Remember the Alamo.........................................................................................................................................1

Amelia E. Barr.........................................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER I. THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS. ................................................................................1

CHAPTER II. ANTONIA AND ISABEL. ..............................................................................................5

CHAPTER III. BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. ...............................................................10

CHAPTER IV. THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. ............................................................................17

CHAPTER V. A FAMOUS BARBECUE............................................................................................27

CHAPTER VI. ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED............................................................................37

CHAPTER VII. A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT...................................................................................45

CHAPTER VIII. MOTHER AND PRIEST. ..........................................................................................53

CHAPTER IX. THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. .........................................................................59

CHAPTER X. THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST.............................................................................65

CHAPTER XI. A HAPPY TRUCE. ......................................................................................................72

CHAPTER XII. DANGER AND HELP..............................................................................................79

CHAPTER XIII. THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. ......................................................................88

CHAPTER XIV. THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. .................................................................................94

CHAPTER XV. GOLIAD...................................................................................................................103

CHAPTER XVI. THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST..................................................................110

CHAPTER XVII. HOME AGAIN......................................................................................................121

CHAPTER XVIII. UNDER ONE FLAG............................................................................................129

In A. D. sixteen hundred and ninetytwo, a few Franciscan monks began to build a city. The site chosen was

a lovely wilderness hundreds of miles away from civilization on every side, and surrounded by savage and

warlike tribes. But the spot was as beautiful as the garden of God. It was shielded by picturesque mountains,

watered by two rivers, carpeted with flowers innumerable, shaded by noble trees joyful with the notes of a

multitude of singing birds. To breathe the balmy atmosphere was to be conscious of some rarer and finer life,

and the beauty of the sunny skiesmarvellous at dawn and eve with tints of saffron and amethyst and

One of the rivers was fed by a hundred springs situated in the midst of charming bowers. The monks called it

the San Antonio; and on its banks they built three noble Missions. The shining white stone of the

neighborhood rose in graceful domes and spires above the green trees. Sculptures, basso relievos, and lines

of gorgeous coloring adorned the exteriors. Within, were splendid altars and the appealing charms of incense,

fine vestures and fine music; while from the belfreys, bells sweet and resonant called to the savages, who

Certainly these priests had to fight as well as to pray. The Indians did not suffer them to take possession of

their Eden without passionate and practical protest. But what the monks had taken, they kept; and the fort and

the soldier followed the priest and the Cross. Ere long, the beautiful Mission became a beautiful city, about

which a sort of fame full of romance and mystery gathered. Throughout the south and west, up the great

highway of the Mississippi, on the busy streets of New York, and among the silent hills of New England,

men spoke of San Antonio, as in the seventeenth century they spoke of Peru; as in the eighteenth century they

Sanguine French traders carried thither rich ventures in fancy wares from New Orleans; and Spanish dons

from the wealthy cities of Central Mexico, and from the splendid homes of Chihuahua, came there to buy.

And from the villages of Connecticut, and the woods of Tennessee, and the lagoons of Mississippi,

adventurous Americans entered the Texan territory at Nacogdoches. They went through the land, buying

horses and lending their ready rifles and stout hearts to every effort of that constantly increasing body of

At length this cry became a clamor that shook even the old viceroyal palace in Mexico; while in San Antonio

it gave a certain pitch to all conversation, and made men wear their cloaks, and set their beavers, and display

their arms, with that demonstrative air of independence they called los Americano. For, though the

Americans were numerically few, they were like the pinch of salt in a pottagethey gave the snap and savor

Over this FranciscanMoorish city the sun set with an incomparable glory one evening in May, eighteen

thirtyfive. The white, flatroofed, terraced houseseach one in its flowery courtand the domes and

spires of the Missions, with their gilded crosses, had a miragelike beauty in the rare, soft atmosphere, as if a

But human life in all its essentials was in San Antonio, as it was and has been in all other cities since the

world began. Women were in their homes, dressing and cooking, nursing their children and dreaming of their

lovers. Men were in the marketplaces, buying and selling, talking of politics and anticipating war. And yet

in spite of these fixed attributes, San Antonio was a city penetrated with romantic elements, and constantly

On this evening, as the hour of the Angelus approached, the narrow streets and the great squares were

crowded with a humanity that assaulted and captured the senses at once; so vivid and so various were its

component parts. A tall sinewy American with a rifle across his shoulder was paying some money to a

Mexican in blue velvet and red silk, whose breast was covered with little silver images of his favorite saints.

A party of Mexican officers were strolling to the Alamo; some in white linen and scarlet sashes, others

glittering with color and golden ornaments. Side by side with these were monks of various orders: the

Franciscan in his blue gown and large white hat; the Capuchin in his brown serge; the Brother of Mercy in his

white flowing robes. Add to these diversities, Indian peons in ancient sandals, women dressed as in the days

of Cortez and Pizarro, Mexican vendors of every kind, Jewish traders, negro servants, rancheros curvetting on

their horses, Apache and Comanche braves on spying expeditions: and, in this various crowd, yet by no

means of it, small groups of Americans; watchful, silent, armed to the teeth: and the mind may catch a

glimpse of what the streets of San Antonio were in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and thirtyfive.

It was just before sunset that the city was always at its gayest point. Yet, at the first toll of the Angelus, a

silence like that of enchantment fell upon it. As a mother cries hush to a noisy child, so the angel of the city

seemed in this evening bell to bespeak a minute for holy thought. It was only a minute, for with the last note

there was even an access of tumult. The doors and windows of the better houses were thrown open, ladies

began to appear on the balconies, there was a sound of laughter and merry greetings, and the tiny cloud of the

But amid this sunset glamour of splendid color, of velvet, and silk, and gold embroidery, the man who would

have certainly first attracted a stranger's eye wore the plain and ugly costume common at that day to all

American gentlemen. Only black cloth and white linen and a row palmetto hat with a black ribbon around it;

but he wore his simple garments with the air of a man having authority, and he returned the continual

salutations of rich and poor, like one who had been long familiar with public appreciation.

It was Dr. Robert Worth, a physician whose fame had penetrated to the utmost boundaries of the territories of

New Spain. He had been twentyseven years in San Antonio. He was a familiar friend in every home. In

sickness and in death he had come close to the hearts in them. Protected at first by the powerful Urrea family,

he had found it easy to retain his nationality, and yet live down envy and suspicion. The rich had shown him

their gratitude with gold; the poor he had never sent unrelieved away, and they had given him their love.

When in the second year of his residence he married Dona Maria Flores, he gave, even to doubtful officials,

security for his political intentions. And his future conduct had seemed to warrant their fullest confidence. In

those never ceasing American invasions between eighteen hundred and three and eighteen hundred and

thirtytwo, he had been the friend and succourer of his countrymen, but never their confederate; their adviser,

He was a tall, muscular man of a distinguished appearance. His hair was white. His face was handsome and

good to see. He was laconic in speech, but his eyes were closely observant of all within their range, and they

asked searching questions. He had a reverent soul, wisely tolerant as to creeds, and he loved his country with

a passion which absence from it constantly intensified. He was believed to be a thoroughly practical man,

fond of accumulating land and gold; but his daughter Antonia knew that he had in reality a noble

imagination. When he spoke to her of the woods, she felt the echoes of the forest ring through the room;

He was thinking of Antonia as he walked slowly to his home in the suburbs of the city. Of all his children she

was the nearest to him. She had his mother's beauty. She had also his mother's upright rectitude of nature. The

Iberian strain had passed her absolutely by. She was a northern rose in a tropical garden. As he drew near to

his own gates, he involuntarily quickened his steps. He knew that Antonia would be waiting. He could see

among the thick flowering shrubs her tall slim figure clothed in white. As she came swiftly down the dim

aisles to meet him, he felt a sentiment of worship for her. She concentrated in herself his memory of home,

mother, and country. She embodied, in the perfectness of their mental companionship, that rarest and

sweetest of tiesa beloved child, who is also a wise friend and a sympathetic comrade. As he entered the

garden she slipped her hand into his. He clasped it tightly. His smile answered her smile. There was no need

The full moon had risen. The white house stood clearly out in its radiance. The lattices were wide open and

the parlor lighted. They walked slowly towards it, between hedges of white camelias and scarlet japonicas.

Vanilla, patchuli, verbena, wild wandering honeysucklea hundred other scents perfumed the light, warm

air. As they came near the house there was a sound of music, soft and tinkling, with a rhythmic accent as

They had advanced to where Don Luis was distinctly visible. He was within the room, but leaning against the

open door, playing upon a mandolin. Robert Worth smiled as he offered his hand to him. It was impossible

not to smile at a youth so handsome, and so charminga youth who had all the romance of the past in his

name, his home, his picturesque costume; and all the enchantments of hope and great enthusiasms in his

He was glancing inquiringly around the room as he spoke; and Antonia answered the look:

"Mother and Isabel are supping with Dona Valdez. There is to be a dance. I am waiting for you, father. You

"I do not go. I asked the judge for the appointment. He refused me. Very well! I care not to drink chocolate

and dance in his house. One hand washes the other, and one cousin should help another."

"Who can tell?" but Luis shrugged his shoulders expressively, and added, "He gave the office to

"Yes, it is sonaturally;BlasSangre is rich, and when the devil of money condescends to appear, every

"Let it pass, Luis. Suppose you sing me that last verse again. It had a taking charm. The music was like a boat

"So it ought to be. I learned the words in New Orleans. The music came from the heart of my mandolin.

"`Row young oarsman, row, young oarsman, Into the crypt of the night we float: Fair, faint moonbeams wash

and wander, Wash and wander about the boat. Not a fetter is here to bind us, Love and memory lose their

"You are a wizard, Luis, and I have had a sail with you. Now, come with us, and show those dandy soldiers

"Pardon! I have not yet ceased to cross myself at the affront of this morning. And the Senora Valdez is in the

same mind as her husband. I should be received by her like a dog at mass. I am going tomorrow to the

"Be careful, Luis. These Austin colonists are giving great troublethere have been whispers of very strong

"My heart to yours! But let me tell you this about the Americanstheir drum is in the hands of one who

"As a matter of hearsay, are you aware that three detachments of troops are on their way from Mexico?"

"What are three detachments? Can a few thousand men put Texas under lock and key? I assure you not,

He took the doctor's hand, and, as he held it, turned his luminous face and splendid eyes upon Antonia. A

sympathetic smile brightened her own face like a flame. Then he went silently away, and Antonia watched

"I am ready also, father." Her voice was almost sad, and yet it had a tone of annoyance in it"Don Luis is so

imprudent," she said. "He is always in trouble. He is full of enthusiasms; he is as impossible as his favorite,

"And I thank God, Antonia, that I can yet feel with him. Woe to the centuries without Quixotes! Nothing will

For many years there had never been any doubt in the mind of Robert Worth as to the ultimate destiny of

Texas, though he was by no means an adventurer, and had come into the beautiful land by a sequence of

natural and businesslike events. He was born in New York. In that city he studied his profession, and in

eighteen hundred and three began its practice in an office near Contoit's Hotel, opposite the City Park. One

day he was summoned there to attend a sick man. His patient proved to be Don Jaime Urrea, and the rich

At that very time, France had just ceded to the United States the territory of Louisiana, and its western

boundary was a subject about which Americans were then angrily disputing. They asserted that it was the Rio

Grande; but Spain, who naturally did not want Americans so near her own territory, denied the claim, and

made the Sabine River the dividing line. And as Spain had been the original possessor of Louisiana, she

The question was on every tongue, and it was but natural that it should be discussed by Urrea and his

physician. In fact, they talked continually of the disputed boundary, and of Mexico. And Mexico was then a

name to conjure by. She was as yet a part of Spain, and a sharer in all her ancient glories. She was a land of

romance, and her very name tasted on the lips, of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones. Urrea easily

The following year there was a suspicious number of American visitors and traders in San Antonio, and one

of the Urreas was sent with a considerable number of troops to garrison the city. For Spain was well aware

that, however statesmen might settle the question, the young and adventurous of the American people

considered Texas United States territory, and would be well inclined to take possession of it by force of arms,

Robert Worth accompanied General Urrea to San Antonio, and the visit was decisive as to his future life. The

country enchanted him. He was smitten with love for it, as men are smitten with a beautiful face. And the

white Moorish city had one special charm for himit was seldom quite free from Americans, Among the

mediaeval loungers in the narrow streets, it filled his heart with joy to see at intervals two or three big men in

buckskin or homespun. And he did not much wonder that the MoriscoHispanoMexican feared these

His inclination to remain in San Antonio was settled by his marriage. Dona Maria Flores, though connected

with the great Mexican families of Yturbide and Landesa, owned much property in San Antonio. She had

been born within its limits, and educated in its convent, and a visit to Mexico and New Orleans had only

strengthened her attachment to her own city. She was a very pretty woman, with an affectionate nature, but

she was not intellectual. Even in the convent the sisters had not considered her clever.

But men often live very happily with commonplace wives, and Robert Worth had never regretted that his

Maria did not play on the piano, and paint on velvet, and work fine embroideries for the altars. They had

passed nearly twentysix years together in more than ordinary content and prosperity. Yet no life is without

cares and contentions, and Robert Worth had had to face circumstances several times, which had brought the

The education of his children had been such a crisis. He had two sons and two daughters, and for them he

anticipated a wider and grander career than he had chosen for himself. When his eldest child, Thomas, had

reached the age of fourteen, he determined to send him to New York. He spoke to Dona Maria of this

intention. He described Columbia to her with all the affectionate pride of a student for his alma mater. The

boy's grandmother also still lived in the home wherein, he himself had grown to manhood. His eyes filled

with tears when he remembered the red brick house in Canal Street, with its white door and dormer windows,

But Dona Maria's national and religious principles, or rather prejudices, were very strong. She regarded the

college of San Juan de Lateran in Mexico as the fountainhead of knowledge. Her confessor had told her so.

But the resolute father would have none of San Juan. "I know all about it, Maria," he said. "They will teach

Thomas Latin very thoroughly. They will make him proficient in theology and metaphysics. They will let

him dabble in algebra and Spanish literature; and with great pomp, they will give him his degree, and `the

power of interpreting Aristotle all over the world.' What kind of an education is that, for a man who may have

And since the father carried his point it is immaterial what precise methods he used. Men are not fools even

in a contest with women. They usually get their own way, if they take the trouble to go wisely and kindly

about it. Two years afterwards, Antonia followed her brother to New York, and this time, the mother made

less opposition. Perhaps she divined that opposition would have been still more useless than in the case of the

boy. For Robert Worth had one invincible determination; it was, that this beautiful child, who so much

resembled a mother whom he idolized, should be, during the most susceptible years of her life, under that

And he was well repaid for the selfdenial her absence entailed, when Antonia came back to him, alert,

selfreliant, industrious, an intelligent and responsive companion, a neat and capable housekeeper, who

insensibly gave to his home that American air it lacked, and who set upon his table the well cooked meats

John, the youngest boy, was still in New York finishing his course of study; but regarding Isabel, there

seemed to be a tacit relinquishment of the purpose, so inflexibly carried out with her brothers and sister.

Isabel was entirely different from them. Her father had watched her carefully, and come to the conviction that

it would be impossible to make her nature take the American mintage. She was as distinctly Iberian as

In her brothers the admixture of races had been only as alloy to metal. Thomas Worth was but a darker copy

of his father. John had the romance and sensitive honor of old Spain, mingled with the love of liberty, and the

practical temper, of those Worths who had defied both Charles the First and George the Third. But Isabel had

no soulkinship with her father's people. Robert Worth had seen in the Yturbide residencia in Mexico the

family portraits which they had brought with them from Castile. Isabel was the Yturbide of her day. She had

all their physical traits, and from her large goldenblack eyes the same passionate soul looked forth. He felt

that it would be utter cruelty to send her among people who must always be strangers to her.

So Isabel dreamed away her childhood at her mother's side, or with the sisters in the convent, learning from

them such simple and useless matters as they considered necessary for a damosel of family and fortune. On

the night of the Senora Valdez's reception, she had astonished every one by the adorable grace of her dancing,

and the captivating way in which she used her fan. Her fingers touched the guitar as if they had played it for a

thousand years. She sang a Spanish Romancero of El mio Cid with all the fire and tenderness of a Castilian

Her father watched her with troubled eyes. He almost felt as if he had no part in her. And the thought gave

him an unusual anxiety, for he knew this night that the days were fast approaching which would test to

extremity the affection which bound his family together. He contrived to draw Antonia aside for a few

"Is she not wonderful?" he asked. "When did she learn these things? I mean the way in which she does

Isabel was dancing La Cachoucha, and Antonia looked at her little sister with eyes full of loving speculation.

Her answer dropped slowly from her lips, as if a conviction was reluctantly expressed:

"The way must be a gift from the pasther soul has been at school before she was born here. Father, are you

"Not Isabel, primarily. Antonia, I have been expecting something for twenty years. It is coming."

"I am anxious, that is all. Go back to the dancers. In the morning we can talk."

In the morning the doctor was called very early by some one needing his skill. Antonia heard the swift

footsteps and eager voices, and watched him mount the horse always kept ready saddled for such

emergencies, and ride away with the messenger. The incident in itself was a usual one, but she was conscious

that her soul was moving uneasily and questioningly in some new and uncertain atmosphere.

She had felt it on her first entrance into Senora Valdez's gran salaa something irrepressible in the faces of

all the men present. She remembered that even the servants had been excited, and that they stood in small

groups, talking with suppressed passion and with much demonstrativeness. And the officers from the Alamo!

How conscious they had been of their own importance! What airs of condescension and of an almost

insufferable protection they had assumed! Now, that she recalled the faces of Judge Valdez, and other men of

years and position, she understood that there had been in them something out of tone with the occasion. In the

atmosphere of the festa she had only felt it. In the solitude of her room she could apprehend its nature.

For she had been born during those stormy days when Magee and Bernardo, with twelve hundred Americans,

first flung the banner of Texan independence to the wind; when the fall of Nacogdoches sent a thrill of

sympathy through the United States, and enabled Cos and Toledo, and the other revolutionary generals in

Mexico, to carry their arms against Old Spain to the very doors of the viceroyal palace. She had heard from

her father many a time the whole brave, brilliant storythe same story which has been made in all ages from

the beginning of time. Only the week before, they had talked it over as they sat under the great figtree

"History but repeats itself," the doctor had said then; "for when the Mexicans drove the Spaniards, with their

court ceremonies, their monopolies and taxes, back to Spain, they were just doing what the American

colonists did, when they drove the English royalists back to England. It was natural, too, that the Americans

should help the Mexicans, for, at first, they were but a little band of patriots; and the AmericanSaxon has

like the AngloSaxon an irresistible impulse to help the weaker side. And oh, Antonia! The cry of Freedom!

She remembered this conversation as she stood in the pallid dawning, and watched her father ride swiftly

away. The story of the long struggle in all its salient features flashed through her mind; and she understood

that it is not the sword alone that gives libertythat there must be patience before courage; that great ideas

must germinate for years in the hearts of men before the sword can reap the harvest.

The fascinating memory of Burr passed like a shadow across her dreaming. The handsome Lafayettesthe

gallant Nolansthe daring Huntersthe thousands of forgotten American traders and explorersbold and

enterprisingthey had sown the seed. For great ideas are as catching as evil ones. A Mexican, with the iron

hand of Old Spain upon him and the shadow of the Inquisition over him, could not look into the face of an

It stirred in her own heart. She stood still a moment to feel consciously the glow and the enlargement. Then

with an impulse natural, but neither analyzed nor understood, she lifted her prayerbook, and began to recite

"the rising prayer." She had not said to herself, "from the love of Freedom to the love of God, it is but a step,"

but she experienced the emotion and felt all the joy of an adoration, simple and unquestioned, springing as

As she knelt, up rose the sun, and flooded her white figure and her fair unbound hair with the radiance of the

early morning. The matin bells chimed from the convent and the churches, and the singing birds began to

She took her breakfast alone. The Senora never came downstairs so early. Isabel had wavering inclinations,

and generally followed them. Sometimes, even her father had his cup of strong coffee alone in his study; so

the first meal of the day was usually, as perhaps it ought to be, a selfishly silent one. "Too much enthusiasm

and chattering at breakfast, are like too much red at sunrise," the doctor always said; "a dull, bad day follows

In the Senora's room, the precept was either denied, or defied. Antonia heard the laughter and conversation

through the closed door, and easily divined the subject of it. It was, but natural. The child had a triumph; one

that appealed strongly to her mother's pride and predilections. It was a pleasant sight to see them in the

The Senora, plump and still pretty, reclined upon a large gilded bed. Its splendid silk coverlet and pillows

cased in embroidery and lace made an effective background for her. She leaned with a luxurious indolence

among them, sipping chocolate and smoking a cigarrito. Isabel was on a couch of the same description. She

wore a satin petticoat, and a loose linen waist richly trimmed with lace. It showed her beautiful shoulders and

arms to perfection. Her hands were folded above her head. Her tiny feet, shod in satin, were quivering like a

She had large eyes, dark and bright; strong eyebrows, a pale complexion with a flood of brilliant color in the

checks, dazzling even teeth, and a small, handsome mouth. Her black hair was loose and flowing, and

caressed her cheeks and temples in numberless little curls and tendrils. Her face was one flush of joy and

youth. She had a look halfearnest and halfchildlike, and altogether charming. Antonia adored her, and she

was pleased to listen to the child, telling over again the pretty things that had been said to her.

"Only Don Luis was not there at all, Antonia. There is always something wanting," and her voice fell with

The Senora looked sharply at her. "Don Luis was not desirable. He was better awaymuch better!"

"Because, Antonia, he is suspected. There is an American called Houston. Don Luis met him in

Nacogdoches. He has given his soul to him, I think. He would have fought Morello about him, if the captain

could have drawn his sword in such a quarrel. I should not have known about the affair had not Senora

"You will excuse me, Antonia; not only the living but the dead must have heard of their wickedness. They are

a nation of ingrates. Ingrates are cowards. It was these words Captain Morello said, when Don Luis drew his

sword, made a circle with its point and stood it upright in the centre. It was a challenge to the whole garrigon,

and about this fellow Houston, whom be calls his friend! Holy Virgin preserve us from such Mexicans!"

"It is easier to talk than to fight. Morello's tongue is sharper than his sword."

"Captain Morello was placing his sword beside that of Don Luis, when the Commandant interfered. He

would not permit his officers to fight in such a quarrel. `Santo Dios!' he said, `you shall all have your

opportunity very soon, gentlemen.' Just reflect upon the folly of a boy like Don Luis, challenging a soldier

"He was in no danger, mother," said Antonia scornfully. "Morello is a bully, who wears the pavement out

with his spurs and sabre. His weapons are for show. Americans, at least, wear their arms for use, and not for

"Listen, Antonia! I will not have them spoken of. They are Jewsor at least infidels, all of them!the devil

himself is their fatherthe bishop, when he was here last confirmation, told me so."

"At least they are unbaptized Christians, Antonia. If you are not baptized, the devil sends you to do his work.

As for Don Luis, he is a very Judas! Ah, Maria Santissima! how I do pity his good mother!"

He is so handsome, and he sings like a very angel. And he loves my father; he wanted to be a doctor, so that

he could always be with him. I dare say this man called Houston is no better than a Jew, and perhaps very

ugly beside. Let us talk no more about him and the Americans. I am weary of them; as Tia Rachella says,

And Antonia, whose heart was burning, only stooped down and closed her sister's pretty mouth with a kiss.

Her tongue was impatient to speak for the father, and grandmother, and the friends, so dear to her; but she

possessed great discretion, and also a large share of that rarest of all womanly graces, the power under

It is the fashion now to live for the present but the men of fifty years ago, the men who builded the nation,

they reverenced the past, and therefore they could work for the future. As Robert Worth rode through the

streets of San Antonio that afternoon, he was thinking, not of his own life, but of his children's and of the

The city was flooded with sunshine, and crowded with a packtrain going to Sonora; the animals restlessly

protesting against the heat and flies; their Mexican drivers in the pulqueria, spending their last peso with their

compadres, or with the escort of soldiers which was to accompany thema little squad of small, lithe men,

with round, yellow, beardless faces, bearing in a singular degree the stamp of being native to the soil. Their

lieutenant, a gorgeously clad officer with a very distinguished air, was coming slowly down the street to join

them. He bowed, and smiled pleasantly to the doctor as he passed him, and then in a few moments the word

of command and the shouting of men and the clatter of hoofs invaded the enchanted atmosphere like an

But the tumult scarcely jarred with the thoughts of his mind. They had been altogether of war and rumors of

war. Every hour that subtile consciousness of coming events, which makes whole communities at times

prescient, was becoming stronger. "If the powers of the air have anything to do with the destinies of men," he

muttered, "there must be unseen battalions around me. The air I am breathing is charged with the feeling of

After leaving the city there were only a few Mexican huts on the shady road leading to his own house. All

within them were asleep, even the fighting cocks tied outside were dozing on their perches. He was unusually

weary, he had been riding since dawn, and his heart had not been in sympathy with his body, it had said no

All at once his physical endurance seemed exhausted, and he saw the white wall and arched gateway of his

garden and the turrets of his home with an inexpressible relief. But it was the hour of siesta, and he was

always careful not to let the requirements of his profession disturb his household. So he rode quietly to the

rear, where he found a peon nodding within the stable door. He opened his eyes unnaturally wide, and rose to

"To be sure, Senior, that is to be done. A stranger has been here today; an American."

The incident was not an unusual one, and it did not trouble the doctor's mind. There was on the side of the

house a low extension containing two rooms. These rooms belonged exclusively to him. One was his study,

his office, his covert, the place to which he went when he wanted to be alone with his own soul. There were a

bed and bath and refreshments in the other room. He went directly to it, and after eating and washing, fell into

At the hour before Angelus the house was as noisy and busy as if it had been an inn. The servants were

running hither and thither, all of them expressing themselves in voluble Spanish. The cooks were quarrelling

in the kitchen. Antonia was showing the table men, as she had to do afresh every day, how to lay the cloth

and serve the dishes in the American fashion. When the duty was completed, she went into the garden to

listen for the Angelus. The young ladies of today would doubtless consider her toilet frightfully

unbecoming; but Antonia looked lovely in it, though but a white muslin frock, with a straight skirt and low

waist and short, full sleeves. It was confined by a blue belt with a gold buckle, and her feet were in sandalled

The Angelus tolled, and the thousands of Hail Maries! which blended with its swinging vibrations were

uttered, and left to their fate, as all spoken words must be. Antonia still observed the form. It lent for a

moment a solemn beauty to her face. She was about to reenter the house, when she saw a stranger

approaching it. He was dressed in a handsome buckskin suit, and a wide Mexican hat, but she knew at once

As soon as he saw her, he removed his hat and approached with it in his hand. Perhaps he was conscious that

the act not only did homage to womanhood, but revealed more perfectly a face of remarkable beauty and

nobility. For the rest, he was very tall, powerfully built, elegantly proportioned, and his address had the grace

With a gentle inclination of the head, she led him to the door of her father's office. She was the only one in

the Doctor's family at all familiar with the room. The Senora said so many books made her feel as if she were

in a church or monastery; she was afraid to say anything but paternosters in it. Isabel cowered before the poor

skeleton in the corner, and the centipedes and snakes that filled the bottles on the shelves. There was not a

But Antonia did not regard books as a part of some vague spiritual power. She knew the history of the

skeleton. She had seen the death of many of those "little devils" corked up in alcohol. She knew that at this

hour, if her father were at home he was always disengaged, and she opened the door fearlessly, saying,

The doctor had quite refreshed himself, and, in a housesuit of clean, white linen, was lying on a couch

reading. He arose with alacrity, and with his pleasant smile seemed to welcome the intruder, as he stepped

The questions were answered in a hand grip, a sympathetic smile on both facesthe freemasonry of kindred

"I have a letter from your son Thomas, doctor, and I think, also, that you will have something to say to me,

The most prudent of patriots could not have resisted this man. He had that true imperial look which all born

rulers of men possessthat look that half coerces, and wholly persuades. Robert Worth acknowledged its

"I have, indeed, much to say to you. We shall have dinner directly, then you will give the night to me?"

After a short conversation he led him into the sala and introduced him to Antonia. He himself had to prepare

the Senora for her visitor, and he had a little quaking of the heart as he entered her room. She was dressed for

"I have been listening to the cooks quarrelling over the olla, Roberto. But what can my poor Manuel say

when your Irishwoman attacks him. Listen to her! `Take your dirty stew aff the fire then! Shure it isn't fit for

"I think you will, Maria. He has brought this letter for you from our son Thomas; and he has been so kind as

to take charge of some fine horses, and sell them well for him in San Antonio. When a man does us a

"That is truth, if the man is not the Evil One. As for this Sam Houston, you should have heard what was said

"Maria, do you call a soldier, a lawyer, a member of the United States Congress, a governor of a great State

"It is, however, true that he has lived with Indians, and with those Americans, who are bad, who have no

God, who are infidels, and perhaps even cannibals. If he is a good man, why does he live with bad men? Not

even the saints could do that. A good man should be in his home. Why does he not stay at home."

"Alas! Maria, that is a woman's fault. He loved a beautiful girl. He married her. My dear one, she did not

bless his life as you have blessed mine. No one knows what his sorrow was, for he told no one. And he never

blamed her, only he left his high office and turned his back forever on his home."

"Come down and smile upon him, Maria. I should like him to see a highborn Mexican lady. Are they not the

kindest and fairest among all God's women? I know, at least, Maria, that you are kind and fair"; and he took

What good wife can resist her husband's wooing? Maria did not. She lifted her face, her eyes shone through

happy tears, she whispered softly: "My Robert, it is a joy to please you. I will be kind; I will be grateful about

So the triumphant husband went down, proud and happy, with his smiling wife upon his arm. Isabel was

already in the room. She also wore a white frock, but her hair was pinned back with gold butterflies, and she

had a beautiful golden necklace around her throat. And the Senora kept her word. She paid her guest great

attention. She talked to him of his adventures with the Indians. She requested her daughters to sing to him.

She told him stories of the old Castilian families with which she was connected, and described her visit to

New Orleans with a great deal of pleasant humor. She felt that she was doing herself justice; that she was

charming; and, consequently, she also was charmed with the guest and the occasion which had been so

After the ladies had retired, the doctor led his visitor into his study. He sat down silently and placed a chair

for Houston. Both men hesitated for a moment to open the conversation. Worth, because he was treading on

unknown ground; Houston, because he did not wish to force, even by a question, a resolution which he felt

The jar of tobacco stood between them, and they filled their pipes silently. Then Worth laid a letter upon the

table, and said: "I unstand{sic} from this, that my son Thomas thinks the time has come for decisive action."

"Thomas Worth is right. With such souls as his the foundation of the state must be laid."

"I am glad Thomas has taken the position he has; but you must remember, sir, that he is unmarried and

unembarrassed by many circumstances which render decisive movement on my part a much more difficult

thing. Yet no man now living has watched the Americanizing of Texas with the interest that I have."

"I was here when my countrymen came first, in little companies of five or ten men. I saw the party of twenty,

who joined the priest Hidalgo in eighteen hundred and ten, when Mexico made her first attempt to throw off

"Yes. The next year I made a pretended professional journey to Chihuahua, to try and save their lives. I

"It did. Two years afterwards, Magee and Bernardo, with twelve hundred Americans, raised the standard of

independence on the Trinity River. I saw them them{sic} take this very city, though it was ably defended by

Salcedo. They fought like heroes. I had many of the wounded in my house. I succored them with my purse.

