The Texan Scouts | Page 3

heart beat heavily. These were
the first Mexicans that any one had seen on Texan soil since the
departure of Cos and his army on parole from captured San Antonio.
So the Mexicans had come back, and no doubt they would return in
great force!
Ned crouched lower, and he was very glad that the nose of the horse
was still under his arm. He would not have a chance to whinny to his
kind that bore the Mexicans. But the horse made no attempt to move,
and Ned watched them pass on and out of sight. He had not heard the
sound of footsteps or voices above the wind, and after they were gone it
seemed to him that he had seen a line of phantoms.
But he was sure that his own mortal eyes had beheld that for which he
was looking. He and his comrades had been watching the Rio Grande
to see whether the Mexicans had crossed, and now he at least knew it.
He waited patiently three or four hours longer, until the wind died and
the fall of snow ceased, when he mounted his horse and rode out of the
dip. The wind suddenly sprang up again in about fifteen minutes, but
now it blew from the south and was warm. The darkness thinned away
as the moon and stars came out in a perfect sky of southern blue. The
temperature rose many degrees in an hour and Ned knew that the snow
would melt fast. All danger of freezing was past, but he was as hungry
as a bear and tired to death.
He unwrapped the blankets from his body, folded them again in a small
package which he made fast to his saddle, and once more stroked the
nose of his horse.

"Good Old Jack," he murmured--he had called him Old Jack after
Andrew Jackson, then a mighty hero of the south and west, "you passed
through the ordeal and never moved, like the silent gentleman that you
are."
Old Jack whinnied ever so softly, and rubbed his nose against the boy's
coat sleeve. Ned mounted him and rode out of the dip, pausing at the
top of the swell for a long look in every direction. The night was now
peaceful and there was no noise, save for the warm wind that blew out
of the south with a gentle sighing sound almost like the note of music.
Trickles of water from the snow, already melting, ran down the crests.
Lighter and lighter grew the sky. The moon seemed to Ned to be poised
directly overhead, and close by. New stars were springing out as the
last clouds floated away.
Ned sought shelter, warmth and a place in which to sleep, and to secure
these three he felt that he must seek timber. The scouts whom he had
seen were probably the only Mexicans north of the Rio Grande, and, as
he believed, there was not one chance in a thousand of meeting such
enemies again. If he should be so lucky as to find shelter he would
sleep there without fear.
He rode almost due north for more than two hours, seeing patches of
chaparral on both right and left. But, grown fastidious now and not
thinking them sufficient for his purpose, he continued his northern
course. Old Jack's feet made a deep sighing sound as they sank in the
snow, and now there was water everywhere as that soft but conquering
south wind blew steadily over the plain.
When he saw a growth of timber rising high and dark upon a swell he
believed that he had found his place, and he urged his horse to renewed
speed. The trees proved to be pecans, aspens and oaks growing so
densely that he was compelled to dismount and lead Old Jack before
they could force an entrance. Inside he found a clear space, somewhat
like the openings of the north, in shape an irregular circle, but not more
than fifteen feet across. Great spreading boughs of oaks had protected it
so well that but little snow had fallen there, and that little had melted.
Already the ground in the circle was drying.

Ned uttered an exclamation of relief and gratitude. This would be his
camp, and to one used to living in the wilderness it furnished good
shelter. At one edge of the opening was an outcropping of flat rock now
quite dry, and there he would spread his bed. He unsaddled and
unbridled his horse, merely tethering him with a lariat, and spread the
horse blanket upon the flat rock. He would lie upon this and cover
himself with his own blankets, using the saddle as a pillow.
But the security of the covert tempted the boy, who was now as