or a heavy branch. Closer
to the stream was a stately row of cottonwoods, with here and there a
fragrant magnolia, which reminded the lads of the former homestead
left so many miles behind. It was the spring of the year and the
magnolias were just putting forth their buds, and Dan paused for a
second to gaze at them.
"I'll tell you what, Ralph, it will be a long while before Texas is as
civilised as Georgia," he observed.

"Will it ever be as civilised, Dan? I heard father say last week, when he
was talking to Brossom, that he never thought it would be,--so long as
Texas was joined to Coahuila and belonged to the Mexican
Confederation. He said Texas ought to be free."
"He is right, too,--we ought either to be free, or else belong to the
United States. It's all well enough for the Mexicans living in Coahuila
to belong to the Confederation if they want to, but they don't care for us
Americans, and they are going to grind us under if they can."
"But they were glad enough to have us come in, weren't they?--I mean
at first."
"Yes, when Stephen Austin came in with his first batch of emigrants
they welcomed the newcomers with open arms, and gave each man a
large tract of land for himself, one for his wife, and more land for each
child or servant, and they were mighty glad to have other empresarios
bring in emigrants, too, so I've read in the papers. But now they are
getting afraid that the Americans will overrule them, and there is bound
to be a lot of trouble sooner or later."
Ralph was anxious to show his brother his prize, and as they neared the
spot where the big deer had been brought down he ran on ahead, and so
the talk on State affairs came to an end. But Dan was right, there was
much trouble ahead, as we shall see as our story progresses.
The cottonwoods passed, the boys faced another small clearing, where
a forest fire years before had lain many a towering pine low. Beyond
this burnt and barren spot were the pecan-trees overhanging the river,
where the deer had come to slake his thirst when Ralph had trailed him
and brought him low.
"Oh, Dan! The deer's gone!"
The cry came straight from Ralph's heart, as with staring eyes he ran in
under the pecan-trees and gazed at the spot where the game had rested
less than an hour before.

"Gone?" repeated the brother. "Then you didn't kill him?"
"Yes, I did,--I am sure of it, for I turned him over after he was shot.
Could some wild animal have carried him off?"
"More than likely, although it would take a pretty fair sized animal to
tote a deer, especially if he was as big as you say. Let us see if we can
find any tracks."
They began to search around the bank of the stream, and soon
discovered a number of footprints.
"Indian moccasins!" exclaimed Dan. "Ralph, you were right about that
Indian. He was watching you, and after you left the deer he came in and
took possession."
"But he hadn't any right to do that," burst out the smaller boy, angrily.
It cut him to the heart to have his first big game taken from him. "It's
downright robbery."
"It certainly wasn't fair, but about its being robbery, that's questionable.
You shouldn't have left your game without leaving something on top of
it, a knife or anything, just to show that you were coming back for it."
"But this is father's land."
"It isn't fenced yet, and the Indians don't recognise such ownership,
anyway."
"But they must have known I was coming back. No one would throw
away such choice venison as that was." Ralph heaved a sigh. "I wish I
was a man,--I'd go after that redskin in short order, and make him either
give up the game or bring him down with my gun."
"If you shot him you'd bring on a regular war, more than likely. But if
you wish, we can follow this track for a stretch, and look for father at
the same time."
Ralph was more than willing to do this--anything to learn what had

really become of his game, and so they continued up the river bank for
the best part of half a mile. Here they came to a creek, leading directly
west, and saw that the footprints followed