"The fame of it brought young Americans by hundreds here. To a man they joined the Mexican party

struggling to free themselves from the tyranny of old Spain. I do not think any one of them received money.

The love of freedom and the love of adventure were alike their motive and their reward."

"She forgot it very quickly. In the following year, though they had again defended San Antonio against the

Spaniards, the Mexicans drove all the Americans out of the city their rifles had saved."

"It was not altogether ingratitude. It was the instinct of selfpreservation. The very bravery of the Americans

made the men whom they had defended hate and fear them; and there was a continual influx of young men

from the States. The Mexicans said to each other: `There is no end to these Americans. Very soon they will

make a quarrel and turn their arms against us. They do not conform to our customs, and they will not take an

Houston smiled. "It is away the Saxon race has," he said. "The old Britons made the same complaint of them.

They went first to England to help the Britons fight the Romans, and they liked the country so well, they

determined to stay there. If I remember rightly the old Britons had to let them do so."

"It is an old political situation. You can go back to Genesis and find Pharaoh arguing about the Jews in the

"What happened after this forcible expulsion of the American element from Texas?"

"Mexican independence was for a time abandoned, and the Spanish viceroys were more tyrannical than ever.

But Americans still came, though they pursued different tactics. They bought land and settled on the great

rivers. In eighteen twentyone, Austin, with the permission of the Spanish viceroy in Mexico, introduced

"That was a step in the right direction; but I am astonished the viceroy sanctioned it."

"Apodoca, who was then viceroy, was a Spaniard of the proudest type. He had very much the same contempt

for the Mexicans that an old English viceroy in New York had for the colonists he was sent to govern. I dare

say any of them would have permitted three hundred German families to settle in some part of British

America, as far from New York as Texas is from Mexico. I do not need to tell you that Austin's colonists are

a band of choice spirits, hardy working men, trained in the district schools of New England and New

"That is the truth. The fighters who preceded them owned nothing but their horses and their rifles. But these

men brought with them their wives and their children, their civilization, their inborn love of freedom and

national faith. They accepted the guarantee of the Spanish government, and they expected the Spanish

"It had no opportunity. The colonists were hardly settled when the standard of revolt against Spain was again

raised. Santa Anna took the field for a republican form of government, and once more a body of Americans,

"In eighteen twentyfour, Santa Anna, Victoria and Bravo drove the Spaniards forever from Mexico, and

then they promulgated the famous constitution of eighteen twentyfour. It was a noble constitution, purely

democratic and federal, and the Texan colonists to a man gladly swore to obey it. The form was altogether

elective, and what particularly pleased the American element was the fact that the local government of every

Houston laughed heartily. "Do you know, Worth," he said, "State Rights is our political religion. The average

American citizen would expect the Almighty to conform to a written constitution, and recognize the rights of

"I don't think he expects more than he gets, Houston. Where is there a grander constitution than is guaranteed

to us in His Word; or one that more completely recognizes the rights of all humanity?"

"Thank you, Worth. I see that I have spoken better than I knew. I was sitting in the United States Congress,

when this constitution passed, and very much occupied with the politics of Tennessee."

"I will not detain you with Mexican politics. It may be briefly said that for the last ten years there has been a

constant fight between Pedraza, Guerrero, Bustamante and Santa Anna for the Presidency of Mexico. After

so much war and misery the country is now ready to resign all the blessings the constitution of eighteen

twentyfour promised her. For peace she is willing to have a dictator in Santa Anna."

"If Mexicans want a dictator let them bow down to Santa Anna! But do you think the twenty thousand

freeborn Americans in Texas are going to have a dictator? They will have the constitution of eighteen

twentyfouror they will have independence, and make their own constitution! Yes, sir!"

"I have been up and down among them for two years. Just after I came to Texas I was elected to the

convention which sent Stephen Austin to Mexico with a statement of our wrongs. Did we get any redress?

No, sir! And as for poor Austin, is he not in the dungeons of the Inquisition? We have waited two years for an

"Influence! There were men there whose names will never be forgotten. They met in a log house; they wore

buckskin and homespun; but I tell you, sir, they were debating the fate of unborn millions."

"A two years' chapter of tyranny. In them Santa Anna has quite overthrown the republic of which we were a

part. He has made himself dictator. and, because our authorities have protested against the change, they have

been driven from office by a military force. I tell you, sir, the petty outrages everywhere perpetrated by petty

officials have filled the cup of endurance. It is boiling over. Now, doctor, what are you going to do? Are you

"I have told you that I have been with my countrymen always heart and soul with them."

The doctor spoke with some irritation, and Houston laid his closed hand hard upon the table to emphasize his

"Heart and soul! Very good! But we want your body now. You must tuck your bowieknife and your

revolvers in your belt, and take your rifle in your hand, and be ready to help us drive the Mexican force out of

But he was deathly pale, for he was suffering as men suffer who feel the sweet bonds of wife and children

and home, and dread the rending of them apart. In a moment, however, the soul behind his white face made it

visibly luminous. "Houston," he said, "whenever the cause of freedom needs me, I am ready. I shall want no

"It is impossible to avert what is already here. Within a few days, perhaps tomorrow, you will hear the

publication of an edict from Santa Anna, ordering every American to give up his arms."

"What! Give up our arms! No, no, by Heaven! I will die fighting for mine, rather."

"Exactly. That is how every white man in Texas feels about it. And if such a wonder as a coward existed

among them, he understands that he may as well die fighting Mexicans, as die of hunger or be scalped by

Indians. A large proportion of the colonists depend on their rifles for their daily food. All of them know that

they must defend their own homes from the Comanche, or see them perish. Now, do you imagine that

Americans will obey any such order? By all the great men of seventeen seventyfive, if they did, I would go

over to the Mexicans and help them to wipe the degenerate cowards out of existence!"

He rose as he spoke; he looked like a flame, and his words cut like a sword. Worth caught fire at his

vehemence and passion. He clasped his hands in sympathy as he walked with him to the door. They stood

silently together for a moment on the threshold, gazing into the night. Over the glorious land the full moon

hung, enamoured. Into the sweet, warm air mockingbirds were pouring low, broken songs of ineffable

melody. The white city in the mystical light looked like an enchanted city. It was so still that the very houses

"It is worthy of freedom," answered Houston. Then he went with long, swinging steps down the garden, and

He had been watching for this very hour for twenty years; and yet he found himself wholly unprepared for it.

Like one led by confused and uncertain thoughts, he went about the room mechanically locking up his papers,

and the surgical instruments he valued so highly. As he did so he perceived the book he had been reading

when Houston entered. It was lying open where he had laid it down. A singular smile flitted over his face. He

"I was nineteen years old when I marked that passage," he said; "and I do not think I have ever read it since,

until to night. I was reading it when Houston came into the room. Is it a message, I wonder?

"`But when thou considerest everything carefully and thoughtfully; of all societies none is of more

importance, none more dear, than that which unites us with the commonwealth. Our parents, children,

relations and neighbors are dear, but our fatherland embraces the whole round of these endearments. In its

In the morning Isabel took breakfast with her sister. This was always a pleasant event to Antonia. She petted

Isabel, she waited upon her, sweetened her chocolate, spread her cakes with honey, and listened to all her

complaints of Tia Rachela. Isabel came gliding in when Antonia was about half way through the meal. Her

scarlet petticoat was gorgeous, her bodice white as snow, her hair glossy as a bird's wing, but her lips drooped

and trembled, and there was the shadow of tears in her eyes. Antonia kissed their white fringed lids, held the

little form close in her arms, and fluttered about in that motherly way which Isabel had learned to demand

"It is Tia Rachela, as usual. The cross old woman! She is going to tell mi madre something. Antonia, you

must make her keep her tongue between her teeth. I promised her to confess to Fray Ignatius, and she said I

must also tell mi madre. I vowed to say twenty Hail Marias and ten Glorias, and she said `I ought to go back

Iza blushed and looked into her chocolate cup, as she answered slowly: "I gaveafloweraway. Only a

Iza hesitated, moved her chair close to Antonia, and then hid her face on her sister's breast.

"Could you think I was so silly? When madre was talking to him last night, and when I was singing my pretty

"How stupid are you, Antonia! In New York they did not teach you to put this and that together. As soon as I

saw Senor Houston, I said to myself: `Don Luis was going to him; very likely they have met each other on

the road; very likely Don Luis is back in San Antonio. He would not want to go away without bidding me

So many things are possible. My heart said to me when the talk was going on, `Don Luis is waiting under the

oleanders,' and I walked on to the balcony and there he was, and he looked so sad, and I dropped my suchil

flower to him; and Rachela saw me, for I think she has a million eyes,and that is the whole matter."

"Then you disobeyed mi madre, and you know what Fray Ignatius and the Sisters have taught you about the

"Oh, indeed, I did not think of the fourth command! A sin without intention has not penance; and consider,

Antonia, I am now sixteen, and they would shut me up like a chicken in its shell. Antonia, sweet Antonia,

speak to Rachela, and make your little Iza happy. Fear is so bad for me. See, I do not even care for my cakes

"I will give Rachela the blue silk kerchief I brought from New York. She will forget a great deal for that, and

then, Iza, darling, you must tell Fray Ignatius of your sin, because it is not good to have an unconfessed sin

"Antonia, do not say such cruel things. I have confessed to you. Fray Ignatius will give me a hard penance.

Perhaps he may say to mi madre: `That child had better go back to the convent. I say so, because I have

knowledge.' And now I am tired of that life; I am almost a woman, Antonia, am I not?"

Antonia looked tenderly into her face. She saw some inscrutable change there. All was the same, and all was

different. She did not understand that it was in the eyes, those lookouts of the soul. They had lost the frank,

inquisitive stare of childhood; they were tender and misty; they reflected a heart passionate and fearful, in

Antonia was not without experience. There was in New York a gay, handsome youth, to whom her thoughts

lovingly turned. She had promised to trust him, and to wait for him, and neither silence nor distance had

weakened her faith or her affection. Don Luis had also made her understand how hard it was to leave Isabel,

just when he had hoped to woo and win her. He had asked her to watch over his beloved, and to say a word in

Her sympathy had been almost a promise, and, indeed, she thought Isabel could hardly have a more suitable

lover. He was handsome, gallant, rich, and of good morals and noble family. They had been much together in

their lives; their childish affection had been permitted; she felt quite sure that the parents of both had

And evidently Don Luis had advanced further in his suit than the Senora was aware of. He had not been able

to resist the charm of secretly wooing the fresh young girl he hoped to make his wife. Their love must be

authorized and sanctioned; true, he wished that; but the charm of winning the prize before it was given was

irresistible. Antonia comprehended all without many words; but she took her sister into the garden, where

they could be quite alone, and she sought the girl's confidence because she was sure she could be to her a

Isabel was ready enough to talk, and the morning was conducive to confidence. They strolled slowly between

the myrtle hedges in the sweet gloom of overshadowing trees, hearing only like a faint musical confusion the

"It was just here," said Isabel. "I was walking and sitting and doing nothing at all but looking at the trees and

the birds and feeling happy, and Don Luis came to me. He might have come down from the skies, I was so

astonished. And he looked so handsome, and he said such words! Oh, Antonia! they went straight to my

"It was in the morning. I had been to mass with Rachela. I had said every prayer with my whole heart, and

Rachela told me I might stay in the garden until the sun grew hot. And as soon as Rachela was gone, Don

"If a thing is delightful, nobody should do it. Luis said he knew that it was decided that we should marry, but

that he wanted me to be his wife because I loved him. His face was shining with joy, his eyes were like two

stars, he called me his life, his adorable mistress, his queen, and he knelt down and took my hands and kissed

"Very well, Antonia! It is easy to say `Oh, Iza'; but what would you have done? And reflect on this; no one,

not even Rachela, saw him. So then, our angels were quite agreeable and willing. And II was in such joy,

that I went straight in and told Holy Maria of my happiness. But when a person has not been in love, how can

they know; and I see that you are going to say as Sister Sacrementa said to Lores Valdez`You are a wicked

"Oh, my darling one, I am not so cruel. I think you did nothing very wrong, Iza. When love comes into your

soul, it is like a new life. If it is a pure, good love, it is a kind of murder to kill it in any way."

"When I was in New York, our brother Jack had a friend, and he loved me, and I loved him."

"He came every night. We went walking and driving. In the summer we sailed upon the river; in the winter

we skated upon the ice. He helped me with my lessons. He went with me to church."

"Holy Virgin! Who ever heard tell of such good fortune? Consuelo Ladrello had never been an hour alone

"A good girl does not need a duenna to watch her; that is what I think. And an American girl, pure and free,

would not suffer herself to be watched by any woman, old or young. Her lover comes boldly into her home;

"Ah! that would be a perfect joy. That is what I would like! But fancy what Rachela would say; and mi madre

would cover her eyes and refuse to see me if I said such words. Believe this. It was in the spring Luis told me

that he loved me, and though I have seen him often since, he has never found another moment to speak to me

alone, not for one five minutes. Oh, Antonia! let me have one five minutes this afternoon! He is going away,

"He will be here, in this very place, I know he will. When he put the suchil flower to his lips last night he

made me understand it. This afternoon, during the hour of siesta, will you come with me? Only for five

"I can manage Rachela, and you shall have one whole hour, Iza. One whole hour! Come, now, we must make

The Senora had not yet risen. She had taken her chocolate and smoked her cigarito, but was still drowsing. "I

have had a bad night, children," she said full of dreadful dreams. It must have been that American. Yet, Holy

Mother, how handsome he is! And I assure you that he has the good manners of a courtier. Still, it was an

"You were in your own house, mother. What has Senora Valdez to do with the guest in it? We might as well

"I have to say to you, Antonia, that Morello is a Castilian; his family is without a cross. He has the

And Senor Houston is an AmericanScotchAmerican, he said, last night. Pardon, my mother, but do you

"Si!, They are monsters! Fray Ignatius has told me. They are heretics of the worst kind. It is their special

delight to put to death good Catholic priests. I saw that in a book; it must be true."

"Oh, no, mother! It is not true! It is mere nonsense. Scotchmen do not molest priests, women, and children.

"Indeed, mother, they are not savages. They are a very learned race of men, and very pious also. Jack has

many ScotchAmerican friends. I know one of them very well"; and with the last words her face flushed, and

"Jack knows many of them! That is likely. Your father would send him to New York. All kinds of men are in

New York. Fray Ignatius says they have to keep an army of police there. No wonder! And my son is so full of

nobilities, so generous, so honorable, he will not keep himself exclusive. He is the true resemblance of my

brother Don Juan Flores. Juan was always pitying the poor and making friends with those beneath him. At

"I think our Jack will be more likely to die like a very hero. If there is any thing Jack hates, it is oppression.

"Poco a poco! I am tired of rights and wrongs. Let us talk a little about our dresses, for there will be a gay

winter. Senora Valdez assured me of it; many soldiers are coming here, and we shall have parties, and

"Oh!" cried Isabel clapping her hands enthusiastically; "a bullfeast! That is what I long to see!"

At this moment the doctor entered the room, and Isabel ran to meet him. No father could have resisted her

pretty ways, her kisses, her endearments, her coaxing diminutives of speech, her childlike loveliness and

"Mi madre says there is perhaps to be a bullfeast this winter. Holy Virgin, think of it! That is the one thing I

With her clinging arms around him, and her eager face lifted to his for sympathy, the father could not dash

the hope which he knew in his heart was very unlikely to be realized. Neither did he think it necessary to

express opposition or disapproval for what had as yet no tangible existence. So he answered her with smiles

"As, Panem et Circenses was the cry Among the Roman populace of old; So, Pany Toros! is the cry of

The Senora smiled appreciatively and put out her hand. "Pan y Toros!" she repeated. "And have you

reflected, children, that no other nation in the world cries it. Only Spain and her children! That is because

only men of the Spanish race are brave enough to fight bulls, and only Spanish bulls are brave enough to fight

She was quite pleased with herself for this speech, and finding no one inclined to dispute the statement, she

went on to describe a festival of bulls she had been present at in the city of Mexico. The subject delighted her,

and she grew eloquent over it; and, conscious only of Isabel's shining eyes and enthusiastic interest, she did

not notice the air of thoughtfulness which had settled over her husband's face, nor yet Antonia's illdisguised

On the night of the Valdez's party her father had said he would talk with her. Antonia was watching for the

confidence, but not with any great desire. Her heart and her intelligence told her it would mean trouble, and

she had that natural feeling of youth which gladly postpones the evil day. And while her father was silent she

believed there were still possibilities of escape from it. So she was not sorry that he again went to his office in

the city without any special word for her. It was another day stolen from the uncertain future, for the calm

When all was still in the afternoon Isabel came to her. She would not put the child to the necessity of again

"Sit here, Iza, until I have opened the door for us. Then she took a rich silk kerchief, blue as the sky, in her

hand, and went to the wide, matted hall. There she found Rachela, asleep on a cane lounge. Antonia woke

The Senorita does the thing she wants to, Rachela would not presume to interfere. The Senorita became an

"If you permit my sister to walk in the garden with me, I shall give it to you this moment."

"Dona Isabel is different. She is a Mexicaine. She must be watched continually."

"Let her simply grow up, and you will see that she is not innocent as the angels. Oh, indeed! I could say

something about last night! Dona Isabel has no vocation for a nun; but, gracias a Dios! Rachela is not yet

"Let the child go with me for an hour, Rachela. The kerchief will be so becoming to you. There is not another

Rachela was past forty, but not yet past the age of coquetry. "It will look gorgeous with my gold earrings,

"Si, si! I will give the permission, Senoritafor your sake alone. The kerchief and bow are a little thing to

you. To me, they will be a great adornment. You are not to leave the garden, however, and for one hour's

"I will take care of Isabel; no harm shall come to her. You may keep your eyes shut for one hour, Rachela,

and you may shut your ears also, and put your feet on the couch and let them rest. I will watch Isabel

"The child is very clever, and she has a lover already, I fear. Keep your eyes on the myrtle hedge that skirts

the road. I have to say thisit is not for nothing she wants to walk with you this afternoon. She would be

In a few moments the kerchief and the bow were safely folded in the capacious pocket of Rachela's apron,

and Isabel and Antonia were softly treading the shady walk between the myrtle hedges. Rachela's eyes were

apparently fast closed when the girls pased{sic} her, but she did not fail to notice how charmingly Isabel had

dressed herself. She wore, it is true, her Spanish costume; but she had red roses at her breast, and her white

"Ah! she is a clever little thing!" Rachela muttered. "She knows that she is irresistible in her Castilian dress.

Bah! those French frocks are enough to drive a man a mile away. I can almost forgive her now. Had she worn

the French frock I would not have forgiven her. I would never have yielded again, no, not even if the Senorita

Antonia should offer me her scarlet Indian shawl worked in gold. I was always a foolHoly Mother forgive

me! Well, then; I used to have my own loversplenty of themhandsome young arrieros and rancheros:

there was Tadeo, a valento of the first class: and Buffaandwell, I will sleep; they do not remember me, I

In the mean time the sisters sat down beneath a great fig tree. No sunshine, no shower, could penetrate its

thick foliage. The wide space beneath the spreading branches was a little parlor, cool and sweet, and full of

soft, green lights, and the earthy smell of turf, and the wandering scents of the garden.

Isabel's eyes shone with an incomparable light. She was pale, but exquisitely beautiful, and even her hands

and feet expressed the idea of expectation. Antonia had a piece of needlework in her hand. She affected the

calmness she did not feel, for her heart was trembling for the tender little heart beating with so much love and

But Isabel's divination, however arrived at, was not at fault. In a few moments Don Luis lightly leaped the

hedge, and without a moment's hesitation sought the shadow of the fig tree. As he approached, Antonia

looked at him with a new interest. It was not only that he loved Isabel, but that Isabel loved him. She had

"How handsome he is!" she thought. "How gallant he looks in his velvet and silver and embroidered jacket!

And how eager are his steps! And how joyful his face! He is the kind of Romeo that Shakespeare dreamed

about! Isabel is really an angel to him. He would really die for her. What has this Spanish knight of the

He answered her mental question in his own charming way. He was so happy, so radiantly happy, so

persuasive, so compelling, that Antonia granted him, without a word, the favor his eyes asked for. And the

lovers hardly heard the excuse she made; they understood nothing of it, only that she would be reading in the

One whole hour! Isabel had thought the promise a perfect magnificence of opportunity. But how swiftly it

went. Luis had not told her the half of his love and his hopes. He had been forced to speak of politics and

business, and every such word was just so many stolen from far sweeter words words that fell like music

from his lips, and were repeated with infinite power from his eyes. Low words, that had the pleading of a

thousand voices in them; words full of melody, thrilling with romance; poetical, and yet real as the sunshine

In lovers of a colder race, bound by conventional ties, and a dress rigorously divested of every picturesque

element, such wooing might have appeared ridiculous; but in Don Luis, the most natural thing about it was its

extravagance. When he knelt at the feet of his beloved and kissed her hands, the action was the unavoidable

outcome of his temperament. When he said to her, "Angel mio! you are the light of my darkness, the perfume

of all flowers that bloom for me, the love of my loves, my life, my youth, my lyre, my star, had I a thousand

souls with which to love, I would give them all to you!" he believed every word he uttered, and he uttered

He stirred into life also in the heart of Isabel a love as living as his own. In that hour she stepped outside all of

her childhood's immaturities. She became a woman. She accepted with joyful tears a woman's lot of love and

"Luis was in my heart before; now, I have put him in my soul. My soul will never die. So I shall never forget

Rachela faithfully kept her agreement. For one hour she was asleep to all her charge did, and Isabel was in

her own room when the precious sixty minutes were over. Happy? So happy that her soul seemed to have

pushed her body aside, as a thing not to be taken into account. She sang like a bird for very gladsomeness. It

was impossible for her to be still, and as she went about her room with little dancing, balancing movements

of her hands and feet, Antonia knew that they were keeping their happy rhythmic motion to the melody love

And she rejoiced with her little sister, though she was not free from a certain regret for her concession, for it

is the afterreckoning with conscience that is so disagreeably strict and uncomfortable. And yet, why make

an element of anger and suspicion between Isabel and her mother when there appeared to be no cause to do

so? Don Luis was going away. He was in disgrace with his familyalmost disinherited; the country was on

the point of war, and its fortunes might give him some opportunities no one now foresaw. But if Isabel's

mother had once declared that she would "never sanction the marriage," Antonia knew that, however she

might afterwards regret her haste and prejudice, she would stand passionately by her decision. Was it not

better, then, to prevent words being said which might cause sorrow and regret in the future?

But as regarded Isabel's father, no such reason existed. The happiness of his children was to him a more

sacred thing than his own prejudices. He liked Don Luis, and his friendship with his mother, the Senora

Alveda, was a long and tried one. The youth's political partialities, though bringing him at present into

disgrace, were such as he himself had largely helped to form. Antonia was sure that her father would

sympathize with Isabel, and excuse in her the lapse of duty which had given his little girl so much happiness.

Yes, it would be right to tell him every thing, and she did not fear but Isabel would agree in her decision.

At this moment Rachela entered. The Senora wished her daughters to call upon the American

manteaumaker for her, and the ride in the open carriage to the Plaza would enable them to bow to their

acquaintances, and exhibit their last new dresses from New Orleans. Rachela was already prepared for the

"To be sure, the siesta has made you look charming this afternoon," she said, looking steadily into the girl's

beaming, blushing face, "and this rose silk is enchanting. Santa Maria, how I pity the officers who will have

the great fortune to see you this afternoon, and break their hearts for the sight! But you must not look at them,

mark! I shall tell the Senora if you do. It is enough if they look at you. And the American way of the Senorita

Antonia, which is to bow and smile to every admirer, it will but make more enchanting the becoming

"Keep your tongue still, Rachela. Ah! if you strike me, I will go to my father. He will not permit it. I am not a

child to be struck and scolded, and told when to open and shut my eyes. I shall do as my sister does, and the

"Chito! Chito!! You wicked one! Oh, Maria Santissima, cast on this child a look of compassion! The

"I am not wicked, Rachela; and gracias a Dios, there is no Inquisition now to put the question!"

Isabel was in a great passion, or the awful word that had made lips parch and blanch to utter it for generations

would never have been launched at the offending woman's head. But its effect was magical. Rachela put up

her hands palm outwards, as if to shield herself from a blow, and then without another word stooped down

and tied the satin sandals on Isabel's restless feet. She was muttering prayers during the whole action, for

Isabel had been quick to perceive her advantage, and was following it up by a defiant little monologue of

In the midst of this scene, Antonia entered. She was dressed for the carriage, and the carriage stood at the

"Rachela, can you not make some excuse to my mother which will permit us to remain at home? Hark! There

In a moment the three women were on the balcony, intently, anxiously listening. Then they were aware of a

strange confusion in the subtle, amber atmosphere. It was as if they heard the noise of battle afar off; and

Rachela, without a word, glided away to the Senora. Isabel and Antonia stood hand in hand, listening to the

vague trouble and the echo of harsh, grating voices, mingled with the blare of clarions, the roll of drums, and

the rattle of scattering rifleshots. Yet the noises were so blended together, so indistinct, so strangely

expressive of both laughter and defiance, that it was impossible to identify or describe them.

Suddenly a horseman came at a rapid pace towards the house, and Antonia, leaning over the balcony, saw

him deliver a note to Rachela, and then hurry away at the same reckless speed. The note was from the doctor

to his wife, and it did not tend to allay their anxiety. "Keep within the house," it said; "there are difficulties in

But it was near midnight when he arrived, and Antonia saw that he was a different man. He looked younger.

His blue eyes shone with the light behind them. On his face there was the impress of an invincible

determination. His very walk had lost its listless, gliding tread, and his steps were firm, alert and rapid.

No one had been able to go to bed until he arrived, though Isabel slept restlessly in her father's chair, and the

Senora lay upon the couch, drowsing a little between her frequent attacks of weeping and angry anticipation.

For she was sure it was the Americans. "Anything was possible with such a man as Sam Houston near the

"Perhaps it is Santa Anna," at length suggested Antonia. "He has been making trouble ever since I can

"Ca! And every American with a rifle in his hand! Santa Anna is a monster, but at least he fights for his own

"But, indeed, they believe that Texas is their country"; and to these words Doctor Worth entered.

"What is the matter? What is the matter, Roberto? I have been made sick with these uncertainties. Why did

"I have had a good reason for my delay, Maria. About three o'clock I received a message from the Senora

Alveda, and I visited her. She is in great trouble, and she had not been able to bear it with her usual fortitude.

"She made no complaint of Luis. She is distracted about her country, and as I came home I understood why.

For she is a very shrewd woman, and she perceives that Santa Anna is preparing trouble enough for it."

"When I left her house, I noticed many Americans, as well as many Mexicans, on the streets. They were

standing together, too; and there was something in their faces, and in the way their arms were carried, which

was very striking and portentous. I fancied they looked coldly on me, and I was troubled by the circumstance.

In the Plaza I saw the military band approaching, accompanied by half a dozen officers and a few soldiers.

The noise stopped suddenly, and Captain Morello proclaimed as a bando (edict) of the highest authority, an

order for all Americans to surrender their arms of every description to the officials and at the places notified."

"Maria, nothing could be worse! Nothing could be more shameful and disastrous. The Americans had

evidently been expecting this useless bombast, and ere the words were well uttered, they answered them with

a yell of defiance. I do not think more than one proclamation was necessary, but Morello went from point to

point in the city and the Americans followed him. I can tell you this, Maria: all the millions in Mexico can

not take their rifles from the ten thousand Americans in Texas, able to carry them."

"We shall see! We shall see! But, Roberto, you at least will not interfere in their quarrels. You have never

"No one has ever proposed to disarm me before, Maria. I tell you frankly, I will not give up a single rifle, or

revolver, or weapon of any kind, that I possess. I would rather be slain with them. I have never carried arms

before, but I shall carry them now. I apologize to my countrymen for not having them with me this afternoon.

You will be killed, Roberto! You will be a rebel! You will be shot like a dog, and then what will become of

"You have two sons, Maria. They will avenge their father, and protect their mother and sisters."

"Not of shame, Maria. If I permitted these men to deprive me of my arms, you might well die of shame."

"Great God, Maria! It is everything! It is honor! It is liberty! It is respect to myself! It is loyalty to my

country! It is fidelity to my countrymen! It is true that for many years the garrison has fully protected us, and

I have not needed to use the arms in my house. But thousands of husbands and fathers need them hourly, to

procure food for their children and wives, and to protect them from the savages. One tie binds us. Their cause

is my cause. Their country is my country, and their God is my God. Children, am I right or wrong?"

They both stepped swiftly to his side. Isabel laid her cheek against his, and answered him with a kiss. Antonia

clasped his hand, stood close to him, and said: "We are all sure that you are right, dear father. My mother is

weary and sick with anxiety, but she thinks so too. Mother always thinks as you do, father. Dear mother, here

is Rachela with a cup of chocolate, and you will sleep and grow strong before morning."

But the Senora, though she suffered her daughter's caresses, did not answer them, neither did she speak to her

husband, though he opened the door for her and stood waiting with a face full of anxious love for a word or a

smile from her. And the miserable wife, still more miserable than her husband, noticed that Isabel did not

follow her. Never before had Isabel seemed to prefer any society to her mother's, and the unhappy Senora felt

But Isabel had seen something new in her father that night; something that touched her awakening soul with

admiration. She lingered with him and Antonia, listening with vague comprehension to their conversation,

until Rachela called her angrily; and as she was not brave enough for a second rebellion that night, she

An hour afterwards, Antonia stepped cautiously within her room. She was sleeping, and smiling in her sleep.

Where was her loving, innocent soul wandering? Between the myrtle hedges and under the figtree with her

lover? Oh, who can tell where the soul goes when sleep gives it some release? Perhaps it is at night our

angels need to watch us most carefully. For the soul, in dreams, can visit evil and sorrowful places, as well as

happy and holy ones. But Isabel slept and smiled, and Antonia whispered a prayer at her side ere she went to

And the waning moon cast a pathetic beauty over the Edenlike land, till dawn brought that mystical silence

in which every new day is born. Then Robert Worth rose from the chair in which he had been sitting so long,

remembering the past and forecasting the future. He walked to the window, opened it, and looked towards the

mountains. They had an ethereal hue, a light without rays, a clearness almost polar in its severity. But in

"Liberty has always been bought with life, and the glory of the greatest nations handseled with the blood of

their founders." This was the thought in his heart, as looking far off to the horizon, he asked hopefully:

"What then, O God, shall this good land produce That Thou art watering it so carefully?"

It is flesh and blood that makes husbands and wives, fathers and children, and for the next few days these ties

were sorely wounded in Robert Worth's house. The Senora was what Rachela called "difficult." In reality, she

was angry and sullen. At such times she always went early to mass, said many prayers, and still further

irritated herself by unnecessary fasting. But there are few homes which totally escape the visitations of

this`pious temper in some form or other. And no creed modifies it; the strict Calvinist and strict Catholic are

Besides, the Senora, like the illtempered prophet, thought she "did well to be angry." She imagined herself

deserted and betrayed in all her tenderest feelings, her husband a rebel, her home made desolate, her sons and

daughters supporting their father's imprudent views. She could only see one alternative before her; she must

True, she had not yet heard from her sons, but she would listen to none of Rachela's hopes regarding them.

Thomas had always said yes to all his father's opinions. How could she expect anything from John when he

was being carefully trained in the very principles which everywhere made the Americans so irritating to the

Her husband and Antonia she would not see. Isabel she received in her darkened room, with passionate

weeping and many reproaches. The unhappy husband had expected this trouble at the outset. It was one of

those domestic thorns which fester and hamper, but to which the very best of men have to submit. He could

only send pleasant and affectionate messages by Rachela, knowing that Rachela would deliver them with her

"The Senor sends his great love to the Senora. Grace of Mary! If he would do a little as the most wise and

"Ah, Rachela, my heart is broken! Bring me my mantilla. I will go to early mass, when one's husband and

"My Senora, you will take cold; the morning is chill; besides, I have to say the streets will be full of those

"I shall be glad to take cold, perhaps even to die. And the Americans do not offend women. Even the devil

"Holy Virgin! Offend women! They do not even think us worth looking at. But then it is an intolerable

offence to see them standing in our streets, as if they had made the whole land."

But this morning, early as it was, the streets were empty of Americans. There had been hundreds of them

there at the proclamation; there was not one to be seen twelve hours afterwards. But at the principal

rendezvous of the city, and on the very walls of the Alamo, they had left this characteristic notice:

Robert Worth saw it with an irrepressible emotion of pride and satisfaction. He had faithfully fulfilled his

promise to his conscience, and, with his rifle across his shoulder, and his revolvers and knife in his belt, was

taking the road to his office with a somewhat marked deliberation. He was yet a remarkably handsome man;

and what man is there that a rifle does not give a kind of nobility to? With an uphead carriage and the light

of his soul in his face, he trod the narrow, uneven street like a soldier full of enthusiasm at his own

No one interfered with his solitary parade. He perceived, indeed, a marked approval of it. The Zavalas,

Navarros. Garcias, and other prominent citizens, addressed him with but a slightly repressed sympathy. They

directed his attention with meaning looks to the counterproclamation of the Americans. They made him

understand by the pressure of their hands that they also were on the side of liberty.

As he did not hurry, he met several officers, but they wisely affected not to see what they did not wish to see.

For Doctor Worth was a person to whom very wide latitude might be given. To both the military and the

civilians his skill was a necessity. The attitude he had taken was privately discussed, but no one publicly

acted or even commented upon it. Perhaps he was a little disappointed at this. He had come to a point when a

frank avowal of his opinions would be a genuine satisfaction; when, in fact, his longrepressed national

On the third morning, as he crossed the Plaza, some one called him. The voice made his heart leap; his whole

nature responded to it like the strings of a harp to the sweep of a skilful hand. He turned quickly, and saw two

young men galloping towards him. The foremost figure was his sonhis beloved youngest sonwhom he

had just been thinking of as well out of danger, safe and happy in the peaceful halls of Columbia. And lo!

"Why, Jack!" he cried; "Why, Jack, my boy! I never thought of you here." He had his hand on the lad's

shoulder, and was gazing into his bright face with tears and smiles and happy wonder.

Father, I had to come. And there are plenty more coming. And here is my other selfthe best fellow that

ever lived: Darius Grant. `Dare' we call him, father, for there is not anything he won't venture if he thinks it

worth the winning. And how is mi madre and Antonia, and Iza? And isn't it jolly to see you with a rifle?"

"Well, Dare; well, Jack; you are both welcome; never so welcome to Texas as at this hour. Come home at

There was so much to tell that at first the conversation was in fragments and exclamations, and the voices of

the two young men, pitched high and clear in their excitement, went far before them as if impatient of their

welcome. Antonia heard them first. She was on the balcony, standing thoughtful and attent. It seemed to her

as if in those days she was always listening. Jack's voice was the loudest, but she heard Dare's first. It

vibrated in midair and fell upon her consciousness, clear and sweet as a faraway bell.

She leaned forward, her soul hearkened after the vibrations, and again they called her. With swift steps she

"The Senorita had better remain within," she said, sullenly; "the sun grows hot."

Antonia heeded her not; she was hastening down the main avenue toward the gateway. This avenue was

hedged on each side with oleanders, and they met in a light, waving arch above her head. At this season they

were one mass of pale pink blossoms and dark glossy leaves. The vivid sunshine through them made a rosy

light which tinged her face and her white gown with an indescribable glow. If a mortal woman can ever look

like an angel, the fair, swiftly moving Antonia had at that moment the angelic expression of joy and love; the

angelic unconsciousness of rapid and graceful movement; the angelic atmosphere that was in itself a dream of

Dare saw her coming, and suddenly ceased speaking. He was in the midst of a sentence, but he forgot what he

was saying. He forgot where he was. He knew nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing but Antonia.

And yet he did not fall at her feet, and kiss her hands and whisper delightful extravagances; all of which

things an Iberian lover would have done, and felt and looked in the doing perfectly graceful and natural.

Dare Grant only clasped both the pretty hands held out to him; only said "Antonia! Antonia!" only looked at

her with eyes full of a loving question, which found its instant answer in her own. In that moment they

revealed to each other the length and breadth, the height and the depth of their affection. They had not

thought of disguising it; they made no attempt to do so; and Robert Worth needed not the confession which, a

When they entered the house together, a happy, noisy group, Rachela had left her chair and was going

hurriedly upstairs to tell the Senora her surmise; but Jack passed her with a bound, and was at his mother's

The Senora was on her couch in her darkened room. She had been at the very earliest mass, had a headache,

and had come home in a state of rebellion against heaven and earth. But Jack was her idol, the one child for

whose presence she continually pined, the one human creature to whose will and happiness she delighted to

"A miracle! A miracle! Grace of God and Mary, a miracle! Only this morning, my precious, my boy! I asked

the Holy Mother to pity my sorrows, and send you to me. I vow to Mary a new shrine. I vow to keep it, and

dress it for one whole year. I will give my opal ring to the poor. Oh, Juan! Juan! Juan I am too blessed."

Her words were broken into pieces by his kisses. He knelt at her knees, and stroked her face, and patted her

hands, and did all with such natural fervor and grace, that anything else, or anything less, must have seemed

"Come, my beautiful mother, and see my friend. I have told him so much about you; and poor Dare has no

mother. I have promised him that you will be his mother also. Dare is so goodthe finest fellow in all the

world; come down and see Dare, and let us have a real Mexican dinner, madre. I have not tasted an olla since

She could not resist him. She made Rachela lay out her prettiest dress, and when Jack said "how beautiful

your hair is, mother; no one has hair like you!" she drew out the great shell pins, and let it fall like a cloud

around her, and with a glad pride gave Rachela the order to get out her jewelled comb and gilded fan and

finest mantilla. And oh! how happy is that mother who has such pure and fervent admiration from her son;

Jack's presence drove all the evil spirits out of the house. The windows were thrown open; the sunshine came

in. He was running after Isabel, he was playing the mandolin; his voice, his laugh, his quick footstep, were

In spite of the trouble in the city, there was a real festival in the house. The Senora came down in her sweetest

temper and her finest garments. She arranged Jack's dinner herself, selected the dishes and gave strict orders

about their serving. She took Jack's friend at once into her favor, and Dare thought her wonderfully lovely

and gracious. He sat with her on the balcony, and talked of Jack, telling her how clever he was, and how all

It was a happy dinner, lengthened out with merry conversation. Every one thought that a few hours might be

given to family love and family joy. It would be good to have the memory of them in the days that were fast

coming. So they sat long over the sweetmeats, and fresh figs, and the pale wines of Xeres and Alicante. And

they rose up with laughter, looking into each others' faces with eyes that seemed to bespeak love and

remembrance. And then they went from the table, and saw not Destiny standing cold and pitiless behind

There was not much siesta that day. The Senora, Isabel and Jack sat together; the Senora dozed a little, but

not enough to lose consciousness of Jack's presence and Jack's voice. The father, happy, and yet acutely

anxious, went to and fro between his children and his study. Antonia and Dare were in the myrtle walk or

under the figtree. This hour was the blossoming time of their lives. And it was not the less sweet and tender

because of the dark shadows on the edge of the sunshine. Nor were they afraid to face the shadows, to inquire

of them, and thus to taste the deeper rapture of love when love is gemmed with tears.

It was understood that the young men were going away in the morning very early; so early that their adieus

must be said with their goodnights. It was at this hour that the Senora found courage to ask:

"Desert you, madre! I am your boy to my last breath! My country I love with my whole soul. That is why I

have come back to you and to her! She is in trouble and her sons must stand by her."

"We have heard that Colonel Ugartchea is to be there soon, and to take away the arms of the Americans. That

is not to be endured. If you yourself were a man, you would have been away ere this to help them, I am sure."

"ME!! The Blessed Virgin knows I would cut off my hands and feet first. Juan, listen to me dear one! You

"My heart is Mexican, for it is yours. But I must stand with my father and with my brother, and with my

American compatriots. Are we slaves, that we must give up our arms? No, but if we gave them up we should

"God and the saints!" she answered, passionately. "What a trouble about a few guns! One would think the

Mexicans wanted the wives and children, the homes and lands of the Americans. They cry out from one end

"They cry out in old England and in New England, in New York, in New Orleans, and all down the

Mississippi. And men are crying back to them: `Stand to your rifles and we will come and help you!' The idea

of disarming ten thousand Americans!" Jack laughed with scornful amusement at the notion. "What a game it

will be! Mother, you can't tell how a man gets to love his rifle. He that takes our purse takes trash; but our

Juan, my darling, you are my last hope. Your brother was born with an American heart. He has even become

a heretic. Fray Ignatius says he went into the Colorado and was what they call immersed; he that was

baptized with holy water by the thrice holy bishop of Durango. My beloved one, go and see Fray Ignatius;

"My heart, my conscience, my country, my father, my brother, Santa Anna's despotism, have already

"Speak no more. I see that you also are a rebel and a heretic. Mother of sorrows, give me thy compassion!"

Then, turning to Juan, she cried out: "May God pardon me for having brought into this world such ingrates!

"Sweetest mother, wait but a little while. You will see that we are right. Do not be cross with Juan. I am

"No, I will not bless you. I will not kiss you. You want what is impossible, what is wicked."

"And to get freedom you tread upon your mother's heart. Let loose my hands. I am weary to death of this

everlasting talk of freedom. I think indeed that the Americans know but two words: freedom and dollars.

"Not till you kiss me, mother. Do not send me away unblessed and unloved. That is to doom me to

misfortune. Mi madre, I beg this favor from you." He had risen, but he still held her hands, and he was

If she had looked at him! Oh, if she had but once looked at his face, she could not have resisted its beauty, its

sorrow, its imploration! But she would not look. She drew her hands angrily away from him. She turned her

"Mi madre, here comes Rachela! Say `God bless you, Juan.' It is my last word, sweet mother!"

She neither moved nor spoke. The next moment Rachela entered, and the wretched woman abandoned herself

Jack was inexpressibly sorrowful. He went into the garden, hoping in its silence and solitude to find some

relief. He loved his mother with his strongest affection. Every one of her sobs wrung his heart. Was it right to

wound and disobey her for the sake offreedom? Mother was a certain good; freedom only a glorious

Ah, but men have always fought more passionately for ideas than for facts! Tyrants are safe while they touch

only silver and gold; but when they try to bind a man's idealsthe freedom of his citizenshipthe purity of

Besides, freedom for every generation has but her hour. If that hour is not seized, no other may come for the

men who have suffered it to pass. But mother would grow more loving as the days went by. And this was

ever the end of Jack's reasoning; for no man knows how deep the roots of his nature strike into his native

land, until he sees her in the grasp of a tyrant, and hears her crying to him for deliverance.

The struggle left the impress on his face. He passed a boundary in it. Certain boyish feelings and graces

would never again be possible to him. He went into the house, weary, and longing for companionship that

would comfort or strengthen him. Only Isabel was in the parlor. She appeared to be asleep among the sofa

"I have been waiting to kiss you again, Juan; do you think this trouble will last very long?"

"It will be over directly, Iza. Do not fret yourself about it, angel mio. The Americans are great fighters, and

"Rachela says that Santa Anna has sent off a million of men to fight the Americans. Some they will cut in

"God is not dead of old age, Iza. Santa Anna is a miraculous tyrant. He has committed every crime under

"He would pay for some of his crimes here the rest he would settle for in purgatory. And you, too, Iza, are

"If I had twenty sisters, I should have room for twenty brothers, if they were like Dare and Luis. But, indeed,

"And perhaps you may see him soon; he is with Senor Sam Houston. Senor Houston was here not a week

ago. Will you think of that? And the mother and uncle of Luis are angry at him; he will be disinherited, and

"Are you totally and forever wicked, disobedient one? Two hours I have been kept waiting. Very well! The,

Sisters are the only duenna for you; and back to the convent you shall go tomorrow. The Senora is of my

"My father will not permit it. I will go to my father. And think of this, Rachela: I am no longer to be treated

like a baby." But she kissed Juan `farewell,' and went away without further dispute.

The handsome room looked strangely lonely and desolate when the door had closed behind her. Jack rose,

and roughly shook himself, as if by that means he hoped to throw off the oppression and melancholy that was

invading even his light heart. Hundreds of moths were dashing themselves to death against the high glass

shade that covered the blowing candles from them. He stood and looked at their hopeless efforts to reach the

flame. He had an unpleasant thought; one of those thoughts which have the force of a presentiment. He put it

away with annoyance, muttering, "It is time enough to meet misfortune when it comes."

It was only a sleepy peon with a request that he would go to his father's study. A different mental atmosphere

met him there. The doctor was walking up and down the room, and Dare and Antonia sat together at the open

"Your father wants to hear about our journey, Jack. Take my chair and tell him what happened. Antonia and I

will walk within hearing; a roof makes me restless such a night as this"; for the waning moon had risen, and

the cool wind from the Gulf was shaking a thousand scents from the trees and the flowering shrubs.

The change was made with the words, and the doctor sat down beside his son. "I was asking, Jack, how you

knew so much about Texan affairs, and how you came so suddenly to take part in them?"

"Indeed, father, we could not escape knowing. The Texan fever was more or less in every young man's blood.

One night Dare had a supper at his rooms, and there were thirty of us present. A man called Faulknera fine

fellow from Nacogdochesspoke to us. How do you think he spoke, when his only brother, a lad of twenty,

"He said one day that `the natural boundaries of the United States are the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.' He was

sent to the mines for the words. Faulkner's only hope for him is in the independence of Texas. He had us on

fire in five minutesall but Sandy McDonald, who loves to argue, and therefore took the Mexican side."

"He said it was a very unjustlike thing to make Mexico give her American settlers in Texas two hundred and

twentyfour millions of acres because she thought a change of government best for her own interests."

"The Americans settled in Texas under the solemn guarantee of the constitution of eighteen twentyfour.

How many of them would have built homes under a tyrannical despotism like that Santa Anna is now forcing

"McDonald said, `There is a deal of talk about freedom among you Americans, and it just means nothing at

all.' You should have seen Faulkner! He turned on him like a tornado. `How should you know anything about

freedom, McDonald?' he cried. `You are in feudal darkness in the Highlands of Scotland. You have only just

emigrated into freedom. But we Americans are born free! If you can not feel the difference between a federal

constitution and a military and religious despotism, there is simply no use talking to you. How would you like

to find yourself in a country where suddenly trial by jury and the exercise of your religion was denied you?

Of course you could abandon the home you had built, and the acres you had bought and put under cultivation,

and thus make some Mexican heir to your ten years' labor. Perhaps a Scot, for conscience' sake, would do

"And what answer made he?" He said, `A Scot kens how to grip tight to ten years' labor as well as yoursel',

Faulkner; and neither man nor de'il can come between him and his religion; but' `BUT,' shouted Faulkner;

`there is no BUT! It is God and our right! God and our right, against priestcraft and despotism!'"

"Then every one of us leaped to our feet, and we swore to follow Faulkner to Texas at an hour's notice; and

Sandy said we were `a parcel of fools'; and then, would you believe it, father, when our boat was leaving the

pier, amid the cheers and hurrahs of thousands, Sandy leaped on the boat and joined us?"

"He said, `I am a born fool to go with you, but I think there is a kind o' witchcraft in that word TEXAS. It has

been stirring me up morning and night like the voice o' the charmer, and I be to follow it though I ken well

"All along the Ohio and Mississippi we gathered recruits; and at Randolph, sixty miles above Memphis, we

"True, father! And then at every landing we took on men. For at every landing Crockett spoke to the people;

and, as we stopped very often, we were cheered all the way down the river. The Mediterranean, though the

biggest boat on it, was soon crowded; but at Helena, Crockett and a great number of the leading men of the

expedition got off. And as Dare and Crockett had become friends, I followed them."

"We went ostensibly to a big barbecue at John Bowie's plantation, which is a few miles below Helena.

Invitations to this barbecue had been sent hundreds of miles throughout the surrounding country. We met

parties from the depths of the Arkansas wilderness and the furthest boundaries of the Choctaw nation coming

to it. There were raftsmen from the Mississippi, from the White, and the St. Francis rivers. There were

planters from Lousiana and Tennessee. There were woodsmen from Kentucky. There were envoys from New

"I wish you had accepted it. It was worth the journey. There never was and there never will be such a

barbecue again. Thousands were present. The woods were full of sheds and temporary buildings, and

"Crockett, Hawkins, General Montgomery, Colonel Beauford, the three brothers Cheatham, Doc. Bennet, and

many others. When the woods were illuminated at night with pine knots, you may imagine the scene and the

"And he has a personal reason for his hatred of Mexico. An insatiable revenge possesses him. His wife and

two children were barbarously murdered by Mexicans. He appealed to those who could not go to the fight to

"Nine other men, either present or there by proxy, instantly gave a like sum, and thirty thousand in smaller

sums was added to it. Every donation was hailed with the wildest transports, and while the woods were

ringing with electrifying shouts, Hawkins rallied three hundred men round him and went off at a swinging

In another hour, the rest of the leaders had gathered their detachments, and every man had turned his face to

the Texan prairies. Crockett was already far advanced on the way. Sam Houston was known to be kindling

the fire on the spot; and I suppose you know, father," said Jack, sinking his voice to a whisper, "that we have

"Well, he has a large body of United States troops at Nacogdoches. He says they are to protect the people of

"Navasola is in Texas. Very well! If the United States feel it to be their duty to protect the people of

"Of course. Crockett has with him an autograph letter from President Jackson, introducing him as `a

Godchosen patriot.' President Jackson already sees Texas in the Union, and Gaines understands that if the

AmericanTexans should be repulsed by Santa Anna, and fall back upon him, that he may then gather them

under his standard and lead them forward to victoryand the conquest of Texas. Father, you will see the

"Do not talk too fast, Jack. And now, go lie down on my bed. In four hours you must leave, if you want to

Then Dare was called, and the lovers knew that their hour of parting was come. They said nothing of the fears

in their hearts; and on Antonia's lifted face there was only the light of love and of hope.

The keenest sufferings entailed by war are not on the battle field, nor in the hospital. They are in the

household. There are the maimed affections, the slain hopes, the broken ties of love. And before a shot had

been fired in the war of Texan independence, the battle had begun in Robert Worth's household.

The young men lay down to rest, but he sat watching the night away. There was a melancholy sleepiness in it;

the mockingbirds had ceased singing; the chirping insects had become weary. Only the clock, with its regular

When it was near dawn, he lifted a candle and went into the room where Jack and Dare were sleeping. Dare

In a few minutes both came to him. A bottle of wine, some preserved bears' paws, and biscuits were on the

table. They ate standing, speaking very little and almost in whispers; and then the doctor went with them to

the stable. He helped Jack to saddle his horse. He found a sad pleasure in coming so close to him. Once their

cheeks touched, and the touch brought the tears to his eyes and sent he blood to his heart.

With his hand on the saddle, Jack paused and said, softly, "Father, dear, tell mi madre my last look at the

house, my last thought in leaving it, was for her. She would not kiss me or bless me last night. Ask her to kiss

you for me," and then the lad broke fairly down. The moment had come in which love could find no

utterance, and must act. He flung his arm around his father's neck and kissed him. And the father wept also,

and yet spoke brave words to both as he walked with them to the gate and watched them ride into the thick

mist lying upon the prairie like a cloud. They were only darker spots in it. It swallowed them up. They were

He thought no one had seen the boys leave but himself. But through the lattices two sorrowful women also

watched their departure. The Senora, as wakeful as her husband, had heard the slight movements, the unusual

noises of that early hour, and had divined the cause of them. She looked at Rachela. The woman had fallen

into the dead sleep of exhaustion, and she would not have to parry her objections and warnings. Unshod, and

in her nightdress, she slipped through the corridor to the back of the house, and tightly clasping her rosary in

He turned in his saddle just before he passed the gate, and she saw his young face lifted with an unconscious,

anxious love, to the very lattice at which she stood: In the dim light it had a strange pallor. The misty air

blurred and made all indistinct. It was like seeing her Jack in some woful dream. If he had been dead, such a

Usually her grief was noisy and imperative of sympathy. But this morning she could not cry nor lament. She

went softly back to her room and sat down, with her crucifix before her aching eyes. Yet she could not say

her usual prayers. She could not remember anything but Jack's entreaty"Kiss me, mi madre! Bless me, mi

madre!" She could not see anything but that last rapid turn in the saddle, and that piteous young face,

Antonia had watched with her. Dare, also, had turned, but there had been something about Dare's attitude far

more cheery and hopeful. On the previous night Antonia had put some sprays of rosemary in his hat band "to

bring good, and keep away evil on a journey"; and as he turned and lifted his hat he put his lips to them. He

had the belief that from some point his Antonia was watching him. He conveyed to her, by the strength of his

That day Doctor Worth did not go out. The little bravado of carrying arms was impossible to him. It was not

that his courage had failed, or that he had lost a tittle of his convictions, but he was depressed by the

uncertainty of his position and duty, and he was, besides, the thrall of that intangible anxiety which we call

Yet, however dreary life is, it must go on. The bravehearted cannot drop daily duty. On the second day the

doctor went to his office again, and Antonia arranged the meals and received company, and did her best to

bring the household into peaceful accord with the new elements encroaching on it from all sides.

But the Senora was more "difficult" than even Rachela had ever seen her before. She did not go to church,

but Fray Ignatius spent a great deal of time with her; and his influence was not any more conciliating than

He said to her, indeed: "My daughter, you have behaved with the fortitude of a saint. It would have been

more than a venial sin, if you had kissed and blessed a rebel in the very act of his rebellion. The Holy Mary

But the Senora was not sensible of the reward and comfort; and she did feel most acutely the cruel wound she

had given her mother love. Neither prayers nor penance availed her. She wanted to see Jack. She wanted to

kiss him a hundred times, and bless him with every kiss. And it did not help her to be told that these longings

The blackrobed monk, gliding about his house with downcast eyes and folded hands, had never seemed to

Robert Worth so objectionable. He knew that he kept the breach open between himself and his wifethat he

thought it a point of religious duty to do so. He knew that he was gradually isolating the wretched woman

from her husband and children, and that the continual repetition of prayers and penances did not give her any

The city was also in a condition of the greatest excitement. The soldiers in the Alamo were under arms. Their

officers had evidently received important advices from Mexico. General Cos, the brotherinlaw of Santa

Anna, was now in command, and it was said immense reinforcements were hourly looked for. The drifting

American population had entirely vanished, but its palpable absence inspired the most thoughtful of the

Nor were the military by any means sure of the loyalty of the city. It was well known that a large proportion

of the best citizens hated the despotism of Santa Anna; and that if the Americans attacked San Antonio, they

would receive active sympathy. Party feeling was no longer controllable. Men suspected each other. Duels

were of constant occurrence, and families were torn to pieces; for the monks supported Santa Anna with all

Into the midst of this turbulent, touchy community, there fell one morning a word or two which set it on fire.

Doctor Worth was talking on the Plaza with Senor Lopez Navarro. A Mexican soldier, with his yellow cloak

streaming out behind him, galloped madly towards the Alamo and left the news there. It spread like wildfire.

"There had been a fight at Gonzales, and the Americans had kept their arms. They had also put the Mexicans

"And more," added a young Mexican coming up to the group of which Robert Worth was one, "Stephen

Austin has escaped, and he arrived at Gonzales at the very moment of victory. And more yet: Americans are

An officer tapped Doctor Worth on the shoulder. "Senor Doctor, your arms. General Cos hopes, in the

"I will not give up my arms. In the present extremity my arms are the greatest need I have."

He was led away, amid the audible murmurs of the men who filled the streets. There needed but some one to

have said the word, and they would have taken him forcibly from the military. A great crowd followed him to

the gates of the Alamo. For there was scarcely a family in San Antonio of which this good doctor was not an

adopted member. The arrest of their favorite confessor would hardly have enraged them more.

Fray Ignatius brought the news to the Senora. Even he was affected by it. Never before had Antonia seen him

walk except with thoughtful and deliberate steps. She wondered at his appearance; at its suppressed hurry; at

And the priest was in his heart satisfied; though he was consciously telling himself that "he was sorry for the

Senora, and that he would have been glad if the sins of her husband could have been set against the works of

"But he is an infidel; he believes not in the saints," he muttered; "then how could they avail him!"

Antonia met him at the door. He said an Ave Maria as he crossed the threshold, and gave her his hand to kiss.

She looked wonderingly in his face, for unless it was a special visit, he never called so near the Angelus. Still,

it is difficult to throw off a habit of obedience formed in early youth; and she did not feel as if she could

break through the chill atmosphere of the man and ask: "For what reason have you come, father?"

A long, shrill shriek from the Senora was the first answer to the fearful question in her heart. In a few

moments she was at her mother's door. Rachela knelt outside it, telling her rosary. She stolidly kept her place,

and a certain instinct for a moment prevented Antonia interrupting her. But the passionate words of her

mother, blending with the low, measured tones of the priest, were something far more positive.

The woman was absorbed in her supplications, and Antonia opened the door. Isabel followed her. They found

themselves in the the{sic} presence of an angry sorrow that appalled them. The Senora had torn her lace

mantilla into shreds, and they were scattered over the room as she had flung them from her hands in her

frantic walk about it. The large shell comb that confined her hair was trodden to pieces, and its long coils had

fallen about her face and shoulders. Her bracelets, her chain of gold, her brooch and rings were scattered on

the floor, and she was standing in the centre of it, like an enraged creature; tearing her handkerchief into

"It serves him right! JESUS! MARIA! JOSEPH! It serves him right! He must carry arms! HE, TOO! when it

"What is it, mi madre?" and Isabel put her arms around her mother with the words mi madre. "Tell Isabel

"Your father is arrestedtaken to the Alamohe will be sent to the mines. I told him so! I told him so! He

The priest turned to Antonia with a cold face. He did not like her. He felt that she did not believe in him.

"Senorita, he has committed a treason. A good citizen obeys the law; Senor Worth has defied it."

"A great forbearance has been shown him, but the end of mercy comes. As he persisted in wearing arms, he

"It is a great shame! An infamous shame and wrong!" cried Antonia. "What right has any one to take my

"Mother, do not strike me." Then she took her mother's hands in her own, and led her to a couch, caressing

"Don't believe any oneANY ONE, mother, who says wrong of my father. You know that he is the best of

men. Rachela! Come here instantly. The rosary is not the thing, now. You ought to be attending to the

Senora. Get her some valerian and some coffee, and come and remove her clothing. Fray Ignatius, we will

"Your mother's sin, in marrying a heretic, has now found her out. It is my duty to make her see her fault."

"Oh, father, pray for me! I accuse myself! I accuse myself! Oh, wretched woman! Oh, cruel husband!"

"Mother, you have been a very happy woman. You have had the best husband in the world. Do not reproach

my father for the sins of others. Do not desert him when he is in the power of a human tiger. My God,

mother! let us think of something to be done for his help! I will see the Navarros, the Garcias, Judge Valdez; I

will go to the Plaza and call on the thousands he has cured and helped to set him free."

"You will make of yourself something not to be spoken of. This is the judgment of God, my daughter."

"It is the judgment of a wicked man, Fray Ignatius. My mother is not now able to listen to you. Isabel, come

here and comfort her." Isabel put her cheek to her mother's; she murmured caressing words; she kissed her

face, and coiled up her straggling hair, and with childlike trust amid all, solicited Holy Mary to console them.

Fray Ignatius watched her with a cold scrutiny. He was saying to himself, "It is the fruit of sin. I warned the

Senora, when she married this heretic, that trouble would come of it. Very well, it has come." Then like a

flash a new thought invaded his mindIf the Senor Doctor disappeared forever, why not induce the Senora

and her daughters to go into a religious house? There was a great deal of money. The church could use it

Antonia did not understand the thought, but she understood its animus, and again she requested his

withdrawal. This time she went close to him, and bravely looked straight into his eyes. Their scornful gleam

sent a chill to her heart like that of cold steel. At that moment she understood that she had turned a passive

He went, however, without further parley, stopping only to warn the Senora against the sin "of standing with

the enemies of God and the Holy Church," and to order Isabel to recite for her mother's pardon and comfort a

certain number of aves and paternosters. Antonia went with him to the door, and ere he left he blessed her,

and said: "The Senorita will examine her soul and see her sin. Then the ever merciful Church will hear her

Antonia bowed in response. When people are in great domestic sorrow, selfexamination is a superfluous

advice. She listened a moment to his departing footsteps, shivering as she stood in the darkness, for a norther

had sprung up, and the cold was severe. She only glanced into the pleasant parlor where the table was laid for

dinner, and a great fire of cedar logs was throwing red, dancing lights over the white linen and the shining

silver and glass. The chairs were placed around the table; her father's at the head. It had a forsaken air that

The dinner hour was now long past. It would be folly to attempt the meal. How could she and Isabel sit down

alone and eat, and her father in prison, and her mother frantic with a loss which she was warned it was sinful

to mourn over. Antonia had a soul made for extremities and not afraid to face them, but invisible hands

controlled her. What could a woman do, whom society had forbidden to do anything, but endure the pangs of

The Senora could offer no suggestions. She was not indeed in a mood to think of her resources. A spiritual

dread was upon her. And with this mingled an intense sense of personal wrong from her husband. "Had she

not begged him to be passive? And he had put an old rifle before her and her daughters! It was all that Senor

Houston's doing. She had an assurance of that." She invoked a thousand maledictions on him. She recalled,

with passionate reproaches, Jack's infidelity to her and his God and his country. Her anger passed from one

subject to another constantly, finding in all, even in the lukewarmness of Antonia and Isabel, and in their

affection for lovers, who were also rebels, an accumulating reason for a stupendous reproach against herself,

her husband, her children, and her unhappy fate. Her whole nature was in revoltin that complete mental

Isabel wept so violently that she angered still further the tearless suffering of her mother. "God and the

saints!" she cried. "What are you weeping for? Will tears do any good? Do I weep? God has forbidden me to

She sent Isabel away. Her sobs were not to be borne. And very soon she felt Antonia's white face and silent

companionship to be just as unendurable. She would be alone. Not even Rachela would she have near her.

She put out all the lights but the taper above a large crucifix, and at its foot she sat down in tearless abandon,

Antonia watched with her mother, though shut out from her presence. She feared for a state of mind so barren

of affection, so unsoftened by tears. Besides, it was the climax of a condition which had continued ever since

she had sent her boy away without a word of love. In the dim corridor outside she sat still, listening for any

noise or movement which might demand help or sympathy. It was not nine o'clock; but the time lengthened

itself out beyond endurance. Even yet she had hope of some word from her father. Surely, they would let him

She heard the murmur of voices downstairs, and she thought angrily of Rachela, and Molly, and Manuel,

"making a little confidence together" over their trouble, and spicing their evening gossip with the strange

thing that had happened to the Senor Doctor. She knew that Rachela and Manuel would call him heretic and

Thinking with a swelling heart of these things, she heard the door open, and a step slowly and heavily ascend

the stairs. Ere she had time to wonder at it, her father came in sight. There was a shocking change in his air

and appearance, but as he was evidently going to her mother's room, she shrank back and sat motionless so as

Then she went to the parlor, and had the fire renewed and food put upon the table. She was sure that he would

need it, and she believed he would be glad to talk over with her the events of the afternoon.

The Senora was still sitting at the foot of the crucifix when her husband opened the door. She had not been

able to pray; ave and paternoster alike had failed her. Her rebellious grief filled every corner of her heart. She

understood that some one had entered the room, and she thought of Rachela; but she found a kind of comfort

in the dull stupor of grief she was indulging, and she would not break its spell by lifting her head.

She did not shriek or exclaim; her surprise controlled her. And also her terror; for his face was white as death,

"Roberto! Roberto! Mi Roberto! How you have tortured me! I have nearly died! Fray Ignatius said you had

She spoke as calmly as a frightened child; sad and hesitating. If he had taken her in his arms she would have

But Robert Worth was at that hour possessed by two master passions, tyrannical and insatiablethey would

"Maria, they have taken my arms from me. Cowards! Cowards! Miserable cowards! I refused to give them

up! They held my hands and robbed merobbed me of my manhood and honor! I begged them to shoot me

ere they did it, and they spoke courteously and regretted this, and hoped that, till I felt that it would be a joy

"I want my rifle and all it represents. I want myself back again. Maria, Maria, until then, I am not worthy to

"It is my fault. I have waited too long. My sons showed me my dutymy soul urged me to do it. I deserve

The Senora stood speechless, wringing her hands. Her own passion was puny beside the sternness, the reality,

and the intensity of the quiet rage before her. She was completely mastered by it. She forgot all but the

"I am going for my arms. I will take them a hundredfold from those who have robbed me. I swear I will!"

"You do not love me. What are these Americans to you? I am your wife. Your Maria"

"You are my wifemy dear wife! I love youGod Almighty knows how well I love you; but we must part

"I thought so. I knew it. The accursed one! Oh that I had him here again! I would bury my stiletto in his

heart! Over the white hilt I would bury it! I would wash my hands in his blood, and think them blessed ever

"I cannot. I have stayed too long. And now I must ride without a gun or knife to protect me. Any Indian that I

meet can scalp me. Do you understand now what disarming means, Maria? If I had gone with my boy, with

"In the morning, Roberto, Lopez Navarro will get you a gun. Oh, if you must go, do not go unarmed! There

"How could I look Lopez Navarro in the face? Or any other man? No, no! I must win back my arms, before I

He took her in his arms, he kissed her eyes, her cheeks, her lips, murmuring tender little Spanish words that

meant, oh, so much, to the wretched woman!words she had taught him with kisseswords he never used

She clung to his neck, to his hands, to his feet; she made his farewell an unspeakable agony. At last he laid

her upon her couch, sobbing and shrieking like a child in an extremity of physical anguish. But he did not

blame her. Her impetuosities, her unreasonable extravagances, were a part of her nature, her race, and her

character. He did not expect a weak, excitable woman to become suddenly a creature of flame and steel.

But it was a wonderful rest to his exhausted body and soul to turn from her to Antonia. She led him quietly to

his chair by the parlor fire. She gave him food and wine. She listened patiently, but with a living sympathy, to

his wrong. She endorsed, with a clasp of his hand and a smile, his purpose. And she said, almost cheerfully:

"You have not given up all your arms, father. When I first heard of the edict, I hid in my own room the rifle,

the powder and the shot, which were in your study. Paola has knives in the stable; plenty of them. Get one

Good news is a very relative thing. This information made the doctor feel as if all were now easy and

possible. The words he said to her, Antonia never forgot. They sang in her heart like music, and led her on

through many a difficult path. The conversation then turned upon money matters, and Antonia received the

Then Isabel was awakened, and the rifle brought down; and Paola saddled the fleetest horse in the stable, and

after one solemn five minutes with his daughter, Robert Worth rode away into the midnight darkness, and

into a chaos of public events of which no man living could forecast the outcome.

Rode away from wife and children and home; leaving behind him the love and labor of his lifetime

For what? For justice, for freedom of thought and action, for the rights of his manhood, for the brotherhood

of race and religion and country. Antonia and Isabel stood hand in hand at the same lattice from which the

Senora had watched her son away, and in a dim, uncertain manner these thoughts connected themselves in

As the beat of the horse's hoofs died away, they turned. The night was cold but clear, and the sky appeared so

high that their eyes throbbed as they gazed upward at the grand arch, sprinkled with suns and worlds.

Suddenly into the tranquil spaces there was flung a sound of joy and revelry; and the girls stepped to a lattice

The residencia of Don Salvo Valasco was clearly visible from this site. They saw that it was illuminated

throughout. Lovely women, shining with jewels, and soldiers in scarlet and gold, were chatting through the

graceful movements of the danza, or executing the more brilliant Jota Aragonesa. The misty beauty of white

lace mantillas, the glitter and color of fans and festival dresses, made a moving picture of great beauty.

And as they watched it there was a cessation of the dance, followed by the rapid sweep of a powerful hand

over the strings of a guitar. Then a group of officers stepped together, and a great wave of melodious song,

solemn and triumphant, thrilled the night. It was the national hymn. Antonia and Isabel knew it. Every word

beat upon their hearts. The power of association, the charm of a stately, fervent melody was upon them.

"It is Senor Higadillos who leads," whispered Isabel, as a resonant voice, powerful and sweet, cried

"O list to the summons! The blood of our sires, Boils high in our veins, and to vengeance inspires! Who bows

and, without a moment's hesitation, the answer came in a chorus of enthusiastic cadences

"No hero will bend, no Mexican bow; Our country in tears sends her sons to the fight, To conquer, or die, for

"You see, the Mexicans think THEY are in the rightTHEY are patriots also, Antonia."

The sorrowful girl spoke like a puzzled child, fretfully and uncertainly, and Antonia led her silently away.

What could she answer? And when she remembered the dear fugitive, riding alone through the

midnightriding now for life and libertyshe could not help the uprising again of that cold benumbing

The gathering at Don Valasco's was constantly repeated in various degrees of splendor among the loyal

Mexicans of the city. They were as fully convinced of the justice of their cause as the Americans were. "They

had graciously permitted Americans to make homes in their country; now they wanted not only to build

heretic churches and sell heretic bibles, but also to govern Texas after their own fashion." From a Mexican

point of view the American settlers were a godless, atheistical, quarrelsome set of ingrates. For eaten bread is

soon forgotten, and Mexicans disliked to remember that their own independence had been won by the aid of

The two parties were already in array in every house in the city. The Senora at variance with her daughters,

their Irish cook quarrelling with their Mexican servants, only represented a state of things nearly universal.

And after the failure of the Mexicans at Gonzales to disarm the Americans, the animosity constantly

In every church, the priestsmore bitter, fierce and revengeful than either the civil or military

powerurged on the people an exterminating war. A black flag waved from the Missions, and fired every

heart with an unrelenting vengeance and hatred. To slay a heretic was a free pass through the dolorous pains

of purgatory. For the priesthood foresaw that the triumph of the American element meant the triumph of

freedom of conscience, and the abolition of their own despotism. To them the struggle was one involving all

the privileges of their order; and they urged on the fight with passionate denunciations of the foe, and with

magnificent promises of spiritual favors and blessings. In the fortress, the plaza, the houses, the churches, the

But through all this turmoil the small duties of life went on. Soldiers were parading the streets, and keeping

watch on the flat roofs of the houses; men were solemly{sic} swearing allegiance to Santa Anna, or flying by

night to the camp of the Americans; life and death were held at a pin's fee; but eating and dressing, dancing

and flirting were pursued with an eagerness typical of pleasure caught in the passing.

And every hour these elements gathered intensity. The always restless populace of San Antonio was at a

feverish point of impatience. They wanted the war at their own doors. They wanted the quarrel fought out on

their own streets. Business took a secondary place. Men fingered weapons and dreamed of blood, until the

temper of the town was as boisterous and vehement as the temper of the amphitheatre when impatiently

Nor was it possible for Antonia to lock the door upon this pervading spirit. After Doctor Worth's flight, it

became necessary for her to assume control over the household. She had promised him to do so, and she was

resolved, in spite of all opposition, to follow out his instructions. But it was by no means an easy task.

Fray Ignatius had both the Senora and Rachela completely under his subjection. Molly, the Irish cook, was

already dissatisfied. The doctor had saved her life and given her a good home and generous wages, and while

the doctor was happy and prosperous Molly was accordingly grateful. But a few words from the priest set

affairs in a far pleasanter light to her. She was a true Catholic; the saints sent the heretic doctor to help. It was

therefore the saints to whom gratitude was due. Had she not earned her good wage? And would not Don

Angel Sandoval give her a still larger sum? Or even the Brothers at the Mission of San Jose? Molly listened

to these words with a complacent pleasure. She reflected that it would be much more agreeable to her to be

where she could entirely forget that she had ever been hungry and friendless, and lying at death's door.

Antonia knew also that Rachela was at heart unfaithful, and soon the conviction was forced on her that

servants are never faithful beyond the line of their own interestthat it is, indeed, against certain primary

laws of nature to expect it. Certainly, it was impossible to doubt that there was in all their dependents a kind

The doctor had done them favorshow unpleasant was their memory! The Senora had offended them by the

splendor of her dress, and her complacent air of happiness. Antonia's American ways and her habit of sitting

"She wishes to be thought wiser than other womenas wise as even a holy priestSHE! that never goes to

mass, and is nearly a heretic," said the house steward; and as for the Senorita Isabel, a little trouble will be

good for her! Holy Mary! the way she has been pampered and petted! It is an absurdity. `Little dear,' and

`angel,' are the hardest words she hears. Si! if God did not mercifully abate a little the rich they would grow

This was the tone of the conversation of the servants of the household. It was not an unnatural tone, but it was

a very unhappy one. People cannot escape from the mood of mind they habitually indulge, and from the

animus of the words they habitually use; and Antonia felt and understood the antagonistic atmosphere. For

the things which we know best of all are precisely the things which no one has ever told us.

The Senora, in a plain black serge gown, and black rebozo over her head, spent her time in prayers and

penances. The care of her household had always been delegated to her steward, and to Rachela; while the

duties that more especially belonged to her, had been fulfilled by her husband and by Antonia. In many

respects she was but a grownup baby. And so, in this great extremity, the only duty which pressed upon her

And Fray Ignatius was daily more hard with her. Antonia even suspected from his growing intolerance and

bitterness, that the Americans were gaining unexpected advantages. But she knew nothing of what was

happening. She could hear from afar off the marching and movements of soldiers; the blare of military music;

the faint echoes of hurrahing multitudes; but there was no one to give her any certain information. Still, she

guessed something from the anger of the priest and the reticence of the Mexican servants. If good fortune had

been with Santa Anna, she was sure she would have heard of "The glorious! The invincible! The magnificent

It was not permitted her to go into the city. A proposal to do so had been met with a storm of angry

amazement. And steam and electricity had not then annihilated distance and abolished suspense. She could

but wonder and hope, and try to read the truth from a covert inspection of the face and words of Fray

Between this monk and herself the breach was hourly widening. With angry pain she saw her mother tortured

between the fact that she loved her husband, and the horrible doubt that to love him was a mortal sin. She

understood the underlying motive which prompted the priest to urge upon the Senora the removal of herself

and her daughters to the convent. His offer to take charge of the Worth residencia and estate was in her

conviction a proposal to rob them of all rights in it. She felt certain that whatever the Church once grasped in

its iron hand, it would ever retain. And both to Isabel and herself the thought of a convent was now horrible.

"They will force me to be a nun," said Isabel; "and then, what will Luis do? And they will never tell me

anything about my father and my brothers. I should never hear of them. I should never see them any more;

And Antonia had still darker and more fearful thoughts. She had not forgotten the stories whispered to her

childhood, of dreadful fates reserved for contumacious and disobedient women. Whenever Fray Ignatius

Never had days passed so wearily and anxiously. Never had nights been so terrible. The sisters did not dare to

talk much together; they doubted Rachela; they were sure their words were listened to and repeated. They

were not permitted to be alone with the Senora. Fray Ignatius had particularly warned Rachela to prevent this.

He was gradually bringing the unhappy woman into what he called "a heavenly mind"the influence of her

daughters, he was sure, would be that of worldly affections and sinful liberty. And Rachela obeyed the

confessor so faithfully, that the Senora was almost in a state of solitary confinement. Every day her will was

But at midnight, when every one was asleep, Antonia stepped softly into her sister's room and talked to her.

They sat in Isabel's bed clasping each other's hand in the dark, and speaking in whispers. Then Antonia

warned and strengthened Isabel. She told her all her fears. She persuaded her to control her wilfulness, to be

obedient, and to assume the childlike thoughtlessness which best satisfied Fray Ignatius. "He told you today

to be happy, that he would think for you. My darling, let him believe that is the thing you want," said

"He said to me yesterday, when I asked him about the war, `Do not inquire, child, into things you do not

understand. That is to be irreligious,' and then he made the cross on his breast, as if I had put a bad thought

into his heart. We are afraid all day, and we sit whispering all night about our fears; that is the state we are in.

"My darling, tell the Lord your sorrow, then, but do not repine to Rachela or Fray Ignatius. That is to

"Do you think I am wicked, Antonia? What excuse could I offer to His Divine Majesty, if I spoke evil to him

"Fray Ignatius looks like a goblin; he gives me a shiver when he looks at me; and as for RachelaI already

"Antonia, I know that I shall eternally hate her; for I am sure that our angels are at variance."

In conversations like these the anxious girls passed the long, and often very cold, nights. The days were still

worse, for as November went slowly away the circumstances which surrounded their lives appeared to

constantly gather a more decided and a bitterer tone. December, that had always been such a month of

happiness, bright with Christmas expectations and Christmas joys, came in with a terribly severe, wet

norther. The great log fires only warmed the atmosphere immediately surrounding them, and Isabel and

Antonia sat gloomily within it all day. It seemed to Antonia as if her heart had come to the very end of hope;

The rain lashed the earth; the wind roared around the house, and filled it with unusual noises. The cold was a

torture that few found themselves able to endure. But it brought a compensation. Fray Ignatius did not leave

the Mission comforts; and Rachela could not bear to go prowling about the corridors and passages. She

established herself in the Senora's room, and remained there. And very early in the evening she said "she had

Then Antonia and Isabel sat awhile by their mother's bed. They talked in whispers of their father and

brothers, and when the Senora cried, they kissed her sobs into silence and wiped her tears away. In that hour,

if Fray Ignatius had known it, they undid, in a great measure, the work to which he had given more than a

month of patient and deeplyreflective labor. For with the girls, there was the wondrous charm of love and

nature; but with the priest, only a splendid ideal of a Church universal that was to swallow up all the claims

It was nearly nine o'clock when Antonia and Isabel returned to the parlor fire. Their hearts were full of

sorrow for their mother, and of fears for their own future. For this confidence had shown them how firmly the

refuge of the convent had been planted in the anxious ideas of the Senora. Fortunately, the cold had driven

the servants either to the kitchen fire or to their beds, and they could talk over the subject without fear of

"I think I shall never go to sleep again, Antonia. If I shut my eyes I shall find myself in the convent; and I do

not want to go there even in a dream. Do you know Mother Teresa? Well then, I could tell you things. And

"I cannot make chocolate now; but you shall have a great deal of sugar in your cup, and something good to

eat also. There, my darling, put your chair close to the fire, and we will sit here until we are quite sleepy."

With the words she went into the kitchen. Molly was nodding over her beads, in the comfortable radius made

by the blazing logs; no one else was present but a young peon. He brought a small kettle to the parlor fire,

and lifted a table to the hearth, and then replenished the pile of logs for burning during the night. Isabel,

cuddling in a large chair, watched Antonia, as she went softly about putting on the table such delicacies as

she could find at that hour. Tamales and cold duck, sweet cake and the guava jelly that was Isabel's favorite

dainty. There was a little comfort in the sight of these things; and also, in the bright silver teapot standing so

cheerfully on the hearth, and diffusing through the room a warm perfume, at once soothing and exhilarating.

"I really think I shall like that American tea tonight, Antonia, but you must half fill my cup with those little

blocks of sugarquite half fill it, Antonia; and have you found cream, my dear one? Then a great deal of

Antonia stood still a moment and looked at the drowsy little beauty. Her eyes were closed, and her head

nestled comfortably in a corner of the padded chair. Then a hand upon the doorhandle arrested her attention,

and Antonia turned her eyes from Isabel and watched it. Ortiz, the peon, put his head within the room, and

then disappeared; but oh, wonder and joy! Don Luis entered swiftly after him; and before any one could say a

word, he was kneeling by Isabel kissing her hand and mingling his exclamations of rapture with hers.

Antonia looked with amazement and delight at this apparition. How had he come? She put her hand upon his

sleeve; it was scarcely wet. His dress was splendid; if he had been going to a tertullia of the highest class, he

could not have been more richly adorned. And the storm was yet raging! It was a miracle.

"Dear Luis, sit down! Here is a chair close to Iza! Tell her your secrets a few minutes, and I will go for mi

madre. O yes! She will come! You shall see, Iza! And then, Luis, we shall have some supper."

"You see that I am in heaven already, Antonia; though, indeed, I am also hungry and thirsty, my sister."

Antonia was not a minute in reaching her mother's room. The unhappy lady was halflying among the large

pillows of her gilded bed, wide awake. Her black eyes were fixed upon a crucifix at its foot, and she was

"Madre! Madre! Luis is here, Luis is here! Come quick, mi madre. Here are your stockings and slippers, and

your gown, and your mantillano, no, no, do not call Rachela. Luis has news of my father, and of Jack! Oh,

madre, he has a letter from Jack to you! Come dear, come, in a few minutes you will be ready."

She was urging and kissing the trembling woman, and dressing her in despite of her faint effort to delayto

call Rachela to bring Luis to her room. In ten minutes she was ready. She went down softly, like a

When she entered the cheerful parlor the shadow of a smile flitted over her wan face. Luis ran to meet her. He

drew the couch close to the hearth; he helped Antonia arrange her comfortably upon it. He made her tea, and

kissed her hands when he put it into them. And then Isabel made Luis a cup, and cut his tamales, and waited

upon him with such pretty service, that the happy lover thought he was eating a meal in Paradise.

For a few minutes it had been only this ordinary gladness of reunion; but it was impossible to ignore longer

the anxiety in the eyes that asked him so many questions. He took two letters from his pockets and gave them

to the Senora. They were from her husband and Jack. Her hands trembled; she kissed them fervently; and as

Antonia opened the real conversation with that neverfailing wedge, the weather. "You came through the

"I went first to Lopez Navarro's. Do you not know this festa dress? It is the one Lopez bought for the feast of

St. James. He lent it to me, for I assure you that my own clothing was like that of a beggar man. It was

"Senorita, there are things which are impossible, quite impossible! That is one of them. Early this morning

the north wind advanced upon us, sword in hand. It will last fifty hours, and we shall know something more

about it before they are over. Very well, but it was also absolutely necessary that some one should reach San

Antonio tonight; and I was so happy as to persuade General Burleson to send me. The Holy Lady has given

"We know nothing but what Fray Ignatius tells usthat the Americans have been everywhere pulling down

churches, and granting martyrdom to the priests, and that everywhere miraculous retributions have pursued

"Was Gonzales a retribution? The Senor Doctor came to us while we were there. God be blessed; but he

startled us like the rattle of rifleshots in the midnight! `Why were you not at Goliad?' he cried. `There were

three hundred stand of arms there, and cannon, and plenty of provisions. Why were they not yours?' You

would have thought, Senora, he had been a soldier all his life. The men caught fire when he came near them,

and we went to Goliad like eagles flying for their prey. We took the town, and the garrison, and all the arms

and military stores. I will tell you something that came to pass there. At midnight, as I and Jack stood with

the Senor Doctor by the campfire, a stranger rode up to us. It was Colonel Milam. He was flying from a

Mexican prison and had not heard of the revolt of the Americans. He made the camp ring with his shout of

delight. He was impatient for the morning. He was the first man that entered the garrison. Bravissimo! What a

"I remember! I remember!" cried the Senora. "Mi Roberto brought him here once. So splendid a man I never

saw before. So tall, so handsome, so gallant, so like a hero. He is an American fromwell, then, I have

"From Kentucky. He fought with the Mexicans when they were fighting for their liberty; but when they

wanted a king and a dictator he resigned his commision{sic} and was thrown into prison. He has a long bill

"We must not forget, Luis," said the Senora with a little flash of her old temper, "that Santa Anna represents

Luis devoutly crossed himself. "I am her dutiful son, I assure you, Senoraalways."

A warning glance from Antonia changed the conversation. There was plenty to tell which touched them

mainly on the side of the family, and the Senora listened, with pride which she could not conceal, to the

exploits of her husband and sons, though she did not permit herself to confess the feeling. And her heart

softened to her children. Without acknowledging the tie between Isabel and Luis, she permitted or was

Certainly many little formalities could be dispensed with, in a meeting so unexpected and so eventful. When

the pleasant impromptu meal was over, even the Senora had eaten and drunk with enjoyment. Then Luis set

the table behind them, and they drew closer to the fire, Luis holding Isabel's hand, and Antonia her mother's.

The Senora took a cigarette from Luis, and Isabel sometimes put that of Luis between her rosy lips. At the

dark, cold midnight they found an hour or two of sweetest consolation. It was indeed hard to weary these

three heartstarved women; they asked question after question, and when any brought out the comical side of

camp life they forget their pleasure was almost a clandestine one, and laughed outright.

In the very midst of such a laugh, Rachela entered the room. She stood in speechless amazement, gazing with

a dark, malicious face upon the happy group. "Senorita Isabel!" she screamed; "but this is abominable! At the

midnight also! Who could have believed in such wickedness? Grace of Mary, it is inconceivable!"

She laid her hand roughly on Isabel's shoulder, and Luis removed it with as little courtesy. "You were not

called," he said, with the haughty insolence of a Mexican noble to a servant"Depart."

"My Senora! Listen! You yourself alsoyou will die. You that are really weakso brokenhearted"

Then a miracle occurred. The Senora threw off the nightmare of selfish sorrow and spiritual sentimentality

which had held her in bondage. She took the cigarito from her lips with a scornful air, and repeated the words

Then Rachela closed the door with a clang which echoed through the house. And say as we will, the malice

of the wicked is never quite futile. It was impossible after this interruption to recall the happy spirit dismissed

by it; and Rachela had the consolation, as she muttered beside the fire in the Senora's room. this conviction.

So that when she heard the party breaking up half an hour afterwards, she complimented herself upon her

"Will Jack come and see me soon, and the Senor Doctor?" questioned the Senora, anxiously, as she held the

"Jack is on a secret message to General Houston. His return advices will find us, I trust, in San Antonio. But

until we have taken the city, no American can safely enter it. For this reason, when it was necessary to give

Lopez Navarro certain instructions, I volunteered to bring them. By the Virgin of Guadalupe! I have had my

"Si! If I am discovered; but, blessed be the hand of God! Luis Alveda knows where he is going, and how to

"I have heard," said the Senora in a hushed voice, "that there are to be no prisoners. That is Santa Anna's

"We know him well; and also what he is capable of"; and Luis plucked his mustache fiercely, as he bowed a

"Holy Maria! How brave he is!" said Isabel, with a flash of pride that conquered her desire to weep. "How

They went very quietly upstairs. The Senora was anticipating the interview she expected with Rachela, and,

perhaps wisely, she isolated herself in an atmosphere of sullen and haughty silence. She would accept nothing

from her, not even sympathy or flattery; and, in a curt dismission, managed to make her feel the

immeasurable distance between a highborn lady of the house of Flores, and a poor manola that she had

taken from the streets of Madrid. Rachela knew the Senora was thinking of this circumstance; the thought

was in her voice, and it cowed and snubbed the woman, her nature being essentially as low as her birth.

As for the Senora, the experience did her a world of good. She waited upon herself as a princess might

condescend to minister to her own wantsloftily, with a smile at her own complaisance. The very

knowledge that her husband was near at hand inspired her with courage. She went to sleep assuring herself

"that not even Fray Ignatius should again speak evil of her beloved, who never thought of her except with a

loyal affection." For in married life, the wife can sin against love as well as fidelity; and she thought with a

sob of the cowardice which had permitted Fray Ignatius to call her dear one "rebel and heretic."

"Santa Dios!" she said in a passionate whisper; "it is not a mortal sin to think differently from Santa

And if Fray Ignatius had seen at that moment the savage whiteness of her small teeth behind the petulant pout

of her parted lips, he might have understood that this woman of small intelligence had also the unreasoning

partisanship and the implacable sense of anger which generally accompanies small intelligence, and which

indicates a nature governed by feeling, and utterly irresponsive to reasoning which feeling does not endorse.

It was nearly two o'clock when Don Luis mounted his horse and left the Worth residencia. The storm still

raged, the night was dark, the cold intense, but the home of Lopez Navarro was scarce a quarter of a mile

"As you say; and I wish to show you that I am capable of a great thing. You do not believe me? Well, then

"Yes, but I will tell youI can say anything to youthere is to be a grand day for freedom; well, then, for a

festa one puts on the best that is to be got. I will even lend you my Cross of Saint James, if you wish. A

young hero should be dressed like a hero. Honor my poor clothes so far as to wear them in the fight."

"Thank you, Lopez. I will not disgrace them"; and he bent forward and looked into his friend's eyes. His

glance prolonged his wordswent further than speechwent where speech could not reach.

"It was decided by the vote of the army to send them there to frame a provisional government. There are

plenty of fighters with us, but not one statesman but Houston. And now it is necessary that we should have

legal authority to obtain loans, maintain the army in the field, and many other such things vital to our cause.

Austin is to go to the United States. He will bring back men and money. Houston must draw up our

declaration and manifestoes; direct the civil government; forward troops; and, in fact, set a new government

"He is the loadstone in the bosom![2] I wonder that the Americans permitted that he should leave them."

[2] The loadstone in the bosom is a charm against evil; the bringer of good fortune.

"He, and he only, was the man to go. Ere he left, he said some strange words. I shall not, as a Mexican, forget

them. In the midst of the men he stood like a god, with his great stature, and his bright, strong face. One

cannot think of him as of a common mortal. Indeed, I will confess that I could only compare him with the

Efreet in the Arabian tale, `whose nostrils were like trumpets, his eyes like lamps, and who had dishevelled,

"`You will fight as men fight for their homes, and their wives, and their children, but alsoremember

thisthe idea of Texas is in the American heart! Two generations they have carried it there! It is your

destiny to make the idea a fact! As far back as eighteen nineteen, Adams wanted Texas. When Adams

became president, he told Poinsett to offer Mexico a million of dollars for Texas. Clay would have voted

three millions. Van Buren, in eighteen twentynine, told Poinsett to offer five millions for Texas. I went to

Washington that year, and proposed to revolutionize Texas. I declare to you that the highest men in the land

were of my mind. Only last July President Jackson offered an additional half million dollars for the Rio

Grande boundary; and Mr. Secretary Forsyth said, justly or unjustly, by hook, or by crook, Texas must

become part of our country. We have been longing for it for fifty years! Now, then, brothersinarms!' he

cried, `You are here for your homes and your freedom; but, more than that, you are here for your country!'

Remember the thousands of Americans who have slipped out of history and out of memory, who have bought

this land with their blood! We have held a grip on Texas for fifty years. By the soul of every American who

"You should have heard the shout that answered the charge. Jesu, Maria! It made my heart leap to my bosom.

And ever since, the two words have filled the air. You could see men catching them on their lips. They are in

their eyes, and their walk. Their hands say them. The uptoss of their heads says them. When they go into

battle they will see Houston in front of them, and hear him call back `No surrender!' Mexico cannot hold

Lopez did not answer. He was a melancholy, wellread man, who had travelled, and to whom the idea of

liberty was a passion. But the feeling of race was also strong in him, and he could not help regretting that

liberty must come to Texas through an alien people"heretics, too"he muttered, carrying the thought out

aloud. It brought others equally living to him, and he asked, "Where, then, is Doctor Worth?"

"At Espada. The army wished him to go to San Felipe with Houston, but he declined. And we want him most

"Indeed, very few know him. He is one that seldom speaks. But his rifle has its word always ready."

"Jack also went to San Felipe. He is to bring back the first despatches. Jack is the darling of the camp. Ah,

what a happy soul he has! One would think that it had just come from heaven, or was just going there."

"Si! She is a blessing to the eyesight. So brave a young girl, so sweet, so wise; she is a miracle! If I loved not

"Hark! how the wind roars, and how the rain thrashes the house! But our men have the shelter of one of the

Panchos. You should have heard the padre threaten them with the anger of heaven and hell and General Cos.

"Your horse has been well fed. Listen, he is neighing for you; to Doctor Worth give my honorable regards. Is

Senor Parades with you? and Perez Mexia? Say to them I keep the vow I made in their behalf. Farewell,

Luis!" and Luis, who had been mounting as his friend talked, stooped from his saddle and kissed him.

It was just dawn when he reached camp, and he found Doctor Worth waiting his arrival. Fortunately there

was nothing but good news for the doctor. Luis had seen everything through the medium of his own

happiness, and he described the midnight meal and the Senora's amiability with the utmost freedom from

anything unpleasant. Rachela's interference he treated with scornful indifference; and yet it affected Worth's

mind unpleasantly. For it went straight to the source of offence. "She must have had Fray Ignatius behind her.

And, in fact, as he was thus thinking, the Senora was lying awake in her bed, anticipating her confessor's next

visit. She was almost glad the norther was still blowing. It would give her another day's respite; and "so many

things happen as the clock goes round," she reflected. Perhaps even her Roberto might arrive; it would not be

But very early in the day she saw the father hurrying up the oleander avenue. The wind tossed his gown, and

blew his hat backward and sideways, and compelled him to make undignified haste. And such little things

affect the mental poise and mood! The Senora smiled at the funny figure he made; and with the smile came a

feeling of resistance to his tyranny, and a stubborn determination to defend her own conduct.

He came into her room with a doleful countenance, saying, as he crossed himself, "God be here!"

"And with you, father," answered the Senora, cheerfullya mood she had assumed at the last moment, by a

"There is evil news on every hand my daughter. The heretics are swarming like wolves around the Missions.

Several of our holy brothers have endured the last extremity. These wolves will even enter the city, and you

will be in danger. I have come to take you to the convent. There, Holy Mary will be your safety."

"Blessed be the hand of God and Mary! will trust in them. Ah, Antonia! Listen to Fray Ignatius! He says we

must go to the conventthe heretics are coming. They have even slain some priests at the Mission."

"Fray Ignatius has been misinformed, dear mother. When a man wears a gown and has no arms Americans do

not molest him. That is certain. As for the convent it is impossible. My father forbade it. If the Americans

enter the city, he is with them. He will protect us, if we should need it, which is not likely."

"Grace of God! Hear you, Senora! Hear you the rebellious and disobedient one! She has defied me to my

face! She is near to being anathema! She is not your daughter! She is bewitched. Some evil spirit has

possession of her. Let no one touch her or speak to her; it shall be a mortal sin."

Antonia fell at her mother's knee. "Mi madre! I am your daughter, your Antonia, that you carried in your

breast, and that loves you better than life. Permit me not to be accused of sinto be called a devil. Mother,

At this moment Isabel entered. Seeing the distress of her mother and sister she hastened to them; but Fray

"I forbid you to speak to your sister. I forbid you to touch her, to give her food, or water, or sympathy, until

Then mother love stood up triumphant over superstition. "I and my daughter are the same," said the Senora,

and she gave her hand to Antonia. "If she has sinned, we will bear the penance together; she and I together."

"I command you to stand apart. For the good of Antonia's sinful soul, I command you to withdraw yourself

"She is my daughter, father. I will bear the sin and the punishment with her. The Holy Mother will understand

The door of her room was at hand; she stepped swiftly to it, and putting her daughters before her, passed in

The movement took the priest by surprise, and yet he was secretly satisfied with it. He had permitted himself

to act with an imprudence most unusual. He had allowed the Senora to find out her own moral strength, and

made a situation for her in which she had acted not only without his support, but against his authority.

"And yet," he muttered, "so much depends upon my persuading her into the convent; however, nothing now

is to be done to day, except to see Rachela. Saint Joseph! if these American heretics were only in my power!

What a long joy I would make of them! I would cut a throatjust one throatevery day of my life."

The hatred which could contemplate a vengeance so long drawn out was on his dark face; yet, it is but justice

to say, that he sincerely believed it to be a holy hatred. The foes of the church, he regarded as the foes of

God; and his anger as a just zeal for the honor of the Lord of Hosts. Beside which, it included a far more

The accumulated treasures of the Missions; their gold and gems, their costly vestments and holy vessels, had

been removed to the convent for safety. "These infidels of Americans give to women the honor they should

give to God and Holy Church," he said to his brethren. "They will not suffer the Sisters to be molested; and

But this wealth was really so immense, that he believed it might be well to secure it still further, and knowing

the position Dr. Worth held among his countrymen, he resolved to induce his wife and daughters to seek

refuge within the convent. They were, in fact, to be held as hostages, for the protection of the property of the

That he should fail in his plan was intolerable to him. He had been so confident of success. He imagined the

smile on the face of Fray Sarapiam, and the warning against self confidence he would receive from his

superior; and he vowed by Saint Joseph that he would not suffer himself to be so mortified by three women.

Had he seen the Senora after the first excitement of her rebellion was over, he would have been satisfied of

the validity of his authority, at least as regarded her. She flung herself at the foot of her altar, weeping and

beating her breast in a passion of selfaccusation and contrition. Certainly, she had stood by her daughter in

the presence of the priest; but in her room she withdrew herself from the poor girl as if she were a spiritual

Antonia at a distance watched the selfabasement of her mother. She could not weep, but she was white as

clay, and her heart was swollen with a sense of wrong and injustice, until breathing was almost suffocation.

She looked with a piteous entreaty at Isabel. Her little sister had taken a seat at the extremity of the room

away from her. She watched Antonia with eyes full of terror. But there was no sympathy in her face, only an

uncertainty which seemed to speak to herto touch her and her mother was brokenhearted with shame

The anxiety was also a dumb one. Until the Senora rose from her knees, there was not a movement made, not

a word uttered. The girls waited shivering with cold, sick with fear, until she spoke. Even then her words

"Go to your room, Antonia. You have not only sinned; you have made me sin also. Alas! Alas! Miserable

"Mi madre, I am innocent of wrong. I have committed no sin. Is it a sin to obey my father? Isabel, darling,

"Fray Ignatius wants us to go to the convent. I refused. My father made me promise to do so. Is not our first

"No, no; to Godand to Fray Ignatius, as the priest of God. He says we ought to go to the convent. He

There was a moment's wavering, and then Isabel went to her mother and caressed her as only Isabel could

caress her, and with the kisses, she said boldly: "Mi madre, we will not go to the convent. Not any of us. It is

a dreadful place, even for a happy child. Oh, how cold and still are the Sisters! They are like stone figures

"Hush, child! I cannot listen to you! Go away! I must be alone. I must think. I must pray. Only the Mother of

It was a miserable sequence to the happy night, and Antonia was really terrified at the position in which she

found herself. If the Americans should fall, nothing but flight, or uncompromising submission to Fray

Ignatius, remained for her. She knew only too well how miserable her life could be made; what moral torture

could be inflicted; what spiritual servitude exacted. In a moment of time she had comprehended her danger,

The cold was still severe, and no one answered her call for wood. Isabel crouched, white and shivering, over

the dying embers, and it was she who first uttered the fear Antonia had refused to admit to herself"Suppose

"I will bring wood myself, dearest." She was greatly comforted by the word "us." She could almost have wept

for joy of the sympathy it included. For thought is rapid in such crucial moments, and she had decided that

even flight with her would be a kinder fate for Isabel, than the cruel tender mercies of the Sisters and the

They could not talk much. The thought of their mother's anguish, and of the separation put between them and

their household, shocked and terrified them. Vainly they called for fuel. At dinner time no table was laid, and

no preparations made for the meal. Then Antonia went into the kitchen. She took with her food, and cooked

it. She brought wood into the parlor, and made up the fire. Fortunately, her northern education had given her

plenty of resources for such emergencies. Two or three savory dishes were soon ready, and the small table set

The Senora had evidently not been included in the ban, for Rachela attended with ostentatious care to her

comfort; but Isabel had rolled herself up in a wadded silk coverlet and gone to sleep. Antonia awakened her

"He cannot forbid me to wait upon you, my darling one. And he cannot turn the flour into dust, and the meat

"For three hours I have been faint. Ah! you have made me a custard also! You are a very comforter."

But the girl was still and sad, and Antonia was hard pressed to find any real comfort for her. For she knew

that their only hope lay in the immediate attack of the American force, and its success; and she did not think

it wise to hide from her sister the alternatives that lay before them if the Americans failed.

"I am afraid," said Isabel; "and so unhappy. A very sad business is life. I cannot think how any one can care

"Remember Luis, and our father, and Jack, and Thomas, and our dear mother, who this morning stood

between us and Fray Ignatius. Will you let this priest turn the sky black above you?"

"And also, men will fight. What for? Who can tell? The Americans want so much of everything. Naturally

they do not get all they want. What do they do? Fight, and get killed. Then they go into the next world, and

Fortunately, the norther moderated at sunset. Life then seemed so much more possible. Adverse elements

intensify adverse fortune, and the physical suffering from the cold had also benumbed Antonia's spirits, and

made her less hopeful and less clearvisioned. But when she awoke at the gray dawn of the next day, she

awoke with a different spirit. She had regained herself. She rose quietly, and looked out towards the city. The

black flag from the Alamo and the Missions hung above it. She looked at the ominous standards, and then the

tears sprang to her eyes; she lifted her face and her hands to heaven, and a few words, swifter than light,

The answer came with the petitioncame with the crack of rifle shots; precise, regular, unceasing.

"Oh God! I thank Thee! Lord of Hosts, Thou art a great multitude! Isabel! Isabel! The Americans are

attacking the city! Our father will fight his way back to his home! Fray Ignatius can not come today. Oh, I

am so happy! So happy! Listen! How the Mexicans are shouting! They are cheering on the men! What a

"Jesu, Maria, have mercy!" cried Isabel, clasping her crucifix and falling upon her knees.

"Oh, Isabel, pray for our father, that his angel may overshadow him with strong wings."

"And Luis, and Thomas, and Jack, and Dare. There are prayers for them all, and love enough to make them.

Hark! there are the drums, and the trumpets, and the gallop of the cavalry. Come, dearest, let us go to our

The Senora was already dressed. She turned with a face full of fear and anger to her daughters as they entered

"These American diablos! They are attacking the city. They will take itthat is to be expectedwho can

fight diablos? And what is to become of us? Oh, Antonia! Why did you prevent Fray Ignatius? We might

now have been safe in the convent", and Rachela nodded her head in assent, with an insufferable air of

Antonia saw that the time had not yet come for pleading her own cause. She left Isabel with her mother. The

Senora's breakfast was waiting, and she offered to share it with her youngest daughter. Antonia went

downstairs to prepare for herself some coffee. She was surprised and pleased to find it made. For a certain

"The praist is a strange praist, and almost as black as a nagur; and I'd be a poor body, I think, to let him be

meddling wid my work. Shure, I never heard of the like of such interfering in Ireland, nor in the States at all!"

Then turning to the Mexican cook, Manuel"You may lave the fire alone till I bees done wid it."

"He can be kaping the same then. There is an Irish praist at San Patricio, and I'll be going there for my

absolution; and I'll be getting none any nearer that an Irish soul will be a pin the better for. I'll say that,

standing in the church, to the saints themselves; and so be aff wid you and let the fire alone till I bees done

But it was not Molly's place to serve the food she cooked, and she did not trouble herself about the serving.

When she had asserted her right to control her own work, and do it or neglect it as it seemed good to herself

alone, she was satisfied. Over Antoniawho was at least half a Mexicanshe acknowledged a Mexican

priest to have authority; and she had no intention of interfering between Fray Ignatius and his lawful flock.

She was smoking her pipe by the fire when Antonia entered the kitchen, and she neither lifted her eyes nor

Against such unreasonable isolation Antonia could not help a feeling of anger; and she heard with satisfaction

the regular crack of the rifles. Her thought was"They will make these people find their tongues also, very

soon." She was exceedingly anxious for information; and, as she ate her roll and drank her coffees she was

considering how they could gain it. For even if Fray Ignatius were able to visit them, his report would be

Her heart fluttered and sank; she was hot and cold, sanguine and fearful. She could not endure the idea of a

suspense unrelieved by any reliable word. For the siege might be a long one. San Antonio was strongly

walled and defended. The Alamo fortress stood in its centre. It had fortyeight cannon, and a garrison of a

thousand men. Before it could be reached, the city had to be taken; and the inhabitants would in the main

As soon as she was alone with her mother, she pointed out these facts to her. "Let me write to Lopez Navarro,

"Are you forgetful of what is moral and respectable, Antonia? That a young lady should write to Lopez

Navarroa man that is unmarriedis such a thing as never before happened! He would think the world had

"Dear mother! In a time of trouble like this, who would think wrong of us? Surely you might write."

"The peon Ortiz will take it. This morning he brought in wood and kindled the fire, and I saw in his face the

After some further persuasion, the Senora agreed to write; and Ortiz undertook the commission, with a nod of

understanding. Then there remained nothing to be done but to listen and to watch. Fortunately, however,

Rachela found the centre of interest among the servants in the kitchen; and the Senora and her daughter could

Just after sunset a letter arrived from Navarro. Rachela lingered in the room to learn its contents. But the

Senora, having read them, passed the letter to Antonia and Isabel; and Rachela saw with anger that Antonia,

having carefully considered it, threw it into the fire. And yet the news it brought was not unfavorable:

"I send this on December the fifth, in the year of our Blessed Lord and Lady 1835. It is my honor and

pleasure to tell you that the Americans, having performed miracles of valor, reached the Plaza this afternoon.

Here the main body of the Mexican troops received them, and there has been severe fighting. At sunset, the

Mexicans retreated within the Alamo. The Texans have taken possession of the Veramendi House, and the

portion of the city surrounding it. There has been a great slaughter of our poor countrymen. I charge myself

whenever I pass the Plaza, to say a paternoster for the souls who fell there. Senora Maria Flores Worth, I kiss

your hands. I kiss also the hands of the Senorita Antonia, and the hands of the Senorita Isabel, and I make

This little confidence between mother and daughters restored the tone of feeling between them. They had

something to talk of, personal and exclusive. In the fear and uncertainty, they forgot priestly interdiction and

clung to each other with that affection which is the strength of danger and the comforter of sorrow.

On the following day the depression deepened. The sounds of battle were closer at hand. The Mexican

servants had an air of insolence and triumph. Antonia feared for the evening's reportif indeed Navarro

should be able to send one. She feared more when she saw the messenger early in the afternoon. "Too early is

often worse than too late." The proverb shivered upon her trembling lips as she took the letter from him. The

"This on the sixth of December, in the year of our Blessed Lord and Lady 1835. The brave, the illustrious

Colonel Milam is dead. I watched him three hours in today's fight. A man so calm was inconceivable. He

was smiling when the ball struck himwhen he fell. The Texans, after his loss, retired to their quarters. This

was at the hour of eleven. At the hour of one, the Mexicans made another sortie from the Alamo. The Texans

rushed to meet them with an incredible vengeance. Their leader was General Burleson. He showed himself to

General Cos in a sheet of flame. Such men are not to be fought. General Cos was compelled to retire to the

Alamo. The battle is over for today. On this earth the soul has but a mortal sword. The water in the river is

red with blood. The Plaza is covered with the dead and the dying. I have the honor to tell you that these

`miserables' are being attended to by the noble, the charitable Senor Doctor Worth. As I write, he is kneeling

among them. My soul adores his humanity. I humbly kiss your hands, Senora, and the hands of your exalted

Until midnight this letter furnished the anxious, loving women with an unceasing topic of interest. The

allusion to her husband made the Senora weep. She retired to her oratory and poured out her love and her

The next morning there was an ominous lull in the atmosphere. As men run backward to take a longer leap

forward, so both armies were taking breath for a fiercer struggle. In the Worth residencia the suspense was

becoming hourly harder to endure. The Senora and her daughters were hardly conscious of the home life

around them. In that wonderful folkspeech which so often touches foundation truths, they were not all there.

Their nobler part had projected itself beyond its limitations. It was really in the struggle. It mattered little to

them now whether food was cooked or not. They were neither hungry nor sleepy. Existence was prayer and

Just before sunset Antonia saw Don Lopez coming through the garden. The Senora, accompanied by her

"General Cos has been joined by Ugartechea with three hundred men," he said. "You will see now that the

And before daylight broke on the morning of the 5th, the Americans attacked the Alamo. The black flag

waved above them; the city itself had the stillness of death; but for hours the dull roar and the clamorous

tumult went on without cessation. The Senora lay upon her bed motionless, with hands tightly locked. She

had exhausted feeling, and was passive. Antonia and Isabel wandered from window to window, hoping to see

Nothing was visible but the ferocious flag flying out above the desperate men fighting below it. So black! So

cruel and defiant it looked! It seemed to darken and fill the whole atmosphere around it. And though the poor

women had not dared to whisper to each other what it said to them, they knew in their own hearts that it

meant, if the Americans failed, the instant and brutal massacre of every prisoner.

The husband and father were under its inhuman shadow. So most probably were Darius Grant and Luis

Alveda. It was even likely that Jack might have returned ere the fight, and was with the besiegers. Every time

In the middle of the afternoon it suddenly disappeared. Antonia watched it breathlessly. Several times before,

it had been dropped by some American rifle; but this time it was not as speedily replaced. In a few minutes

she uttered a shrill cry. It was in a voice so strained, so piercing, so unlike her own, that the Senora leaped

from her bed. Antonia turned to meet her mother with white, parted lips. She was speechless with excess of

feeling, but she pointed to the Alamo. The black flag was no longer there! A white one was flying in its place.

"IT IS A SURRENDER!" gasped Antonia. "IT IS A SURRENDER!" and, as if in response to her words, a

An hour afterwards a little Mexican boy came running with all his speed. He brought a few lines from Don

Lopez. They had evidently been written in a great hurry, and on a piece of paper torn from his pocketbook,

but oh! how welcome they were. The very lack of formality gave to them a certain hurry of good fortune:

"May you and yours be God's care for many years to come, Senora! The Mexicans have surrendered the

Alamo, and asked for quarter. These nobleminded Americans have given it. The Senor Doctor will bring

Death and captivity had been turned away from their home, and the first impulse of these pious,

simplehearted women was a prayer of thanksgiving. Then Antonia remembered the uncomfortable state of

the household, and the probable necessities of the men coming back from mortal strife and the shadow of

She found that the news had already changed the domestic atmosphere. Every servant was attending to his

duty. Every one professed a great joy in the expected arrival of the Senor. And what a happy impetus the

hope gave to her own hands! How delightful it was to be once more arranging the evening meal, and

Soon after dark they heard the swing of the garden gate, the tramp of rapid footsteps, and the highpitched

voices of excited men. The door was flung wide. The Senora forgot that it was cold. She went with

outstretched arms to meet her husband. Dare and Luis were with him. They were black with the smoke of

battle. Their clothing was torn and bloodstained; the awful light of the fierce struggle was still upon their

faces. But they walked like heroes, and the glory of the deeds they had done crowned with its humanity,

made them appear to the women that loved them but a little lower than the angels.

Doctor Worth held his wife close to his heart and kissed her tears of joy away, and murmured upon her lips

the tenderest words a woman ever hearsthe words a man never perfectly learns till he has loved his wife

through a quarter of a century of change, and sorrow, and anxiety. And what could Antonia give Dare but the

embrace, the kiss, the sweet whispers of love and pride, which were the spontaneous outcome of both hearts?

There was a moment's hesitation on the part of Luis and Isabel. The traditions of caste and country, the social

bonds of centuries, held them. But Isabel snapped them asunder. She looked at Luis. His eyes were alight

with love for her, his handsome face was transfigured with the nobility of the emotions that possessed him. In

spite of his disordered dress, he was incomparably handsome. When he said, "Angel mio!" and bent to kiss

her hand, she lifted her lovely face to his, she put her arms around his neck, she cried softly on his breast,

whispering sweet little diminutives of affection and pride. Such hours as followed are very rare in this life;

and they are nearly always bought with a great pricepaid for in advance with sorrow and anxiety, or earned

by such faithful watching and patient waiting as touches the very citadel of life.

The men were hungry; they had eaten nothing all day. How delicious was their meal! How happy and merry

it made the Senora, and Antonia, and Isabel, to see them empty dish after dish; to see their unaffected

enjoyment of the warm room, and bright fire, of their afterdinner coffee and tobacco. There was only one

"His disappointment will be greater than ours," said Jack's father. "To be present at the freeing of his native

city, and to bring his first laurels to his mother, was the brightest dream Jack had. But Jack is a fine rider, and

is not a very fine marksman; so it was decided to send him with Houston to the Convention. We expected

him back before the attack on the city began. Indeed, we were waiting for orders from the Convention to

"Well, yes, Antoniain a way. Delays in war are as dangerous as in love. We were surrounded by dragoons,

who scoured the country in every direction to prevent our foraging. San Antonio HAD to be taken. Soon done

was well done. On the third of December Colonel Milam stepped in front of the ranks, and asked if two

hundred of the men would go with him and storm the city. The whole eleven hundred stepped forward, and

gave him their hands and their word. From them two hundred of the finest marksmen were selected."

"The greater for its calmness, I think. There was no shouting, no hurrahing, no obvious enthusiasm. It was the

"But every man was a picked man. A Mexican could not show his head above the ramparts and live. We had

"A Mexican is like a Highland Scot in one respect," said Dare;" he fights best with steel. They are good

"There are no finer cavalry in the world than the horsemen from Santa Fe, Dare. But with powder and ball

Mexicans trust entirely to luck; and luck is nowhere against Kentucky sharpshooters. Their balls very seldom

reached us, though we were close to the ramparts; and we gathered them up by thousands, and sent them back

with our doubleDupont powder. THEN they did damage enough. In fact, we have taken the Alamo with

"Under the Mexican republican flag of eighteen twentyfour; but indeed, Maria, I do not think we had one in

the camp. We were destitute of all the trappings of warwe had no uniforms, no music, no flags, no positive

military discipline. But we had one heart and mind, and one object in view; and this four days' fight has

The Senora lay upon a sofa; the doctor sat by her side. Gradually their conversation became more low and

confidential. They talked of their sons, and their probable whereabouts; of all that the Senora and her

daughters had suffered from the disaffection of the servants; and the attitude taken by Fray Ignatius. And the

doctor noticed, without much surprise, that his wife's political sympathies were still in a state of transition

and uncertainty. She could not avoid prophesying the speedy and frightful vengeance of Mexico. She treated

the success at San Antonio as one of the accidents of war. She looked forward to an early renewal of

"My countrymen are known to me, Roberto," she said, with a touch that was almost a hope of vengeance.

"They have an insurmountable honor; they will revenge this insult to it in some terrible way. If the gracious

Maria holds not the hands of Santa Anna, he will utterly destroy the Americans! He will be like a tiger that

"I am not so much afraid of Santa Anna as of Fray Ignatius. Promise me, my dear Maria, that you will not

suffer yourself or your children to be decoyed by him into a convent. I should never see you again."

The discussion on this subject was long and eager. Antonia, talking with Dare a little apart, could not help

hearing it and feeling great interest in her father's entreaties, even though she was discussing with Dare the

plans for their future. For Dare had much to tell his betrothed. During the siege, the doctor had discovered

that his intended soninlaw was a fine surgeon. Dare had, with great delicacy, been quite reticent on this

subject, until circumstances made his assistance a matter of life and death; and the doctor understood and

"He thinks I might have a touch of professional jealousyhe thinks I might suspect him of wanting a

partnership as well as a wife; he wishes to take his full share of the dangers of war, without getting behind the

shield of his profession"; these feelings the doctor understood, and he passed from Fray Ignatius to this

He told the Senora what a noble son they were going to have; he said, "when the war is over, Maria, my dear,

"And what do you say, Roberto, if I should give them the fine house on the Plaza that my brother Perfecto

"If you do that you will be the best mother in the world, Maria. I then will take Dare into partnership. He is

good and clever; and I am a little weary of work. I shall enjoy coming home earlier to you. We will go riding

"Maria Santissima! How delightful that will be, Roberto! And as for our Isabel, shall we not make her happy

also? Luis should have done as his own family have done; a young man to go against his mother and his

uncles, that is very wicked! but, if we forgive that fault, well, then, Luis is as good as good bread."

"I think so. He began the study of the law. He must finish it. He must learn the American laws also. I am not

a poor man, Maria. I will give Isabel the fortune worthy of a Yturbide or a Floresa fortune that will make

The Senora clasped her husband's hand with a smile. They were sweetening their own happiness with making

the happiness of their children. They looked first at Antonia. She sat with Dare, earnestly talking to him in a

low voice. Dare clasped in his own the dear little hand that had been promised to him. Antonia bent toward

her lover; her fair head rested against his shoulder. Isabel sat in a large chair, and Luis leaned on the back of

it, stooping his bright face to the lovely one which was sometimes dropped to hide her blushes, and

"My happiness is so great, Roberto, I am even tired of being happy. Call Rachela. I must go to sleep.

"God hears the unspoken prayer in your heart, Maria; and to night let me help you upstairs. My arm is

She rose with a little affectation of greater weakness and lassitude than she really felt. But she wished to be

weak, so that her Roberto might be strongto be quite dependent on his care and tenderness. And she let her

daughters embrace her so prettily, and then offered her hand to Dare and Luis with so much grace and true

"It is to be seen that they are gentlemen," she said, as she went slowly upstairs on her husband's arm"and

hark! that is the singing of Luis. What is it he says?" They stood still to listen. Clear and sweet were the

"Freedom shall have our shining blades! Our hearts are yours, fair Texan maids!"

The exalted state of mind which the victorious men had brought home with them did not vanish with sleep.

The same heroic atmosphere was in the house in the morning. Antonia's face had a brightness upon it that

never yet was the result of mere flesh and blood. When she came into the usual sittingroom, Dare was

already there; indeed, he had risen purposely for this hour. Their smiles and glances met each other with an

instantaneous understanding. It was the old Greek greeting "REJOICE!" without the audible expression.

Never again, perhaps, in all their lives would moments so full of sweetness and splendor come to them. They

were all the sweeter because blended with the homely duties that fell to Antonia's hands. As she went about

ordering the breakfast, and giving to the table a festal air, Dare thought of the old Homeric heroes, and the

daughters of the kings who ministered to their wants. The bravest of them had done no greater deeds of

personal valor than had been done by the little band of American pioneers and hunters with whom he had

fought the last four days. The princes among them had been welcomed by no sweeter and fairer women than

And, though his clothing was black with the smoke of the battle and torn with the fray, never had Dare

himself looked so handsome. There was an unspeakable radiance in his fair face. The close, brown curls of

his hair; his tall figure, supple and strong; his air of youth, and valor, and victory; the lovelight in his eyes;

the hopes in his heart, made him for the time really more than a mere mortal man. He walked like the

demigods he was thinking of. The most glorious ideal of life, the brightest dream of love that he had ever

The Senora did not come down; but Isabel and Luis and the doctor joined the breakfast party. Luis had

evidently been to see Lopez Navarro before he did so; for he wore a new suit of dark blue velvet and silver, a

sash of crimson silk, the neatest of patent leather shoes, and the most beautifully embroidered linen. Dare

gave him a little smile and nod of approbation. He had not thought of fine clothing for himself; but then for

the handsome, elegant, Mexican youth it seemed precisely the right thing. And Isabel, in her scarlet satin

petticoat, and white embroideries and satin slippers, looked his proper mate. Dare and Antonia, and even the

doctor, watched their almost childlike devotion to each other with sympathetic delight.

Oh, if such moments could only last! No, no; as a rule they last long enough. Joy wearies as well as sorrow.

An abiding rapture would make itself a sorrow out of our very weakness to bear it. We should become

exhausted and exacting, and be irritated by the limitations of our nature, and our inability to create and to

endure an increasing rapture. It is because joy is fugitive that it leaves us a delightsome memory. It is far

The three women watched their heroes go back to the city. The doctor looked very little older than his

companions. He sat his horse superbly, and he lifted his hat to the proud Senora with a loving grace which

neither of the young men could excel. In that far back year, when he had wooed her with the sweet words she

taught him, he had not looked more manly and attractive. There is a perverse disposition in women to love

personal prowess, and to adore the heroes of the battlefield; and never had the Senora loved her husband as

In his capacity of physician he had done unnoticed deeds of far greater braverygone into a Comanche

camp that was being devastated by smallpoxor galloped fifty miles; alone in the night, through woods

haunted by savage men and beasts, to succor some little child struggling with croup, or some frontiersman

pierced with an arrow. The Senora had always fretted and scolded a little when he thus exposed his life. But

the storming of the Alamo! That was a bravery she could understand. Her Roberto was indeed a hero!

Though she could not bring herself to approve the cause for which he fought, she was as sensitive as men and

Rachela was in a state of rebellion. Nothing but the express orders of Fray Ignatius, to remain where she was,

prevented her leaving the Worths; for the freedom so suddenly given to Isabel had filled her with indignation.

She was longing to be in some house where she could give adequate expression to the diabolical temper she

In the afternoon it was some relief to see the confessor coming up the garden. He had resumed his usual

deliberate pace. His hands were folded upon his breast. He looked as the mournful Jeremiah may have

The Senora sat down with a doggedly sullen air, which Antonia understood very well. It meant, "I am not to

be forced to take any way but my own, today"; and the wise priest understood her mood as soon as he

entered the room. He put behind him the reproof he had been meditating. He stimulated her curiosity; he

asked her sympathy. No man knew better than Fray Ignatius, when to assume sacerdotal authority and when

And the Senora was never proof against the compliment of his personal friendship. The fight, as it affected

himself and his brotherhood and the convent, was full of interest to her. She smiled at Brother Servando's

childish alarm; she was angry at an insult offered to the venerable abbot; she condoled with the Sisters, wept

at the danger that the famous statue of the Virgin de Los Reinedias had been exposed to; and was altogether

"And you also, my daughter? The sword has pierced your heart too, I am sure! To know that your husband

and sons were fighting against your God and your country! Holy Mother! How great must have been your

grief. But, for your comfort, I tell you that the saints who have suffered a fiery martyrdom stand at the feet of

The Senora was silent, but not displeased and the priest then ventured a little further:

"But there is an end to all trials, daughter and I now absolve you from the further struggle. Decide this day for

your God and your country. Make an offering to Almighty God and the Holy Mother of your earthly love.

Give yourself and your daughters and all that you have to the benign and merciful Church. Show these rebels

and hereticsthese ungrateful recipients of Mexican bountywhat a true Catholic is capable of. His Divine

"Listen then: If it is your right hand, or your right eye that is, if it is your husband, or your childyou are

She looked with the terror of a child into the dark, cruel face of the priest. It was as immovably stern as if

carved out of stone. Then her eyes sought those of Antonia, who sat at a distant window with her embroidery

in her hand. She let it fall when her mother's pitiful, uncertain glance asked from her strength and counsel.

She rose and went to her. Never had the tall, fair girl looked so noble. A sorrowful majesty, that had

something in it of pity and something of anger, gave to her countenance, her movements, and even her

"Dear mother, do as the beloved and kindhearted Ruth did. Like you, she married one not of her race and not

of her religion. Even when God had taken him from her, she chose to remain with his peopleto leave her

own people and abide with his mother. For this act God blessed her, and all nations in all ages have honored

"Ruth! Ruth! Ruth! What has Ruth to do with the question? Presumptuous one! Ruth was a heathen

"Pardon, father. Ruth was the ancestress of our blessed Saviour, and of the Virgin Mary."

"Believe not the wicked one, Senora? She is blinded with false knowledge. She is a heretic. I have long

"Chito! You are in outrageous sin. But, then, what else? I hear, indeed, that you read wicked bookseven

"Bring it to me. How could a child like you read the Bible? It is a book for bishops and archbishops, and the

Immaculate Father himself. What an arrogance? What an insolence of selfconceit must possess so young a

The girl stood with burning cheeks gazing at the proud, passionate man, but she did not obey his order.

"Senora, my daughter! See you with your own eyes the fruit of your sin. Will you dare to become a partner in

"Antonia! Antonia! Go at once and bring here this wicked book. Oh, how can you make so miserable a

In a few moments Antonia returned with the objectionable book. "My dear grandmother gave it to me," she

said. "Look, mi madre, here is my name in her writing. Is it conceivable that she would give to your Antonia

The Senora took it in her hands and turned the leaves very much as a child might turn those of a book in an

unknown tongue, in which there were no illustrations nor anything that looked the least interesting. It was a

pretty volume of moderate size, bound in purple morocco, and fastened with gilt clasps.

"I see the word GOD in it very often, Fray Ignatius. Perhaps, indeed, it is not bad."

"It is a heretic Bible, I am sure. Could anything be more sinful, more disrespectful to God, more dangerous

for a young girl?" and as he said the words he took it from the Senora's listless hands, glanced at the

obnoxious titlepage, and then, stepping hastily to the hearth, flung the book upon the burning logs.

With a cry of horror, pain, amazement, all blended, Antonia sprang towards the fire, but Fray Ignatius stood

"Stand back!" he cried. "To save your soul from eternal fires, I burn the book that has misled you!"

"Oh, my Bible! Oh, my Bible! Oh, mother! mother!" and sobbing and crying out in her fear and anger, she

"Do you know where to find the Senor Doctor? If you do, Ortiz, take the swiftest horse and bring him here."

The man looked with anger into the girl's troubled face. For a moment he was something unlike himself. "I

can find him; I will bring him in fifteen minutes. Corpus Christi it is here he should be."

The saddled horse in the stable was mounted as he muttered one adjuration and oath after another, and

Antonia sat down at the window to watch for the result of her message. Fortunately, Rachela had been so

interested in the proceedings, and so determined to know all about them, that she seized the opportunity of

the outcry to fly to "her poor Senora," and thus was ignorant of the most unusual step taken by Antonia.

Indeed, no one was aware of it but herself and Ortiz; and the servants in the kitchen looked with a curious

interest at the doctor riding into the stable yard as if his life depended upon his speed. Perhaps it did. All of

They saw him fling himself from the saddle they saw Antonia run to meet him; they heard her voice full of

distressthey knew it was the voice of complaint. They were aware it was answered by a stamp on the

flagged hall of the doctor's iron heeled bootwhich rang through the whole house, and which was but the

They heard them mount the stairs together, and then they were left to their imaginations. As for Antonia, she

was almost terrified at the storm she had raised. Never had she seen anger so terrible. Yet, though he had not

said a word directly to her, she was aware of his full sympathy. He grasped her hand, and entered the Senora's

"Leave the house in five minutes; no, in three minutes. I will tell Ortiz to send your clothes after you. Go!"

"Go!" he thundered. "Out of my house! Fly! I will not endure you another moment."

The impetus of his words was like a great wind. They drove the woman before him, and he shut the door

"Fray Ignatius, you have abused my hospitality, and my patience. You shall do so no longer. For twentysix

"The Senor is a prudent man. The wise bear what they cannot resist"; and with a gentle smile and lifted

"I have respected your faith, though it was the faith of a bigot; and your opinions, though they were false and

cruel, because you believed honestly in them. But you shall not again interfere with my wife, or my children,

"The Senor Doctor is not prince, or pope. `Shall,' and `SHALL NOT,' no one but my own ecclesiastical

"I say, you shall not again terrify my wife and insult my daughter, and disorganize my whole household!

And, as the God of my mother hears me, you shall not again burn up His Holy Word under my roof. Never,

while I dwell beneath it, enter my gates, or cross my threshold, or address yourself to any that bear my name,

or eat my bread." With the words, he walked to the door and held it open. It was impossible to mistake the

unspoken order, and there was something in the concentrated yet controlled passion of Robert Worth which

He gathered his robe together, and with lifted eyes muttered an ejaculatory prayer. Then he said in slow, cold,

"For the present, I go. Very good. I shall come back again. The saints will take care of that. Senora, I give

you my blessing. Senor, you may yet find the curse of a poor priest an inconvenience."

He crossed himself at the door, and cast a last look at the Senora, who had thown herself upon her knees, and

was crying out to Mary and the saints in a passion of excuses and reproaches. She was deaf to all her husband

said. She would not suffer Antonia to approach her. She felt that now was the hour of her supreme trial. She

had tolerated the rebellion of her husband, and her sons, and her daughter, and now she was justly punished.

They had driven away from her the confessor, and the maid who had been her counsellor and her reliance

Her grief and terror were genuine, and therefore pitiful; and, in spite of his annoyance, the doctor recognized

the fact. In a moment, as soon as they were alone, he put aside his anger. He knelt beside her, he soothed her

with tender words, he pleaded the justice of his indignation. And ere long she began to listen to his excuses,

He had been born a heretic, and therefore might be excused a little, even by Almighty God. But Antonia! Her

sin was beyond endurance. She herself, and the good Sisters, and Fray Ignatius, had all taught her in her

infancy the true religion. And her Roberto must see that this was a holy wara war for the Holy Catholic

"My dear Maria, every church thinks itself right; and all other churches wrong. God looks at the heart. If it is

right, it makes all worship true. But when the Americans have won Texas, they will give to every one

"Saints in heaven, Roberto! That day comes not. One victory! Bah! That is an accident. The Mexicans are a

very brave people,the bravest in the world. Did they not drive the Spaniards out of their country; and it is

not to be contradicted that the Spaniards have conquered all other nations. That I saw in a book. The insult

the Americans have given to Mexico will be revenged. Her honor has been compromised before the world.

Very well, it will be made bright again; yes, Fray Ignatius says with blood and fire it will be made bright."

"And in the mean time, Maria, we have taken from them the city they love best of all. An hour ago I saw,

General Cos, with eleven hundred Mexican soldiers, pass before a little band of less than two hundred

Americans and lay down their arms. These defenders of the Alamo had all been blessed by the priests. Their

banners had been anointed with holy oil and holy water. They had all received absolution everyday before the

fight began; they had been promised a free passage through purgatory and a triumphant entry into heaven."

"Well, I will tell you something; Fray Ignatius showed it to meit was a paper printed. The rebels and their

wives and children are to be sent from this earthyou may know where they will all go, RobertoCongress

says so. The States will give their treasures. The archbishops will give the episcopal treasures. The convents

will give their gems and gold ornaments. Ten thousand men had left for San Antonio, and ten thousand more

are to follow; the whole under our great President Santa Anna. Oh, yes! The rebels in Washington are to be

punished also. It is well known that they sent soldiers to Nacogdoches. Mexicans are not blind moles, and

they have their intelligence, you know. All the States who have helped these outrageous ingrates are to be

devastated, and you will see that your famous Washington will be turned into a heap of stories. I have seen

these words in print, Roberto. I assure you, that it is not just a little breathwhat one or another saysit is

the printed orders of the Mexican government. That is something these Americans will have to pay attention

The doctor sighed, and answered the sorrowful, credulous woman with a kiss. What was the use of reasoning

with simplicity so ignorant and so confident? He turned the conversation to a subject that always roused her

"I have just seen young Dewees, Maria. He and Jack left San Felipe together. Dewees brought instructions to

She took her husband's hands and kissed them. "That indeed! Oh, Roberto! If I could only see my Jack once

more! I have had a constant accusation to bear about him. Till I kiss my boy again, the world will be all dark

before my face. If Our Lady will grant me this miraculous favor, I will always afterwards be exceedingly

"Dearest Maria, God did not put us in this world to be always desiring another. There is no need, mi

queridita, to give up this life as a bad affair. We shall be very happy again, soon.

"As you say. If I could only see Jack! For that, I would promise God Almighty and you Roberto to be happy.

I would forgive the rebels and the hereticsfor they are well acquainted with hell road, and will guide each

"I am sure if Jack has one day he will come to you. And when he hears of the surrender of General Cos"

"Well now, it was God's will that General Cos should surrender. What more can be said? It is sufficient."

"Let me call Antonia. She is miserable at your displeasure; and it is not Antonia's fault."

"Pardon me, Roberto. I have seen Antonia. She is not agreeable and obedient to Fray Ignatius."

"It is not convenient to discuss the subject now. I will see Isabel; she is a good childmy only comfort.

Paciencia! there is Luis Alveda singing; Isabel will now be deaf to all else"; and she rose with a sigh and

Luis was coming up the oleander walk. The pretty trees were thinner now, and had only a pink blossom here

and there. But the bright winter sun shone through them, and fell upon Luis and Isabel. For she had also seen

him coming, and had gone to meet him, with a little rainbowtinted shawl over her head. She looked so

piquant and so happy. She seemed such a proper mate for the handsome youth at her side that a word of

dissent was not possible. The doctor said only, "She is so like you, Maria. I remember when you were still

more lovely, and when from your balcony you made me with a smile the happiest man in the world."

Such words were never lost ones; for the Senora had a true and great love for her husband. She gave him

again a smile, she put her hand in his, and then there were no further conciliations required. They stood in the

sunshine of their own hearts, and listened a moment to the gay youth, singing, how at

The strong old Alamo Two hundred men, with rifles true, Shot down a thousand of the foe, And broke the

triple ramparts through; And dropped the flag as black as night, For Freedom's green and red and white.[3]

Cities have not only a certain physiognomy; they have also a decided mental and moral character, and a

definite political tendency. There are good and bad cities, artistic and commercial cities, scholarly and

manufacturing cities, aristocratic and radical cities. San Antonio, in its political and social character, was a

thoroughly radical city. Its population, composed in a large measure of adventurous units from various

nationalities, had that fluid rather than fixed character, which is susceptible to new ideas. For they were

generally men who had found the restraints of the centuries behind them to be intolerablemen to whom

It maybe easily undertood{sic} that this element in the population of San Antonio was a powerful one, and

that a little of such leaven would stir into activity a people who, beneath the crust of their formal piety, had

still something left of that pride and adventurous spirit which distinguished the Spain of Ferdinand and

In fact, no city on the American continent has such a bloody record as San Antonio. From its settlement by

the warlike monks of 1692, to its final capture by the Americans in 1836, it was well named "the city of the

sword." The Comanche and the white man fought around its walls their forty years' battle for supremacy.

From 1810 to 1821 its streets were constantly bloody with the fight between the royalists and republicans,

and the city and the citadel passed from, one party to the other continually. And when it came to the question

of freedom and American domination, San Antonio was, as it had ever been, the great Texan battlefield.

Its citizens then were well used to the fortunes and changes of war. Men were living who had seen the horrors

of the auto da fe and the splendors of viceregal authority. Insurgent nobles, fighting priests, revolutionizing

Americans, all sorts and conditions of men, all chances and changes of religious and military power, had

In the main there was a favorable feeling regarding its occupation by the Americans. The most lawless of

them were lawabiding in comparison with any kind of victorious Mexicans. Americans protected private

property, they honored women, they observed the sanctity of every man's home; "and, as for being heretics,

that was an affair for the saints and the priests; the comfortable benefits of the Holy Catholic Church, had not

Political changes are favorable to religious tolerance, and the priests themselves had been sensible of a great

decrease in their influence during the pending struggle. Prominent Mexicans had given aid and comfort to the

Americans in spite of their spiritual orders, and there were many men who, like Lopez Navarro, did not dare

to go to confession, because they would have been compelled to acknowledge themselves rebels.

When the doctor and Dare and Luis reached the Plaza, the morning after the surrender, they found the city

already astir. Thousands of women were in the churches saying masses for the dead; the men stood at their

store doors or sat smoking on their balconies, chatting with the passersby or watching the movements of the

Nearly all of the brave two hundred occupied the Plaza. They were still greatly excited by the miraculous

ecstacy of victory. But when soldiers in the deathpang rejoice under its influence, what wonder that the

living feel its intoxicating rapture? They talked and walked as if they already walked the streets of Mexico.

All things seemed possible to them. The royalty of their carriage, the authority in their faces, gave dignity

even to their deerskin clothing. Its primitive character was its distinction, and the wearers looked like the

Lopez Navarro touched the doctor and directed his attention to them. "Does the world, Senor, contain the

"They are Americans, Navarro. And though there are a variety of Americans, they have only one opinion

This was the conversation interrupted by Ortiz and the message he brought, and the doctor was thoroughly

sobered by the events following. He was not inclined to believe, as the majority of the troops did, that Mexico

was conquered. He expected that the Senora's prediction would be verified. And the personal enmity which

Nothing in the house or the city seemed inclined to settle. It took a few days to draw up the articles of

capitulation and clear the town of General Cos and the Mexican troops. And he had no faith in their

agreement to "retire from Texas, and never again carry arms against the Americans." He knew that they did

not consider it any sin to make "a mental reservation" against a heretic. He was quite sure that if Cos met

And amid these public cares and considerations, he had serious private ones. The Senora was still under the

control of Fray Ignatius. It required all the influence of his own personal presence and affection to break the

spiritual captivity in which he held her. He knew that the priest had long been his enemy.

He saw that Antonia was hated by him. He was in the shadow of a terror worse than deaththat of a long,

hopeless captivity. A dungeon and a convent might become to them a living grave, in which cruelty and

And yet, for a day or two he resolved not to speak of his terror. The Senora was so happy in his presence, and

she had such kind confidences to give him about her plans for her children's future, that he could not bear to

alarm her. And the children also were so full of youth's enthusiasms and love's sweet dreams. Till the last

moment why should he awaken them? And as the strongest mental element in a home gives the tone to it, so

Dare and Antonia, with the doctor behind them, gave to the Mexican household almost an American freedom

The Senora came to the parlor far more frequently, and in her own apartments her children visited her with

but slight ceremony. They discussed all together their future plans. They talked over a wonderful journey

which they were to take in company to New Orleans, and Washington, and New York, and perhaps even to

London and Paris"who could tell, if the Senora would be so good as to enjoy herself?" They ate more

together. They got into the habit of congregating about the same hearthstone. It was the Senora's first real

In about six days the Mexican forces left the city. The terms of surrender granted General Cos struck the

Mexicans with a kind of wonder. They had fought with the express declaration that they would take no

American prisoner. Yet the Americans not only permitted Cos and his troops to leave under parole of honor,

but gave them their arms and sufficient ammunition to protect themselves from the Indians on their journey

home. They allowed them also all their private property. They furnished them with the provisions necessary

to reach the Rio Grande. They took charge of their sick and wounded. They set all the Mexican prisoners at

libertyin short, so great was their generosity and courtesy that the Mexicans were unable to comprehend

Even Lopez was troubled at it. "I assure you," he said to Dr. Worth, "they will despise such civility; they will

not believe in its sincerity. At this very blessed hour of God, they are accusing the Americans of being afraid

to press their advantage. Simply, you will have the fight to make over again. I say this, because I know Santa

"Me perdonas! He is however a man who knows a trick more than the devil. One must be careful of a bull in

front, of a mule behind, and of a monk and Santa Anna on all sides. At the word monk, Lopez glanced

significantly at a passing priest, and Doctor Worth saw that it was Fray Ignatius.

"He sprinkled the Mexican troops with holy water, and blessed them as they left the city this morning. He has

The doctor walked thoughtfully away. San Antonio was full of his friends, yet never had he felt himself and

his family to be in so much danger. And the words of Lopez had struck a responding chord in his own

consciousness. The careless bravery, the splendid generosity of his countrymen was at least premature. He

The gates of Alamo were open. Crockett lounged upon his rifle in the Plaza. A little crowd was around him,

and the big Tennesseean hunter was talking to them. Shouts of laughter, bravas of enthusiasm, answered the

homely wit and stirring periods that had over and over "made room for Colonel Crockett," both in the

Tennessee Legislature and the United States Congress. His rifle seemed a part of hima kind of third arm.

His confident manner, his manliness and bravery, turned his wit into wisdom. The young fellows around

The elegant James Bowie was sitting on the verandah of the Veramendi House, calmly smoking. His fair,

handsome face, clear blue eyes and mild manners, gave no indication of the gigantic physical strength and

tremendous coolness and courage of the man who never tolerated an enemy in his presence. Burleson and

Travis were talking under the shade of a China tree, and there were little groups of American soldiers on

every street; this was what he saw, and yet a terrible sense of insecurity oppressed him.

The city, moreover, was not settling to its usual business, though there were many preparations for public and

private entertainments. After passing Colonel Bowie, he met David Burnett. The shrewd statesman from New

Jersey had a shadow upon his face. He stopped Doctor Worth and spoke frankly to him. "We are in greater

danger now than when we were under fire," he said. "Santa Anna will come on us like a lion from the

swellings of Jordan. I wish Houston knew our position as it really is. We must either have more men to

defend this city or we must blow up the Alamo and be ready to leave it at a moment's notice."

"Why were such favorable terms given to General Cos and his troops? I cannot understand it."

"I will tell you an amazing fact. When Cos ran up that white flag on the Alamo, we had not a single round of

ammunition left; complaisance was necessary until Cos made over to us the Mexican arms, ammunition,

Worth turned and looked at the fort. A great red flag on which was the word TEXAS floated from its

battlements, and there were two men standing on its roof, with their faces westward.

"They are the lookouts," said Burnett, "and we have scouts through the surrounding country; but Santa Anna

"And there is a line where even the coolest courage and the most brilliant bravery succumbs to mere

"On the Brazos, at the small town of Washington. The council have established headquarters there."

Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of a little bell, and the doleful supplications of a priest

followed by a crowd of idle men and women. He was begging, "for the sake of the Holy Virgin," alms to say

masses for the soul of an unfortunate, who had not left a peso for his burial. He droned on, and no one noticed

him until James Bowie stretched his tall figure, sauntered up to the monk and dropped a gold piece into his

cap. He did not stay to hear the exclamations and the gracias, but with steps that rang like metal upon metal

However, dangers postponed make the most timorous indifferent to them; and when General Cos did not

return, and nothing was heard of Santa Anna, every one began to take up their ordinary life again. The temper

of the Americans also encouraged this disposition. They were discovered neither to be bloodthirsty nor

cannibals. It was even seen that they enjoyed the fandango and the monte tables, and that a proposition for a

And in spite of all anxieties, there were many sweet and unusual pleasures in the Worth home. The discipline

of the troops was so lenient that Dare and Luisone or bothwere generally there in the evenings. Their

turns as scouts or watchman at the Alamo only made more delightful the hours when they were exempted

from these duties. As for the doctor, he had been released from all obligations but those pertaining to his

profession, and Antonia, noticed that he spent every hour he could spare with the Senora. For some reason, he

On Christmas Eve the old city was very gay. The churches were decorated, and splendidly dressed men and

women passed in and out with smiles and congratulations. The fandangoes and the gambling houses were all

open. From the huertas around, great numbers of families had come to receive absolution and keep the

Nativity. Their rich clothing and air of idleness gave a holiday feeling to the streets noisy with the buzzing of

the guitar, the metallic throb of the cithara, the murmurs of voices, and the cries of the hawkers. Priests,

Mexicans, Indians and Americans touched each other on the narrow thoroughfares, but that indescribable

feeling of good will which comes with Christmas pervaded the atmosphere, and gave, even in the midst of

At the Worth residence there was a household feast. The Senora and her daughters were in full dress. They

were waiting for the dear ones who had promised to join them at the Angelus. One by one the houses around

were illuminated. Parties of simple musicians began to pass each other continuallythey were going to

serenade the blessed Mary all night long. As Antonia closed the balcony window, half a dozen of these young

"This is the eve of Christmas, No sleep from night to morn, The Virgin is in travail, At twelve will the Child

Luis appeared at the same moment. He caught up the wild melody and came up the garden path singing it.

Dare and the doctor followed him. It struck Antonia that they were talking of a change, or of something

important. But there was no time for observation. Isabel, radiant in crimson satin, with her white mantilla

over her head, darted forward to meet Luis, and turned his song to the Virgin into a little adulation for herself.

Dare and the doctor took Antonia's hands, and there was something in the silent clasp of each which made her

But she was not one of those foolish women who enquire after misfortune. She could wait and let the evil

news find her, and by so doing she won many a bright hour from the advancing shadows. The Senora was in

unusual spirits. She had obtained a new confessor. "A man of the most seraphic mind, and, moreover, so

fortunate as to be connected with the house of Flores." He had been gentle to her in the matter of penances,

and not set her religious obligations above her capacities. Consequently, the Senora had laid aside her

penitential garments. She was in full Castilian costume, and looked very handsome. But Antonia, who had

been in New York during those years when she would otherwise have been learning how to wear a mantilla

and use a fan, did not attempt such difficulties of the toilet. She knew that she would look unnatural in them,

and she adhered to the American fashions of her day. But in a plain frock of dark satin trimmed with minever

The meal was a very merry one, and after it Lopez Navarro joined the party and they had music and dancing,

and finally gathered around the fire to hear the singing of Luis. He knew a great many of the serenades, and

as he sang of the Virgin and the Babe, a sweeter peace, a more solemn joy, came to each heart. It was like

bringing something of the bliss of heaven into the bliss of earth. The Senora's eyes were full of tears; she

slipped her hand into her husband's and looked at him with a face which asked, "Do you not also feel the

"How sweet and wild are these serenades, Luis! said Antonia. "I wonder who wrote them?"

"But, then, they were never written, my sister. Out of the hearts of lonely shepherds they came; or of women

spinning in their quiet houses; yes, even of soldiers in the strong places keeping their watch."

"That is the truth, Luis," answered Isabel. "And every Christmas, when I was in the convent the Sisters made

a serenade to the Virgin, or a seguidilla to our blessed Lord. Very still are the Sisters, but when it comes to

"There is a seguidilla I hear everywhere," said the doctor; "and I never hear it without feeling the better for

"That, indeed!" cried Luis. "Who knows it not? It is the seguidilla to our blessed Lord, written by the

"Since I was a little one, as high as my father's knee. Rachela taught it to me."

"And I, too!" said Antonia, smiling. "Here is your mandolin. Strike the chords, and we will all sing with you.

My father will remember also." And the doctor smiled an assent, as the young man resigned Isabel's hand

with a kiss, and swept the strings in that sweetness and power which flows invisibly, but none the less surely,

"It is to my blessed Lord and Redeemer, I sing," he said, bowing his head. Then he stood up and looked at his

companions, and struck the keynote, when every one joined their voices with his in the wonderful little

So noble a Lord None serves in vain; For the pay of my love Is my love's sweet pain.

In the place of caresses Thou givest me woes; I kiss Thy hands, When I feel their blows.

For in Thy chastening, Is joy and peace; O Master and Lord! Let thy blows not cease.

For, because Thou lovest me, Lover of mine! Death can but make me Utterly Thine!

The doctor was the first to speak after the sweet triumph of the notes had died away. "Many a soul I have

seen pass whispering those verses," he said; "men and women, and little children."

Lopez rose while the holy influence still lingered. He kissed the hands of every one, and held the doctor's in

his own until they reached the threshold. A more than usual farewell took place there, though there were only

Very slowly the doctor sauntered back to the parlor, like a man who has a heavy duty to, do and hardly knows

how to begin it. "But I will tell Maria first," he whispered; and then he opened the door, and saw the Senora

"What a happy time we have had!" she was saying. "I shall never forget it. Indeed, my dears, you see how

satisfactory it is to be religious. When we talk of the saints and angels, they come round us to listen to what

we say; accordingly, we are full of peace and pleasure. I know that because I heard FrayI heard a very

She smiled happily at her husband, as she took his arm, and twice, as they went slowly upstairs together, she

lifted her face for his kiss. Her gentleness and affection made it hard for him to speak; but there were words

to be said that could be no longer delayed; and when he had closed the room door, he took her hands in his,

"My love! Yes! Tonightthis very hour I must go! Luis and Dare also. Do not weep. I entreat you! My

Then she answered, with a noble Composure: "I will give you smiles and kisses. My good Roberto, so true

It was true. Quite unconsciously the troubled husband and father was weeping. "I fear to leave you, dear

Maria. All is so uncertain. I can only ask you two favors; if you will grant them, you will do all that can be

done to send me away with hope. Will you promise me to have nothing to do whatever with Fray Ignatius;

and to resist every attempt he may make to induce you to go into a religious house of any kind?"

"Again, dear Maria, if you should be in any danger, promise me that you will do as Antonia and Lopez

"Go with God, my, husband. Go with God, in a good hour. All you wish, I will do."

He held her to his heart and kissed her, and she whispered amid her tender farewells to himself, messages to

her soils but especially to Juan. "Will you see Juan? If you do, tell him I repent. I send him a thousand

blessings! Ah, the dear one! Kiss him for me, Roberto! Tell him how much I love him, Roberto! How I

sorrow because I was cross to him! My precious one! My good son, who always loved me so dearly!"

At length Isabel came in to weep in her mother's arms. "Luis is going away," she cried. The father felt a

momentary keen pang of jealousy. "I am going also, queridita," he said mournfully. Then she threw her arms

around his neck and bewailed her bad fortune. "If I were the Almighty God, I would not give love and then

take it away," she murmured. "I would give orders that the good people should always be happy. I would not

let men like Santa Anna live. He is a measureless monster, and ought to go to the dto purgatory, at the very

While the Senora soothed her complaining, the doctor left. One troubled glance of a great love he cast

backward from the door ere he closed it behind him; and then his countenance suddenly changed. Stern and

strong it grew, with a glow of anger in the steelblue eyes that gave an entirely new character to it.

He called Antonia into his study, and talked with her of the crisis which was approaching, and of the conduct

of their affairs in it. He showed her the places in which his gold coin was hidden. He told her on whom to rely

"We have sure information that General Urrea, with the vanguard of a large Mexican army, will be here next

month. Santa Anna will follow him quickly. You see that the city must either be defended or our men must

retreat. I am going to Houston with this dilemma. Luis and Dare will join Fannin at Goliad. Now, my dear

child, you have my place to fill. If Santa Anna takes possession of San Antonio, what will you do?"

"If we are not disturbed in any way, I will keep very quiet within my own home."

"That is your only safety. I shall hear if the Americans desert the city; then I will send your brother Thomas,

if by any possibility it can be done, to guard you to the eastern settlements. But I may not be able to do

thisthere may be no timeit cannot be depended uponLopez Navarro will help you all he can, and

"My father, I cannot trust Ortiz. Every man is a master to a peon. He would mean to do kindly, but his

"Ortiz is no peon. He is a Mexican officer of high rank, whom Santa Anna ordered to be shot. I saved his life.

He wears the clothes of a peonthat is necessary; but he has the honor and gratitude of a gentleman beneath

them. If necessary, trust Ortiz fully. One thing above all others remember FLIGHT before a convent."

"Flight! Yes, death before it! I promise you, father. When we meet again, you shall say, well done, Antonia."

It was now about midnight. They went back to the parlor. Luis and Dare sat by the dying fire. They were bent

forward, close together over it, talking in a low voice. They rose when the doctor spoke, and silently kissed

"It will be a hard ride, now," said the doctor," and Dare answered, mechanically, "but we shall manage it." He

held Antonia's hand, and she went with them to the rear of the house. Their horses were standing ready

saddled. Silently the men mounted. In a moment they had passed the gate, and the beat of their horses' hoofs

But all through the clear spaces of the sky the Christmas bells were ringing, and the serenaders were

Dr. Worth had set his daughter a task of no light magnitude. It was true, that Rachela and Fray Ignatius could

no longer disturb the household by their actual presence, but their power to cause unhappiness was not

destroyed. Among the Mexican families loyal to Santa Anna the dismission of the priest and the duenna had

been a source of much indignant gossip; for Rachela was one of those women who cry out when they are

hurt, and compel others to share their trouble. The priest had not therefore found it necessary to explain WHY

the Senora had called upon a new confessor. He could be silent, and possess his dignity in uncomplaining

Such piety! Such virtues! And the outrageous conduct of the Senor Doctor! To be sure there was cause for

anger at the Senorita Antonia. Oh, yes! She could crow her mind abroad! There were booksOh, infamous

books! Books not proper to be read, and the Senorita had them! Well then, if the father burned them, that was

a good deed done. And he had almost been reviled for itsent out of the houseyes, it was quite possible

that he had been struck! Anything was possible from those American heretics. As for her own treatment, after

twenty years service, it had been cruel, abominable, more than thatiniquitous; but about these things she

had spoken, and the day of atonement would come. Justice was informing itself on the whole matter.

Such conversations continually diversified, extended, repeated on all hands, quickly aroused a prejudice

against the doctor's family. Besides which, the Senora Alveda resented bitterly the visits of her son Luis to

Isabel. None of the customs of a Mexican betrothal had taken place, and Rachela did not spare her

imagination in describing the scandalous American familiarity that had been permitted. That, this familiarity

had taken place under the eyes of the doctor and the Senora only intensified the insult. She might have

forgiven clandestine meetings; but that the formalities due to the Church and herself should have been

It soon became evident to the Senora that she had lost the goodwill of her old friends, and the respect that

had always been given to her social position. It was difficult for her to believe this, and she only accepted the

humiliating fact after a variety of those small insults which women reserve for their own sex.

She was fond of visiting; she valued the good opinion of her caste, and in the very chill of the gravest

calamities she worried her strength away over little grievances lying outside the walls of her home and the

real affections of her life. And perhaps with perfect truth she asserted that SHE had done nothing to deserve

this social ostracism. Others had made her miserable, but she could thank the saints none could make her

The defeat of Cos had been taken by the loyal inhabitants as a mere preliminary to the real fight. They were

very little disturbed by it. It was the overt act which was necessary to convince Mexico that her clemency to

Americans was a mistake, and that the ungrateful and impious race must be wiped out of existence. The

newspapers not only reiterated this necessity, but proclaimed its certainty. They heralded the coming of Santa

Anna, the victorious avenger, with passionate gasconading. It was a mere question of a few days or weeks,

and in the meantime the people of San Antonio were "making a little profit and pleasure to themselves out of

the extravagant reprobates." There was not a day in which they did not anticipate their revenge in local

military displays, in dances and illuminations, in bullfights, and in splendid religious processions.

And Antonia found it impossible to combat this influence. It was in the house as certain flavors were in

certain foods, or as heat was in fire. She saw it in the faces of her servants, and felt it in their indifference to

their duty. Every hour she watched more anxiously for some messenger from her father. And as day after day

went by in a hopeless sameness of grief, she grew more restless under the continual small trials that

Towards the end of January, General Urrea, at the head of the vanguard of the Mexican army, entered Texas.

His destination was La Bahia or Goliad, a strong fortress garrisoned by Americans under Colonel Fanning.

Santa Anna was to leave in eight days after him. With an army of twenty thousand men he was coming to the

The news filled the city with the wildest rejoicing. The little bells of the processions, the big bells of the

churches, the firing of cannon, the hurrahs of the tumultuous people, made an uproar which reached the three

"If only Lopez Navarro would come! If he would send us some little message! Holy Mary, even he has

At that moment the door opened, and Fray Ignatius passed the threshold with lifted hands and a muttered

blessing. He approached the Senora, and she fell on her knees and kissed the hand with which he crossed her.

"My daughter, I have guided you since your first communion; how then could I forget you? Your husband

has deserted you you, the helpless, tender lamb, whom he swore to cherish; but the blessed fold of your

"Listen to me! The Mexican troops are soon to arrive. Vengeance without mercy is to be dealt out. You are

the wife of an American rebel; I cannot promise you your life, or your honor, if you remain here. When

soldiers are drunk with blood, and women fall in their way, God have mercy upon them! I would shield even

your rebellious daughter Antonia from such a fate. I open the doors of the convent to you all. There you will

Isabel sat with white, parted lips and clasped hands, listening. Antonia had not moved or spoken. But with the

last words the priest halfturned to her, and she came swiftly to her mother's side, and kissing her, whispered:

"Remember your promise to my father! Oh, mi madre, do not leave Isabel and me alone!"

"You, too, dear ones! We will all go together, till these dreadful days are past."

"The Senorita talks like a foolish one. Listen again! When Santa Anna comes for judgment, it will be swift

and terrible. This house and estate will be forfeited. The faithful Church may hope righteously to obtain it.

The sisters have long needed a good home. The convent will then come to you. You will have no shelter but

"Saints of God! you have no husband. He has forfeited every right to advise you. Consider that, daughter; and

if you trust not my advice, there is yet living your honorable uncle, the Marquis de Gonzaga."

Antonia caught eagerly at this suggestion. It at least offered some delay, in which the Senora might be

"Mother, it is a good thought. My greatuncle will tell you what to do; and my father will not blame you for

following his advice. Perhaps even he may offer his home. You are the child of his sister."

Fray Ignatius walked towards the fireplace and stood rubbing slowly his long, thin hands before the blaze,

while the Senora and her daughters discussed this proposal. The halffrantic mother was little inclined to

make any further effort to resist the determined will of her old confessor; but the tears of Isabel won from her

"Then, my daughter, lose no time. I cannot promise you many days in which choice will be left you. Go this

It was not a visit that the Senora liked to make. She had deeply offended her uncle by her marriage, and their

intercourse had since been of the most ceremonious and infrequent kind. But surely, at this hour, when she

was left without any one to advise her steps, he would remember the tie of blood between them.

He received her with more kindness than she had anticipated. His eyes glittered in their deep sockets when

she related her extremity and the priest's proposal, and his small shrunken body quivered with excitement as

"Saints and angels! Fray Ignatius is right about Santa Anna. We shall see that he will make caps for his

soldiers out of the skins of these infidel ingrates. But as for going into the convent, I know not. A miserable

marriage you made for yourself, Maria. Pardon, if I say so much! I let the word slip always. I was never one

to bite my tongue. I am all old manvery well, come here, you and your daughters, till the days of blood are

over. There is room in the house, and a few comforts in it also. I have some power with Santa Anna. He is a

He kissed her hands as he opened the door, and then went back to the fire, and bent, muttering, over it: "Giver

of good! a true Yturbide; a gentle woman; she is like my sister Mercedesvery like her. These poor women

Fray Ignatius might have divined his thoughts, for he entered at the moment, and said as he approached him:

"You have done right. The soul must be saved, if all is lost. This is not a time for the friends of the Church

and of Mexico to waver. The Church is insulted every day by these foreign heretics"

"But you are mistaken, father; the Church holds up her head, whatever happens. Even the viceregal crown is

Fray Ignatius smiled, but there was a curious and crafty look of inquiry on his face. "The city is turbulent,

Marquis, and there is undoubtedly a great number of Mexicans opposed to Santa Anna."

"Do you not know Mexicans yet? They would be opposed to God Almighty, rather than confess they were

well governed. Bah! the genius of Mexico is mutiny. They scarcely want a leader to move their madness.

They rebel on any weak pretence. They bluster when they are courted; they crouch when they are oppressed.

They are fools to all the world but themselves. I beg the Almighty to consider in my favor, that some over

The priest knew that he was talking for irritation, but he was too politic to favor the mood. He stood on the

hearth with his hands folded behind him, and with a delightful suavity turned the conversation upon the

country rather than the people. It was a glorious day in the dawn of spring. The tenderest greens, the softest

blues, the freshest scents, the clearest air, the most delightful sunshine were everywhere. The white old town,

with its picturesque crowds, its murmur of voices and laughter, its echoes of fife and drum, its loves and its

hatreds, was at his feet; and, far off, the hazy glory of the mountains, the greenness and freshness of Paradise,

the peace and freedom of the vast, unplanted places. The old marquis was insensibly led to contemplate the

whole; and, in so doing, to put uppermost that pride of country which was the base of every feeling

"Such a pleasant city, Marquis! Spanish monks founded it. Spanish and Mexican soldiers have defended it.

Look at its fine churches and missions; its lovely homes, and blooming gardens."

"It is also all our own, father. It was but yesterday I said to one of those insolent Americans who was

condescending to admire it: `Very good, Senor; and, if you deign to believe me, it was not brought from New

York. Such as you see it, it was made by ourselves here at San Antonio.' Saints in heaven! the fellow laughed

"Ah, how they envy us the country! And you, Marquis, who have traveled over the world, you can imagine

"Father, I will tell you the reason; it is the craving in the heart to find again the lost Eden. The Almighty made

Texas with full hands. When He sets his heart on a man, he is permitted to live there."

"Grace of God! You speak the truth. Shall we then give up the gift of His hand to heretics and infidels?"

"Then every one must do the work he can do. Some are to slay the unbelievers; others; are to preserve the

children of the Church. Your niece and her two daughters will be lost to the faith, unless you interfere for

"By Saint Joseph, it is a duty not in agreement with my desire! I, who have carefully abstained from the

"It is but for a day or two, Marquis, until the matter is arranged. The convent is the best of all refuges for

The marquis did not answer. He lifted a book and began to read; and Fray Ignatius watched him furtively.

In the mean time the Senora had reached her home. She was pleased with the result of her visit. A little

kindness easily imposed upon this childlike woman, and she trusted in any one who was pleasant to her.

"You may believe me, Antonia," she said; "my uncle was in a temper most unusual. He kissed my hands. He

offered me his protection. That is a great thing, I assure you. And your father cannot object to our removal

Antonia knew not what answer to make. Her heart misgave her. Why had Fray Ignatius made the proposal?

She was sure it was part of an arrangement, and not a spontaneous suggestion of the moment. And she was

equally sure that any preconcerted plan, having Fray Ignatius for its author, must be inimical to them.

Her mother's entry had not awakened Isabel, who lay asleep upon a sofa. The Senora was a little nettled at the

circumstance. "She is a very child! A visit of such importance! And she is off to the land of dreams while I

am fatiguing myself! I wish indeed that she had more consideration!" Then Antonia brought her chocolate,

and, as she drank it and smoked her cigarito, she chatted in an almost eager way about the persons she had

"Going towards the Plaza, I met judge Valdez. I stopped the carriage, and sent my affections to the Senora.

Would you believe it? He answered me as if his mouth were full of snow. His disagreeable behavior was

exactly copied by the Senora Silvestre and her daughter Esperanza. Dona Julia and Pilar de Calval did not

even perceive me. Santa Maria! there are none so blind as those who won't see! Oh, indeed! I found the

journey like the way of salvationfull of humiliations. I would have stopped at the store of the Jew

Lavenburg, and ordered many things, but he turned in when he saw me coming. Once, indeed, he would have

put his hat on the pavement for me to tread upon. But he has heard that your father has made a rebel of

himself, and what can be expected? He knows when Santa Anna has done with the rebels not one of them

will have anything left for God to rain upon. And there was a great crowd and a great tumult. I think the

At this moment Isabel began to moan in her sleep as if her soul was in some intolerable terror or grief; and

ere Antonia could reach her she sprang into the middle of the room with a shriek that rang through the house.

It was some minutes before the child could be soothed. She lay in her mother's arms, sobbing in speechless

"Listen, mi madre, and may the Holy Lady make you believe me! I have had a dream. God be blessed that it

is not yet true! I will tell you. It was about Fray Ignatius and our uncle the Marquis de Gonzaga. My good

angel gave it to me; for myself and you all she gave it; and, as my blessed Lord lives! I will not go to them!

SI! I will cut my white throat first!" and she drew her small hand with a passionate gesture across it. She had

stood up as she began to speak, and the action, added to her unmistakable terror, her stricken face and air of

"Oh, Antonia! I have seen the way. It is black and cold, and full of fear and pain. No one shall make me take

it. I have the stiletto of my grandmother Flores. I will ask Holy Mary to pardon me, and thenin a

momentI would be among the people of the other world. That would be far better than Fray Ignatius and

The Senora was quite angry at this fresh complication. It was really incredible what she had to endure. And

would Antonia please to tell her where else they were to go? They had not a friend left in San Antoniothey

did not deserve to have oneand was it to be supposed that a lady, born noble, could follow the Americans

in an oxwagon? Antonia might think it preferable to the comfortable house of her relation; but blessed be

"I will go in the oxwagon," said Isabel, with a sullen determination; "but I will not go into my uncle's house.

"Mother, listen to Antonia. When one door shuts, God opens another door. Our own home is yet undisturbed.

Do you believe what Fray Ignatius says of the coming of Santa Anna? I do not. Until he arrives we are safe in

our own home; and when the hour for going away comes, even a little bird can show us the way to take. And

I am certain that my father is planning for our safety. If Santa Anna was in this city, and behaving with the

brutality which is natural to him, I would not go away until my father sent the order. Do you think he forgets

Towards dusk Senor Navarro called, and the Senora brought him into her private parlor and confided to him

the strait they were in. He looked with sympathy into the troubled, tear stained faces of these three helpless

women, and listened with many expressive gestures to the proposal of the priest and the offer of the old

"Most excellent ladies," he answered; "it is a plot. I assure you that it is a plot. Certainly it was not without

reason I was so unhappy about you this afternoon. Even while I was at the bullfight, I think our angels were

in a consultation about your affairs. Your name was in my ears above all other sounds."

"Yes, I will tell you. Do you know that Fray Ignatius is the confessor of the marquis?"

"It is the truth. For many years they have been close as the skin and the flesh. Without Fray Ignatius the

marquis says neither yes or no. Also the will of the marquis has been lately made. I have seen a copy of it.

Everything he has is left to the brotherhoods of the Church. Without doubt, Fray Ignatius was the, lawyer

"Senor, I always believed that would happen. At my marriage my uncle made the determination. Indeed, we

have never expected a piastreno, not even a tlaco. And today he was kind to me, and offered me his

home. Oh, Holy Mother, how wretched I am! Can I not trust in the good words of those who are of my own

"The tie of race will come before the tie of the family. The tie of religion is strongest of all, Senora. Let me

tell you what will take place. When you and your children are in the house of the marquis, he will go before

the Alcalde. He will declare that you have gone voluntarily to his care, and that he is your nearest and most

natural guardian. Very well. But further, he will declare, on account of his great age, and the troubled state of

the time, he is unable to protect you, and ask for the authority to place you in the religious care of the holy

"But, simply, what is to be gained by such treachery? He said today that I was like his sister Mercedes, and

"He would not think such a proceeding really unkind. He would assure himself that it was good for your

eternal salvation. As to the reason, that is to be looked for in the purse, where all reasons come from. This

house, which the good doctor built, is the best in the city. It has even two full stories. It is very suitable for a

religious house. It is not far from the Plaza, yet secluded in its beautiful garden. Fray Ignatius has long

desired it. When he has removed you, possession will be taken, and Santa Anna will confirm the possession."

"God succor our poor souls! What shall we do then, Senor? The Mexican army has entered Texas, it will

"Quien sabe? Between the Rio Grande and the San Antonio are many difficulties. Urrea has five thousand

men with him, horses and artillery. The horses must graze, the men must rest and eat. We shall have heavy

rains. I am sure that it will be twenty days ere he reaches the settlements; and even then his destination is not

San Antonio, it is Goliad. Santa Anna will be at least ten days after him. I suppose, then, that for a whole

month you are quite safe in your own home. That is what I believe now. If I saw a reason to believe what is

different, I would inform you. The good doctor, to whom I owe my life many times, has my promise. Lopez

Navarro never broke his word to any man. The infamy would be a thing impossible, where the safety of three

"And in a month, mi madre, what great things may happen! Thirty days of possibilities! Come, now, let us be

a little happy, and listen to what the Senor has to tell us. I am sure this house has been as stupid as a convent";

and Isabel lifted the cigarette case of the Senora, and with kisses persuaded her to accept its tranquilizing

It was an elegant little golden trifle studded with gems. Her husband had given it to her on the anniversary of

their twentyfifth wedding day; and it recalled vividly to her the few sweet moments. She was swayed as

easily as a child by the nearest or strongest influence, and, after all, it did seem the best to take Isabel's

Lopez was delighted to humor this mood. He told them all the news of their own social set; and in such vivid

times something happened every day. There had been betrothals and marriages, quarrels and entertainments;

and Lopez, as a fashionable young man of wealth and nobility, had taken his share in what had transpired.

Antonia felt unspeakably grateful to him. After the fretful terror and anxiety of the dayafter the cruel visit

of Fray Ignatiusit was indeed a comfort to hear the pleasant voice of Navarro in all kinds of cheerful

modulations. By and by there was a slow rippling laugh from Isabel, and the Senora's face lost its air of

At length Navarro had brought his narrative of small events down to the afternoon of that day. There had

been a bull fight, and Isabel was making him describe to her the chulos, in their pale satin breeches and silk

waistscarfs; the toreros in their scarlet mantles, and the picadores on their horses.

"And I assure you," he said, "the company of ladies was very great and splendid. They were in full dress, and

the golden pinned mantillas and the sea of waving fans were a sight indeed. Oh, the fans alone! So many

colors; great crescents, growing and waning with far more enchantments than the moons. Their rustle and

"Oh, I assure you, Senor, I can see and feel it. But to be there! That, indeed, would make me perfectly

"Had you been there today you would have admired, above all things, the feat of the matadore Jarocho. It

was upon the great bull Sandovala very monster, I assure you. He came bellowing at Jarocho, as if he

meant his instant death. His eyeballs were living fire; his nostrils steamed with fury; well, then, at the precise

moment, Jarocho put his slippered feet between his horns, and vaulted, light as a bird flies, over his back.

Then Sandoval turned to him again. Well, he calmly waited for his approach, and his long sword met him

between the horns. As lightly as a lady touches her cavalier, he seemed to touch Sandoval; but the brute fell

like a stone at his feet. What a storm of vivas! What clapping of hands and shouts of `valiente!' And the ladies

flung their flowers, and the men flung their hats into the arena, and Jarocho stepped proudly enough on them,

"Ah, Senor, why will men fight each other, when it is so much more grand and interesting to fight bulls?"

"Senorita Isabel, if you could only convince them of that! But then, it is not always interesting to the

matadore; for instance, it is only by the mercy of God and the skill of an Americano that Jarocho is at this

The Senora raised herself from among the satin pillows of her sofa, and asked, excitedly; "Was there then

"Not a hair of his head is hurt, Senora. I will tell you. Saint Jago, who followed Sandoval, was a little devil.

He was light and quick, and had intelligence. You could see by the gleam in his eyes that he took in the

whole scene, and considered not only the people in the ring, but the people in the amphitheatre also, to be his

tormentors. Perhaps in that reflection he was not mistaken. He meant mischief from the beginning; and he

pressed Jarocho so close that he leaped the barrier for safety. As he leaped, Saint Jago leaped also. Imagine

now the terror of the spectators! The screams! The rush! The lowered horns within an inch of Jarocho, and

Fray Joseph Maria running with the consecrated wafer to the doomed man! At that precise moment there was

"Oh, Maria Purissima! How grand! In such moments one really lives, Senor. And but for this absurd rebellion

"Senorita Antonia, it was, indeed. I saw him. He was in the last row. He had stood up when Saint Jago came

in, and he was watching the man and the animal with his soul in his eyes. He had a face, fine and thin as a

woman'sa very gentle face, also. But at one instant it became stern and fierce, the lips hard set, the eyes

half shut, then the rifle at the shoulder like a flash of light, and the bull was dead between the beginning and

the end of the leap! The sight was wonderful, and the ladies turned to him with smiles and cries of

thankfulness, and the better part of the men bowed to him; for the Mexican gentleman is always just to a great

deed. But he went away as if he had done something that displeased himself, and when I overtook him at the

"However, I could not refrain myself, and I said: "Permit me, Colonel Crockett, to honor you. The great feat

"`I saved a life, young man,' he answered and I took a life; and I'll be blamed if I know whether I did right or

wrong.' `Jarocho would have been killed but for your shot.' `That's so; and I killed the bull; but you can take

my hat if I don't think I killed the tallest brute of the two. Adjourn the subject, sir'; and with that he walked

He rose and bowed to the ladies, and, as the Senora was making some polite answer, the door of the room

opened quickly, and a man entered and advanced towards her. Every eye was turned on him, but ere a word

could be uttered he was kneeling at the Senora's side, and had taken her face in his hands, and was kissing it.

In the dim light she knew him at once, and she cried out: "My Thomas! My Thomas! My dear son! For three

He brought into the room with him an atmosphere of comfort and strength. Suddenly all fear and anxiety was

lifted, and in Antonia's heart the reaction was so great that she sank into a chair and began to cry like a child.

Her brother held her in his arms and soothed her with the promise of his presence and help. Then he said,

"Let me have some supper, Antonia. I am as hungry as a lobos wolf; and run away, Isabel, and help your

The homely duty was precisely what was needed to bring every one's feelings to their normal condition; and

Thomas Worth sat chatting with his mother and Lopez of his father, and Jack, and Dare, and Luis, and the

superficial events of the time, with that pleasant, matterofcourse manner which is by far the most effectual

In less than half an hour Antonia called her brother, and he and Lopez entered the diningroom together.

They came in as brothers might come, face answering face with sympathetic change and swiftness; but

Antonia could not but notice the difference in the two men. Lopez was dressed in a suit of black velvet,

trimmed with many small silver buttons. His sash was of crimson silk. His linen was richly embroidered; and

his wide hat was almost covered with black velvet, and adorned with silver tags. It was a dress that set off

Thomas Worth wore the usual frontier costume; a dark flannel shirt, a wide leather belt, buckskin breeches,

and leather boots covering his knees. He was very like his father in figure and facedarker, perhaps, and

less handsome. But the gentleness and strength of his personal appearance attracted every one first, and

And, oh! What a change was there in the the{sic} Senora's room. The poor lady cried a little for joy, and then

went to sleep like a wearied child. Isabel and Antonia were too happy to sleep. They sat half through the

night, talking softly of the danger they had been in. Now that Thomas had come, they could say HAD. For he

was a very Greatheart to them, and they could even contemplate the expected visit of Fray Ignatius without

Left to themselves, the two men threw off like a mask the aspect of cheerfulness they had worn in the

presence of the Senora. Thomas Worth ate heartily, for he had been without food since morning; but Navarro

did not attempt to join his meal. He sat patiently waiting his sombre eyes fixed upon the mental visions which

Presently Thomas Worth turned toward the hearth, pushed the cedar logs on it to a focus, and at their leaping

blaze lighted the pipe which he took from his pocket. "Lopez," he said, "it strikes me that I am just in time to

"I should not have lost sight of the Senora and your sisters. I have watched them faithfully, though for many

good reasons it has been best to appear indifferent. Will you now remain in San Antonio?"

"I have come with orders to Travis to blow up the Alamo, and fall back upon Houston, who is at Gonzales.

"You have too many leaders. Also, they undervalue the Mexican soldiers. I assure you they do. They fought

Spain for ten years; they do not want, then, the persistence of true valor. The Americans may die in the

Alamo, but they cannot hold it against the thousands Santa Anna will bring with him."

"They will die, then. They have no thought of retreat, nor of any deed that argues fear. Every man relies on

"They will not perish in vain. Defeat is only a spur to the American soldier. Every, one makes him a better

fighter. If Santa Anna massacres the men in the Alamo, he seals the freedom of Texas."

"Houston is biding his time. He is doing at present the hardest duty a great man can do: setting an example of

obedience to a divided and incompetent government. Lopez, you said rightly that we had too many leaders.

When those appointed for sacrifice have been offered upwhen we are in the extremity of danger and ruin,

"And he will lead you on to victory. Indeed, I know it. I have seen him. He has the linethe fortunate line on

the forehead. He is the loadstone in the breast of your cause; the magnet who can draw good fortune to it. If

fate be against you, he will force fate to change her mind. If fate weave you a common thread, he will change

it into purple. Victory, which she gives to others reluctantly, he will take like a master from her hand

HOUSTON! What essence! What existence! What honor! What hope there is in those seven letters. Consider

Subsequent events proved the opinion of Thomas Worth correct with regard to the garrison in the Alamo.

David Crockett! James Bowie! Barret Travis! The names were a host in themselves; one and all refused to

"Military defeats may be moral victories, young man," said Crockett to Thomas Worth; "and moral victories

make national greatness. The Roman that filled the gulf with his own body the men who died at

"That isn't always the point, sir. Jim Bowie was saying there was once a lover who used to swim two miles

every night to see a young woman called Hero. Now, he might have waited for a boat and gone dryshod to

his sweetheart; but if he had, who would have cared whether he lived or died? The Alamo is our Hero. If we

The same spirit moved every soul at Goliad. Fanning was there with nearly nine hundred men, and he had

named the place Fort Defiance, and asserted his determination to hold it. In the mean time, Houston was

using his great personal influence to collect troops, to make treaties with the Indians, and to keep together

But it had become evident to all the leading spirits of the revolution that no halfway measures would now

do. They only produced halfway enthusiasm. For this end, Houston spoke out with his accustomed

"Gentlemen, we must declare the independence of Texas, and like our foreelders, sink or swim by that

declaration. Nothing else, nothing less, can save us. The planters of Texas must feel that they are fighting for

their own constitution, and not for Mexican promises made to them twelve years ago and never yet kept."

The simple proposition roused a new enthusiasm; for while Urrea was hastening towards Goliad, and Santa

Anna towards San Antonio, and Filisola to Washington, the divided people were becoming more and more

embittered. The American soldiers, who had hitherto gone in and out among the citizens of San Antonio

during the day, and only slept in the Alamo, were conscious of an ominous change in the temper of the city.

Again Thomas Worth urged them to fall back either upon the line of Houston at Gonzales, or Fanning at

Goliad; but in the indecision and uncertainty of all official orders, Crockett thought it best to make the first

"We can, at least," he said, "keep Santa Anna busy long enough to give the women and children of our own

settlements time to escape, and the men time to draw together with a certain purpose."

"The cry of Santa Anna has been like the cry of wolf! wolf!" said Bowie. "I hear that great numbers that were

under arms have gone home to plant their corn and cotton. Do you want Santa Anna to murder them

piecemealhouse by house, family by family? Great George! Which of us would accommodate him with a

prolonged pleasure like that? No! he shall have a square fight for every life lie gets"; and the calm,

gentlemanly Bowie was suddenly transformed into a flashing, vehement, furious avenger. He laid his knife

and pistols on the table, his steelblue eyes scintillated as if they were lightning; his handsome mouth, his

long, white hands, his whole person radiated wrath and expressed the utmost lengths of invincible courage

"Gentlemen," answered Travis, "I go with Crockett and Bowie. If we hold the Alamo, it is a deed well done.

If we fall with it, it is still a deed well done. We shall have given to Houston and Fanning time to interpose

"We have none of us lived very well," said Bowie, "but we can die well. I say as an American, that Texas is

ours by right of natural locality, and by right of treaty; and, as I live, I will do my best to make it American

by right of conquest! Comrades, I do not want a prettier quarrel to die in"and looking with a brave,

unflinching gaze around the grim fortress"I do not want a better monument than the Alamo!"

The speech was not answered with any noisy hurrahing; but the men around the bare, long table clasped

hands across it, and from that last interview with the doomed men Thomas Worth came away with the

knowledge that he had seen the battle begun. He felt now that there was no time to delay longer his plans for

the safety of his mother and sisters. These were, indeed, of the simplest and most uncertain character; for the

condition of the country and its few resources were such as to make flight the only way that promised safety.

And yet flight was environed with dangers of every kindhunger, thirst, exhaustion, savage beasts, Indians,

The day after his arrival he had begun to prepare, as far as possible, for this last emergency, but the Senora's

unconquerable aversion to leave her native city had constantly hampered him. Until Santa Anna really

appeared she would not believe in the necessity of such a movement. The proposal of Fray Ignatius, even if it

did end in a convent, did not seem so terrible as to be a wanderer without a roof to cover her. She felt

aggrieved and injured by Antonia's and Isabel's positive refusal to accept sanctuary from the priest, and with

the underhand cunning of a weak woman she had contrived to let Fray Ignatius know that SHE was not to

All the same the priest hated her in conjunction with her children. On the morning after her interview with

her uncle, he went to receive her submission; for the marquis had informed him of all that had passed, and he

felt the three women and the valuable Worth property already under his hard hand. He opened the gate with

the air of a proprietor. He looked down the lovely alleys of the garden, and up at the latticed stories of the

handsome house, with that solid satisfaction which is the reward of what is acquired by personal effort or

When he entered the door and was confronted by Thomas Worth, he was for the moment nonplussed. But he

did not permit his confusion and disappointment to appear. He had not seen Thomas for a long time. He

addressed him with suavity and regrets, and yet, "was sure he would be glad to hear that, in the present

dangerous crisis, the Marquis de Gonzaga had remembered the bloodtie and offered his protection to a

Thomas Worth leaned upon the balusters, as if guarding the approach to the Senora's apartments. He

answered: "The protection of the marquis is unnecessary. Three ladies are too great a charge for one so aged.

We will not impose it." The face of the young man was calm and stern, but he spoke without visible temper,

until the priest prepared to pass him. Then he stretched out his arm as a barrier.

"Fray Ignatius, you have already passed beyond the threshold; permit me to remind you of Dr. Worth's words

"Sir, for my mother's sake, I would not be disrespectful; but I assure you, also, that I will not permit any man,

"Presume notdare not to interfere with a priest in the duty of his office. It is a mortal sin. The curse of the

"The curse of the Church will not trouble me. But to treat my father's known wishes with contemptthat is

"Santa Maria! Suffer not my spirit to be moved by this wicked one. Out of my path, Satanas!"

The last word was not one which Thomas Worth had expected. He flushed crimson at its application, and

with a few muttered sentences, intelligible only to the priest, he took him firmly by the shoulder, led him

The expulsion was not accomplished without noisy opposition on the part of Fray Ignatius, and it pained

Thomas deeply to hear, in the midst of the priest's anathemas, the shrill cries of his mother's distress and

The next domestic movement of Thomas Worth was to rid the house of Molly and Manuel, and the inferior

servants. It was not as easy a task as may be supposed. They had been ordered by Fray Ignatius to remain,

and the order had not been countermanded. Even if the Senora and her daughters were going east, and their

services were not needed, they had no objections to remain in the Worth house. They understood that the

Church would take possession, and the housekeeping of the Church was notoriously easy and luxurious.

However, after exorbitant compensation had been made, and Molly had given in return "a bit of her mind,"

she left for the Irish colony of San Patricio, and Manuel immediately sought his favorite monte table. When

he had doubled his money, he intended to obey Molly's emphatic orders, and go and tell the priest all about it.

"I would rather, face a battery of cannon than Fray Ignatius and the servants again, Antonia." Antonia looked

at her brother; he was worried and weary, and his first action, when he had finally cleared the house, was to

walk around it, and bolt every door and window. Antonia followed him silently. She perceived that the crisis

had come, and she was doing as good women in extremity dotrying to find in the darkness the hand always

stretched out to guide and strengthen. As yet she had not been able to grasp it. She followed her brother like

one in a troubled dream, whispering faintly, with white lips, "O God, where art Thou? Help and pity us!"

Thomas led her finally to his father's office. He went to a closet filled with drugs, removed them, and then a

certain pressure of his hand caused the back of the closet to disappear in a groove, and a receptacle full of

"We must take with us all the coin we can carry. What you are not likely to require, is to go to the men in the

field. Then, hide in its place the old silver, and the laces, and the jewels, which came with the Flores from

Castile; and any other papers and valuables, which you received from our father. I think even Fray Ignatius

"Santa Anna is within fortyeight hours of San Antonio. He may force a march, and be here earlier. Travis

told me last night that their advance scouts had come in with this intelligence. Today they will gather every

man they can, and prepare to defend themselves in the Alamo. As soon as Santa Anna arrives, we are in

danger. I must leave here to night. I must either take you with me or remove you to a place of more safety."

"Lopez has prepared for that emergency. He has an empty house three miles west of San Antonio. He has had

it completely victualled. I will take you there after dark in the large green chariot. Ortiz will drive the light

Jersey wagon on the Gonzales road. When inquiry is made, the Jersey wagon will have attracted the attention

of every Mexican, and Fray Ignatius will receive positive assurances that you were in it and are beyond his

power. And certainly, without definite intelligence, he would never suspect you of being anywhere on the

"For two or three days you will be quite alone. Ortiz will, however, return with the wagon by a circuitous

route; for, sooner or later, you are sure to need it. Fear not to trust him. Only in one respect will you need to

supplement his advice by your own intelligence: he is so eager to fight Santa Anna, he may persuade himself

and you that it is necessary to fly eastward when it is not. In all other points you may be guided by him, and

his disguise as a peon is so perfect that it will be easy for him to gather in the pulquerias all the information

requisite for your direction. I have been out to the house, and I can assure you that Lopez has considered

When the circumstances were explained to the Senora, she was at first very determined to accept neither

alternative. "She would remain where she was. She was a Flores and a Gonzaga. Santa Anna knew better than

to molest her. She would rather trust to him than to those dreadful Americans." Reminded of Fray Ignatius,

she shed a few tears over the poor padrecito, and assured her children they had made a mistake regarding

It was almost impossible to induce her to come to a decision of any kind; and only when she saw Antonia and

Isabel were dressed for a journey, and that Thomas had locked up all the rooms and was extinguishing the

fires, could she bring herself to believe that the trial so long anticipated had really come.

"My dearest mother! My own life and the lives of many others may now hang upon a few moments. I can

"Santa Anna is almost here. As soon as he arrives, Fray Ignatius and twelve of the Bernardine monks are

She prayed, and exclaimed, and appealed to saints and angels, and to the holy Virgin, until Isabel was

hysterically weeping, Antonia at a mental tension almost unendurable, and Thomas on the verge of one of

those terrifying passions that mark the extremity of habitually gentle, patient men.

"My God, mother!" he exclaimed with a stamp of his spurred boot on the stone floor; "if you will go to the

devilto the priests, I meanyou must go alone. Kiss your mother farewell, girls. I have not another

Then, in a passion of angry sobs and reproaches, she decided to go with her daughters, and no saint ever

suffered with a more firm conviction of their martyrdom to duty than did this poor foolish, affectionate slave

to her emotions and her superstitions. But when Thomas had gone, and nothing was to be gained by a display

of her sufferings, she permitted herself to be interested in their hidingplace, and after Antonia had given her

a cup of chocolate, and Isabel had petted and soothed her, she began gradually to allow them to explain their

They sat in the charmful, dusky glimmer of starlight, for candles and fire were forbidden luxuries.

Fortunately, the weather was warm and sunny, and for making chocolate and such simple cookery, Lopez had

provided a spirit lamp. The Senora was as pleased as a child with this arrangement. She had never seen

anything like it before. She even imagined the food cooked upon it had some rare and unusual flavor. She

was quite proud when she had learned its mysteries, and quite sure that chocolate she made upon it was

The house had been empty for two years, and the great point was to preserve its air of desolation. No outside

arrangement was touched; the torn remnants of some balcony hangings were left fluttering in the wind; the

closed windows and the closed doors, the absence of smoke from the chimneys and of lights from the

windows, preserved the air of emptiness and loneliness that the passersby had been accustomed to see. And,

as it was on the highway into the city, there were great numbers of passers: muletrains going to Mexico and

Sonora; cavaliers and pedestrians; splendidlydressed nobles and officials, dusty peons bringing in wood;

ranchmen, peddlers, and the whole long list of a great city's purveyors and servants.

But though some of the blinds were halfclosed, much could be seen; and Isabel also often took cushions

upon the flat roof, and lying down, watched, from between the pilasters of the balustrade surrounding it, the

On the morning of the third day of what the Senora, called their imprisonment, they went to the roof to sit in

the clear sunshine and the fresh wind. They were weary and depressed with the loneliness and uncertainty of

their position, and were almost longing for something to happen that would push forward the lagging wheels

A long fanfare of trumpets, a roll of drums, a stirring march of warlike melody, startled them out of the

lethargic tedium of exhausted hopes and fears. "It is Santa Anna!" said Antonia; and though they durst not

stand up, they drew closer to the balustrade and watched for the approaching army. Is there any woman who

can resist that nameless emotion which both fires and rends the heart in the presence of great military

movements? Antonia was still and speechless, and white as death. Isabel watched with gleaming eyes and set

Santa Anna and his staffofficers were in front. They passed too rapidly for individual notice, but it was a

grand moving picture of handsome men in scarlet and goldof graceful mangas and waving plumes, and

brightcolored velvet capes; of highmettled horses, and richlyadorned Mexican saddles, aqueras of black

fur, and silver stirrups; of thousands of common soldiers, in a fine uniform of red and blue; with antique

brazen helmets gleaming in the sun, and long lances, adorned with tricolored streamers. They went past like

In a few minutes the tumult of the advancing army was increased tenfold by the clamor of the city pouring

out to meet it. The clashing bells from the steeples, the shouting of the populace, the blare of trumpets and

roll of drums, the lines of churchmen and officials in their grandest dresses, of citizens of every age,the

indescribable human murmur altogether it was a scene whose sensuous splendor obliterated for a time the

But Antonia saw beyond all this brave show the ridges of red war, and a noble perversity of soul made her

turn her senses inward. Then her eyes grew dim, and her heart rose in pitying prayer for that small band of

heroes standing together for life and liberty in the grim Alamo. No pomp of war was theirs. They were

isolated from all their fellows. They were surrounded by their enemies. No word of sympathy could reach

them. Yet she knew they would stand like lions at bay; that they would give life to its last drop for liberty;

The passingby of Santa Anna and the Mexican army, though it had been hourly expected for nearly three

days, was an event which threw the Senora and her daughters into various conditions of mental excitement.

They descended from the roof to the Senora's room, where they could move about and converse with more

freedom. For the poor lady was quite unable to control her speech and actions, and was also much irritated by

"How can you take things with such a blessed calmness," she asked, angrily. "But it is the way of the

Americans, no doubt, who must have everything for prudence. Sensible! Sensible! Sensible! that is the tune

"Holy Virgin! Perhaps not; but to have a little human nature is more agreeable to those who are yet on the

"Mi madre," said Isabel, "Antonia is our good angel. She thinks for us, and plans for us, and even now has

everything ready for us to move at a moment's notice. Our good angels have to be sensible and prudent,

"To move at a moment's notice! Virgin of Guadalupe! where shall we go to? Could my blessed father and

mother see me in this prison, this very vault, I assure you they would be unhappy even among the angels."

"Mother, there are hundreds of women today in Texas who would think this house a palace of comfort and

"Saints and angels! Is that my fault? Does it make my condition more endurable? Ah, my children, I have

seen great armies come into San Antonio, and always before I have been able to make a little pleasure to

myself out of the event. For the Mexicans are not bloodthirsty, though they are very warlike. When Bravo

was here, what balls, what bullfights, what visiting among the ladies! Indeed there was so much to tell, the

tertulia was as necessary as the dinner. To be sure, the Mexicans are not barbarians; they made a war that had

some refinement. But the Americans! They are savages. With them it is fight, fight, fight, and if we try to be

agreeable, as we were to that outrageous Sam Houston, they say thank you, madam, and go on thinking their

"Dear mother, refinement in war is not possible. Nothing can make it otherwise than brutal and bloody."

"Antonia, allow that I, who am your mother, should know what I have simply seen with my eyes. Salcedo,

Bravo, Martinez, Urreaare they not great soldiers? Very well, then, I say they brought some pleasure with

their armies; and you will see that Santa Anna will do the same. If we were only in our own home! It must

"How truly splendid the officers looked, mi madre. I dare say Senora Valdez will entertain them."

"That is certain. And as for Dorette Valdezthe coquetteit will certainly be a great happiness to her."

Isabel sighed, and the Senora felt a kind of satisfaction in the sigh. It was unendurable to be alone in her

"Yes," she continued, "every night Senora Trespalacios will give a tertulia, and the officers will have military

balls the brave young men; they will be so gay, so charming, so devoted, and in a few hours, perhaps, they

will go into the other world by the road of the battlefield. Ah, how pitiful! How interesting! Cannot you

Isabel sighed again, but the sigh was for the gay, the charming Luis Alveda. And when she thought of him,

she forgot in a moment to envy Dorette Valdez, or the senoritas of the noble house of Trespalacios. And some

sudden, swift touch of sympathy, strong as it was occult, made the Senora at the same moment remember her

husband and her sons. A real sorrow and a real anxiety drove out all smaller annoyances. Then both her

daughters wept together, until their community of grief had brought to each heart the solemn strength of a

"My children, I will go now and pray," said the sorrowful wife and mother. "At the foot of the cross I will

wait for the hour of deliverance; and casting herself on her knees, with her crucifix in her hand, she appeared

in a moment to have forgotten everything but her anguish and her sins, and the Lamb of God upon whom,

with childlike faith, she was endeavoring to cast them. Her tears dropped upon the ivory image of the

Crucified, and sympathetic tears sprung into Antonia's and Isabel's eyes, as they listened to her imploration.

That night, when all was dark and still, Ortiz returned with the wagon. In the morning Antonia went to speak

to him. He looked wornout and sorrowful, and she feared to ask him for news. "There is food in the house,

and I have made you chocolate," she said, as she pitifully scanned the man's exhausted condition.

"The Senorita is kind as the angels. I will eat and drink at her order. I am, indeed, faint and hungry."

She brought him to the table, and when he refused to sit in her presence, she said frankly, "Captain Ortiz, you

He bent upon one knee and kissed the hand she offered, and without further remonstrance obeyed her desire.

Isabel came in shortly, and with the tact of true kindness she made no remark, but simply took the chair

beside Ortiz, and said, in her usual voice and manner: "Good morning, Captain. We are glad to see you. Did

"Si. The Senor Juan is in good health and great happiness. He sent by my willing hands a letter."

"From him, also, I received a letter. Into your gracious care, Senorita, I deliver them."

"I thank you for your kindness, Captain. Tell us now of the fortress. Are the troops in good spirits?"

"Allow me to fear that they are in too good assurance of success. The most of the men are very young. They

have not yet met our Lady of Sorrows. They have promised to themselves the independence of Texas. They

will also conquer Mexico. There are kingdoms in the moon for them. I envy such exaltationsand regret

them. GRACE OF GOD, Senorita! My heart ached to see the crowds of bright young faces. With a

"I know him not. At Goliad they are all Houstons. They believe each man in himself. On the contrary, I wish

"I felt it, though I had no certain news. I came far around, and hid myself from all passersby, for the sake of

the wagon and the horses. I have the happiness to say they are safe. The wagon is within the enclosure, the

horses are on the prairie. They have been well trained, and will come to my call. As for me, I will now go into

the city, for there will be much to see and to hear that may be important to us. Senoritas, for all your desires, I

When Ortiz was gone, Isabel had a little fret of disappointment. Luis might have found some messenger to

bring her a word of his love and life. What was love worth that did not annihilate impossibilities! However, it

consoled her a little to carry Jack's letter to his mother. The Senora had taken her morning chocolate and

fallen asleep. When Isabel awakened her, she opened her eyes with a sigh, and a look of hopeless misery.

These pallid depressions attacked her most cruelly in the morning, when the room, shabby and unfamiliar,

But the sight of the letter flushed her face with expectation. She took it with smiles. She covered it with

kisses. When she opened it, a curl from Jack's head fell on to her lap. She pressed it to her heart, and then

rose and laid it at the feet of her Madonna. "She must share my joy," she said with a pathetic childishness;

"she will understand it." Then, with her arm around Isabel, and the girl's head on his shoulder, they read

"Mi madre, mi madre, you have Juan's heart in your heart. Believe me, that in all this trouble I sorrow only

for you. When victory is won I shall fly to you. Other young men have other loves; I have only you, sweet

mother. There is always the cry in my heart for the kiss I missed when I left you. If I could hold your hand

tonight, if I could hear your voice, if I could lay my head on your breast, I would say that the Holy One had

given me the best blessings He had in heaven. Send to me a letter, madrea letter full of love and kisses.

Forgive Juan! Think of this only: HE IS MY BOY! If I live, it is for you, who are the loveliest and dearest of

mothers. If I die, I shall die with your name on my lips. I embrace you with my soul. I kiss your hands, and

remember how often they have clasped mine. I kiss your eyes, your cheeks, your dear lips. Mi madre,

With what tears and sobs was this loving letter read by all the women; and the Senora finally laid it where she

had laid the precious curl that had come with it. She wanted "the Woman blessed among women" to share the

mother joy and the mother anguish in her heart. Besides, she was a little nervous about Jack's memento of

himself. Her superstitious lore taught her that severed hair is a token of severed love. She wished he had not

"Gracias a Dios!" she kept ejaculating. "I have one child that loves me, and me only. I shall forgive Juan

everything. I shall not forgive Thomas many things. But Juan! oh! it is impossible not to love him entirely.

There is no one like him in the world. If the good God will only give him back to me, I will say a prayer of

Thus she talked to herself and her daughters continually. She wrote a letter full of motherly affection and

loving incoherencies; and if Jack had ever received it he would doubtless have understood and kissed every

word, and worn the white messenger close to his heart. But between writing letters and sending them, there

were in those days intervals full of impossibilities. Love then had to be taken on trust. Rarely, indeed, could it

Jack's letter brightened the day, and formed a new topic of conversation, until Ortiz returned in the evening.

His disguise had enabled him to linger about the Plaza and monte table, and to hear and observe all that was

"The city is enjoying itself, and making money," he said, in reply to question from the Senora. "Certainly the

San Antonians approve of liberty, but what would you do? In Rome one does not quarrel with the Pope; in

San Antonio one must approve of despotism, when Santa Anna parades himself there."

"Has he made any preparations for attacking the Alamo? Will the Americans resist him?"

"Senorita Antonia, he is erecting a battery on the river bank, three hundred yards from the Alamo. This

morning, ere the ground was touched, he reviewed his men in the Plaza. He stood on an elevation at the

church door, surrounded by his officers and the priests, and unfurled the Mexican flag."

"I heard at that hour a dull roar of human voicesa roar like nothing on earth but the distant roar of the

"To be sure; it was the shouting of the people. When all was still, Fray Ignatius blessed the flag, and

sprinkled over it holy water. Then Santa Anna raised it to his lips and kissed it. Holy Maria! another shout.

Then he crossed his sword upon the flag, and cried out"Soldados! you are here to defend this banner,

which is the emblem of your holy faith and of your native land, against heretics, infidels and ungrateful

traitors. Do you swear to do it? And the whole army answered `Si! si! juramos!' (yes, we swear.) Again he

kissed the flag, and laid his sword across it, and, to be sure, then another shout. It was a very clever thing, I

assure you, Senora, and it sent every soldier to the battery with a great heart."

The Senora's easily touched feelings were all on fire at the description. "I wish I could have seen the blessing

of the banner," she said; "it is a ceremony to fill the soul. I have always wept at it. Mark, Antonia! This

confirms what I assured you ofthe Mexicans make war with a religious feeling and a true refinement. And

pray, Captain Ortiz, how will the Americans oppose these magnificent soldiers, full of piety and patriotism?"

"Si. May the Virgin de los Remedios[4] be their help! An urgent appeal for assistance was sent to Fanning at

Goliad. Senor Navarre, took it on a horse fleet as the wind. You will see that on the third day he will be

Santa Anna entered San Antonio on Tuesday the twentythird of February, 1836, and by the twentyseventh

the siege had become a very close one. Entrenched encampments encircled the doomed men in the Alamo,

and from dawn to sunset the bombardment went on. The tumult of the fightthe hurrying in and out of the

citythe clashing of church bells between the booming of cannonthese things the Senora and her

daughters could hear and see; but all else was for twelve days mere surmise. But only one surmise was

possible, when it was known that the little band of defiant heroes were fighting twenty, times their own

numberthat no help could come to themthat the Mexicans were cutting off their water, and that their

provisions were getting very low. The face of Ortiz grew constantly more gloomy, and yet there was

something of triumph in his tone as he told the miserably anxious women with what desperate valor the

On Saturday night, the fifth of March, he called Antonia aside, and said, "My Senorita, you have a great

heart, and so I speak to you. The end is close. Today the Mexicans succeeded in getting a large cannon

within gunshot of the Alamo, just where it is weakest. Senor Captain Crockett has stood on the roof all day,

and as the gunners have advanced to fire it he has shot them down. A group of Americans were around him;

they loaded rifles and passed them to him quickly as he could fire them. Santa Anna was in a fury past

believing. He swore then `by every saint in heaven or hell' to enter the Alamo tomorrow. Senor Navarro

says he is raging like a tiger, and that none of his officers dare approach him. The Senor bade me tell you that

tomorrow night he will be here to escort you to Gonzales; for no American will his fury spare; he knows

neither sex nor age in his passions. And when the Alamo falls, the soldiers will spread themselves around for

plunder, or shelter, and this empty house is sure to attract them. The Senorita sees with her own intelligence

"I will have the Jersey wagon ready at midnight. I know the horses. Before sunup we shall have made many

That night as Antonia and her sister sat in the dark together, Antonia said: "Isabel, tomorrow the Alamo will

fall. There is no hope for the poor, brave souls there. Then Santa Anna will kill every American."

"Oh, dear Antonia, what is to become of us? We shall have no home, nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep. I think

"She is to be your care, Isabel. I shall rely on you to comfort and manage her. I will attend to all else. We are

Yes, and after all I am very tired of this dreadful life. It is a kind of convent. One is buried alive here, and still

"And how delighted he will be! And as it is necessary that we go, Isabel, we must make the best of the

"I can do that with a few words, and tears, and kisses. Mi madre is like one's good angelvery easy to

"Not tonight. Say your prayer, and sleep in God's presence. There is yet nothing to fear. Ortiz and Lopez

But at three o'clock in the morning, the quiet of their rest was broken by sharp bugle calls. The stars were yet

in the sky, and all was so still that they thrilled the air like something unearthly. Antonia started up, and ran to

the roof. Bugle was answering bugle; and their tones were imperative and cruel, as if they were blown by evil

spirits. It was impossible to avoid the feeling that the call was a PREDESTINED summons, full of the notes

of calamity. She was weighed down by this sorrowful presentiment, because, as yet, neither experience nor

The unseen moving multitudes troubled the atmosphere between them. In wild, savage gusts, she heard the

military bands playing the infamous Dequelo, whose notes of blood and fire commingled, shrieked in every

ear"NO QUARTER! NO QUARTER!" A prolonged shout, the booming of cannon, an awful murmurous

tumult, a sense of horror, of crash and conflict, answered the merciless, frenzied notes, and drowned them in

It was yet scarcely dawn. Her soul, moved by influences so various and so awful, became almost rebellious.

Why did God permit such cruelties? Did He know? Would He allow a handful of men to be overpowered by

numbers? Being omnipotent, would He not in some way, at least, make the fight equal? The instinct of her

angloAmerican nature revolted at the unfairness of the struggle. Even her ejaculations to heaven were in this

spirit. "It is so unjust," she murmured; "surely the Lord of Hosts will prevent a fight which must be a

As she went about the simple preparations for their breakfast, she wept continuouslytears of indignation

and sorrowtears coming from the strength of feeling, rather than its weakness. The Senora could eat

nothing. Isabel was white with terror. They wandered from window to window in the last extremity of

About seven o'clock they saw Ortiz pass the house. There were so many people on the road he could not find

an opportunity to enter for some time. He had been in the city all night. He had watched the movement of the

"It was just three o'clock, Senorita, when the Matamoras battalion was moved forward. General Cos

"But General Cos was paroled by these same Americans who are now in the Alamo; and his life was spared

"It is but one lie, one infamy more. When I left the city, about four thousand men were attacking the Alamo.

The infantry, in columns, were driven up to the walls by the cavalry which surrounded them."

"The mercy of God remains, Senorita. That is all. The Alamo is not as the everlasting hills. What men have

made, men can also destroy. Senor Navarro is in the church, praying for the souls that are passing every

"He ought to have been fighting. To help the living is better than to pray for the dead."

Permit me to assure you, Senorita Antonia, that no man has done more for the living. In time of war, there

must be many kinds of soldiers. Senor Navarro has given nearly all, that he possesses for the hope of

"Secret service! I prefer those who have the courage of their convictions, and who, stand by them publicly."

"This is to be considered, Senorita; the man who can be silent can also speak when the day for speaking

arrives." No one opposed this statement. It did not seem worth while to discuss opinions, while the terrible

As the day went on, the conflict evidently became closer and fiercer. Ortiz went back to the city, and the three

lonely women knelt upon the housetop, listening in terror to the tumult of the battle. About noon the firing

ceased, and an awful silencea silence that made the ears ache to be relieved of itfollowed.

"All is over!" moaned Antonia, and she covered her face with her hands and sobbed bitterly. Isabel had

already exhausted tears. The Senora, with her crucifix in her hand, was praying for the poor unfortunates

During the afternoon, smoke and flame, and strange and sickening odors were blown northward of the city,

and for some time it seemed probable that a great conflagration would follow the battle. How they longed for

some one to come! The utmost of their calamity would be better than the intolerable suspense. But hour after

hour went past, and not even Ortiz arrived. They began to fear that both he and Navarro had been discovered

in some disloyalty and slain, and Antonia was heartsick when she considered the helplessness of their

Still, in accordance with Navarro's instructions, they dressed for the contemplated journey, and sat in the

dark, anxiously listening for footsteps. About eleven o'clock Navarro and Ortiz came together. Ortiz went for

the horses, and Navarro sat down beside, the Senora. She asked him, in a low voice, what had taken place,

"Everything dreadful, everything cruel, and monstrous, and inhuman! Among the angels in heaven there is

sorrow and anger this night." His voice had in it all the pathos of tears, but tears mingled with a burning

"Senorita Antonia, I would give my soul to undo this day's work. It is a disgrace to Mexico which centuries

"I will tell you. It is right to tell the whole world such an infamy. If I had little children I would take them on

my knee and teach them the story. I heard it from the lips of one wetshod with their blood, dripping crimson

from the battle my own cousin, Xavier. He was with General Castrillon's division. They began their attack

at four in the morning, and after two hours' desperate fighting succeeded in reaching a courtyard of the

"They found the windows and doors barricaded with bags of earth. Behind these the Americans fought hand

to hand with despairing valor. Ramires, Siesma and Batres led the columns, and Santa Anna gave the signal

of battle from a battery near the bridge. When the second charge was driven back, he became furious. He put

himself in front of the men, and with shouts and oaths led them to the third charge. Xavier said that he

inspired them with his own frenzy. They reached the foot of the wall, and the ladders were placed in position.

The officers fell to the rear and forced the men to ascend them. As they reached the top they were stabbed,

and the ladders overturned. Over and over, and over again these attempts were made, until the garrison in the

Navarro paused a few minutes, overpowered by his emotions. No one spoke. He could see Antonia's face,

white as a spirit's, in the dim light, and he knew that Isabel was weeping and that the Senora had taken his

"At last, at the hour of ten, the outer wall was gained. Then, room by room was taken with slaughter

incredible. There were fourteen Americans in the hospital. They fired their rifles and pistols from their pallets

with such deadly aim that Milagros turned a cannon shotted with grape and canister upon them. They were

blown to pieces, but at the entrance of the door they left forty dead Mexicans."

"Mi madre," answered Isabel, "we must hear it all. Without it, one cannot learn to hate Santa Anna

sufficiently"; and her small, white teeth snapped savagely, as she touched the hand of Lopez with an

"Colonel Bowie was helpless in bed. Two Mexican officers fired at him, and one ran forward to stab him ere

he died. The dying man caught his murderer by the hair of his head, and plunged his knife into his heart.

"I am glad of it! Glad of it! The American would say to the Almighty: `Thou gavest me life, and thou gavest

me freedom; freedom, that is the nobler gift of the two. This man robbed me of both.' And God is just. The

"At noon, only six of the one hundred and eightythree were left alive. They were surrounded by Castrillon

and his soldiers. Xavier says his general was penetrated with admiration for these heroes. He spoke

sympathizingly to Crockett, who stood in an angle of the fort, with his shattered rifle in his right hand, and

his massive knife, dripping with blood, in his left. His face was gashed, his white hair crimson with blood;

but a score of Mexicans, dead and dying, were around him. At his side was Travis, but so exhausted that he

"Castrillon could not kill these heroes. He asked their lives of Santa Anna, who stood with a scowling, savage

face in this last citadel of his foes. For answer, he turned to the men around him, and said, with a malignant

emphasis: `Fire!' It was the last volley. Of the defenders of the Alamo, not one is left."

A solemn silence followed. For a few minutes it was painful in its intensity. Isabel broke it. She spoke in a

whisper, but her voice was full of intense feeling. "I wish indeed the whole city had been burnt up. There was

"May God pardon us all, Senorita! That was a fire which does not go out. It will burn for ages. I will explain

myself. Santa Anna had the dead Americans put into oxwagons and carried to an open field outside the city.

There they were burnt to ashes. The glorious pile was still casting lurid flashes and shadows as I passed it."

"I will hear no more! I will hear no more!" cried the Senora. "And I will go away from here. Ah, Senor, why

do you not make haste? In a few hours we shall have daylight again. I am in a terror. Where is Ortiz?"

"The horses are not caught in a five minutes, Senora. But listen, there is the roll of the wagon on the flagged

court. All, then, is ready. Senora, show now that you are of a noble house, and in this hour of adversity be

She was pleased by the entreaty, and took his arm with a composure which, though assumed, was a sort of

strength. She entered the wagon with her daughters, and uttered no word of complaint. Then Navarro locked

the gate, and took his seat beside Ortiz. The prairie turf deadened the beat of their horses' hoofs; they went at

a flying pace, and when the first pallid light of morning touched the east, they had left San Antonio far behind

Near midnight, on March the ninth, the weary fugitives arrived at Gonzales. They had been detained by the

deep mud in the bottom lands, and by the extreme exhaustion of the ladies, demanding some hours' rest each

day. The village was dark and quiet. Here and there the glimmer of a candle, now and then the call of a

Ortiz appeared to know the ground perfectly. He drove without hesitation to a log house in which a faint

thread of light was observable, and as he approached it he gave a long, peculiar whistle. The door was

instantly thrown open, and, as the wagon stopped, two men stepped eagerly to it. In another instant the

Senora was weeping in her husband's arms, and Isabel laughing and crying and murmuring her sweet

surprises into the ear of the delighted Luis. When their wraps had been removed from the wagon, Ortiz drove

away, leaving Navarro and Antonia standing by the little pile of ladies' luggage.

"Senorita, to be of service to you is my good fortune. If it were necessary, my life for your life, and I would

She had given him her hand with her little speech of thanks, and he raised it to his lips. It was an act of

homage that he might have offered to a saint, but in it Lopez unconsciously revealed to Antonia the secret

love in his heart. For he stood in the glow of light from the open door, and his handsome face showed, as in a

glass darkly, the tenderness and hopelessness of his great affection. She was touched by the discovery, and

though she had a nature faithful as sunrising she could not help a feeling of kindly interest in a lover so

The log cabin in which they found shelter was at least a restingplace. A fire of cedar logs burned upon the

hearth, and there was a bed in the room, and a few rude chairs covered with raw hide. But the Senora had a

happy smile on her weary face. She ignored the poverty of her surroundings. She had her Roberto, and, for

Presently the coffeepot was boiling, and Doctor Worth and Luis brought out their small store of cornbread

and their tin campcups, and the weary women ate and drank, and comforted themselves in the love and

protection at their side. Doctor Worth sat by his wife, and gave Antonia his hand. Isabel leaned her pretty

"Charming little one, your lips are two crimson curtains. Between curtain and curtain my kiss is waiting. Give

Is there any woman who cannot imagine Isabel's shy glances, and the low, sweet words in which she

answered such delightful protestations? And soon, to add a keener zest to his happiness, Luis began to be a

"With us is Dias de Bonilla. Do you remember, my beloved one. that you danced with him once?"

"Too well he remembers. He has dared to sing a serenade to your memorywell, truly, he did not finish it,

and but for the Senor Doctor, I should have taught him that Isabel is not a name for his lips to utter. Here, he

may presume to come into your presence. Will you receive him with extreme haughtiness? It would be a

"The poor fellow! Why should I make him miserable? You should not be jealous, Luis."

"If you smile on himthe least little smilehe will think you are in love with him. He is such a fool, I

"I will tell you Luiswhen the myrtletree grows figs, and the figtree is pink with myrtle flowers, then I

No one heeded this pretty, extravagant talk. It was a thing apart from the more serious interests discussed by

Doctor Worth and his wife and eldest daughter. And when Ortiz and Navarro joined the circle, the story of

the fall of the Alamo was told again, and Luis forgot his own happiness, and wept tears of anger and pity for

"Last Sabbath morning, Senor. Mass was being offered in the churches, and Te Deums sung while it went

"Now, I will tell you something. On the morning of the second, Thomas was in Washington. A convention

sitting there declared, on that day, the independence of Texas, and fifty five out of fiftysix votes elected

"It is probable that the news of this movement influenced Santa Anna to such barbarity."

"True, Ortiz; yet I can imagine how this proclamation would incense him. On the morning of the sixth, the

convention received the last express sent by poor Travis from the Alamo. It was of the most thrilling

character, breathing the very spirit of patriotism and courageand despair. In less than an hour, Houston,

with a few companions, was on his way to the Alamo. At the same time he sent an express to Fannin, urging

But Houston had learned it in his own way before he reached Gonzales; for Travis had stated that as long as

the Alamo could be held, signal guns would be fired at sunrising; and it is a wellauthenticated fact that these

guns were heard by trained ears for more than one hundred miles across the prairie. Houston, whose senses

were keen as the Indians with whom he had long lived knew when he was within reach of the sound; and he

rose very early, and with his ear close to the ground waited in intense anxiety for the dull, rumbling murmur

which would tell him the Alamo still held out. His companions stood at some distance, still as statues,

intently watching him. The sun rose. He had listened in vain; not the faintest sound did his ear detect.

At Gonzales he heard the particulars. And he saw that the news had exerted a depressing influence upon the

troops there. He called them together. He spoke to them of the brutal tragedy, and he invested its horrors with

"They were soldiers," he cried; "and they died like soldiers. Their names will be the morning stars of

American history. They will live for ever in the red monument of the Alamo." He looked like a lion, with a

gloomy stare; his port was fierce, and his eyes commanded all he viewed. "Vengeance remains to us! We

He immediately sent off another express to Fannin; apprised him of the fall of the Alamo; ordered him to

blow up Goliad and fall back upon Gonzales. Then he sent wagons into the surrounding country, to transport

the women and children to the eastern settlements; for he knew well what atrocities would mark every mile of

These wagons, with their helpless loads, were to rendezvous at Peach Creek, ten miles from Gonzales; where

also he expected Fannin and his eight hundred and sixty men to join him. This addition would make the

American force nearly twelve hundred strong. Besides which, Fannin's little army was of the finest material,

being composed mostly of enthusiastic volunteers from Georgia and Alabama; young men, who, like Dare

Grant and John Worth, were inspired with the idea of freedom, or the spread of Americanism, or the

fanaticism of religious liberty of conscienceperhaps, even, with hatred of priestly domination. Houston felt

that he would be sufficient for Santa Anna when the spirit of this company was added to the moral force of

men driven from their homes and families to fight for the lands they had bought and the rights which had

So he watched the horizon anxiously for Fannin's approach, often laying his ear to the ground to listen for

what he could not see. And, impatient as he was for their arrival, the Senora was more so. She declared that

her sufferings would be unendurable but for this hope. The one question on her lips, the one question in her

eyes, was, "Are they coming?" And Antonia, though she did not speak of her private hopes, was equally

anxious. Brother and lover were both very dear to her. And to have the whole family together would be in

itself a great help. Whatever their deprivations and fatigues, they could comfort each other with their

Every day wagonloads of women and children joined the camp, and the march eastward was very slow. But

no circumstance extols more loudly the bravery and tenderness of these American soldiers than the patience

with which this encumbrance was endured. Men worn out with watching and foraging were never too weary

to help some mother still more weary, or to carry some little child whose swollen feet would no longer aid it.

One night they rested at a little place on the Colorado. In one room of a deserted cabin Houston sat with

Major Hockly, dictating to him a military dispatch. They had no candles, and Houston was feeding the fire

with oak splinters, to furnish light enough for their necessity. In the other room, the Worth family were

gathered. Antonia, in preparing for their journey, had wisely laid a small mattress and a couple of pillows in

the wagon; and upon this mattress the Senora and Isabel were resting. Doctor Worth and Thomas sat by the

fire talking of Fannin's delay; and Antonia was making some cornmeal cakes for their supper.

When the Senora's portion was given to her she put it aside, and lifted her eyes to Antonia's face. They asked

the question forever in her heart, "Is Jack coming?" and Antonia pitifully shook her head.

Then the poor woman seemed to have reached the last pitch of endurance. "Let me die!" she cried. "I can bear

life no longer." To Mary and the saints she appealed with a passionate grief that was distressing to witness.

All the efforts of her husband and her children failed to sooth her; and, as often happens in a complication of

"I cannot eat corn bread; I have always detested it. I am hungry. I am perishing for my chocolate. And I have

no clothing. I am ashamed of myself. I thank the saints I have no lookingglass. Oh, Roberto! Roberto! What

"My dear wife! My dear, dear wife! Be patient a little longer. Think, love, you are not alone. There are

women here far more weary, far more hungry; several who, in the confusion, have lost their little children;

"Giver of all good! give me patience. I have to say to you that other women's sorrows do not make me

grateful for my own. And Santa Maria has been cruel to me. Another more cruel, who can find? I have

confessed to her my heartache about Juan; entreated her to bring my boy to me. Has she done it?"

"Grace of God, Roberto! It is now the twentythird of March; I have been seventeen days wandering with my

daughters like very beggars. If only I had had the discretion to remain in my own house!"

"Maria, Lopez will tell you that Fray Ignatius and the brothers are in possession of it. He saw them walking

At this moment General Houston, in the opposite room was dictating: "Before God, I have found the darkest

hours of my life. For fortyeight hours I have neither eaten an ounce of anything, nor have I slept." The

Senora's sobbing troubled him. He rose to close the door, and saw two men entering. One leaned upon the

The entrance of the wounded man silenced the Senora. She turned her face to the wall and refused to eat.

Isabel sat by her side and held her hand. The doctor glanced at it as he turned away. It had been so plump and

dimpled and white. It was now very thin and white with exposure. It told him far better than complaining,

"Stabbed with a bayonet through the shoulderhard riding from Goliadno foodno restthat tells the

It was all he could say. A fainting fit followed. Antonia procured some stimulant, and when consciousness

returned, assisted her father to dress the wound. Their own coffee was gone, but she begged a cup from some

one more fortunate; and after the young man had drunk it, and had eaten a little bread, he was inclined to

"Glad to be here at all," he said. "I think I am the only one out of five hundred."

"I WAS of Fannin's command. Every man in it has been shot. I escaped by a kind of miracle."

The doctor looked at the Senora. She seemed to be asleep. "Speak low," he said, "but tell me all."

The man sat upon the floor with his back against the wall. The doctor stooped over him. Antonia and Isabel

"We heard of Urrea's approach at San Patricio. The Irish people of that settlement welcomed Urrea with great

rejoicing. He was a Catholica defender of the faith. But the American settlers in the surrounding country

fled, and Fannin heard that five hundred women and children, followed by the enemy, were trying to reach

the fortress of Goliad. He ordered Major Ward, with the Georgia battalions, to go and meet the fugitives.

Many of the officers entreated him not to divide his men for a report which had come by way of the faithless

"But Fannin thought the risk ought to be taken. He took it, and the five hundred women and children proved

to be a regiment of Mexican dragoons. They surrounded our infantry on every side, and after two days'

desperate fighting, the Georgia battalions were no more. In the meantime, Fannin got the express telling him

of the fall of the Alamo, and ordering him to unite with General Houston. That might have been a possible

thing with eight hundred and sixty men, but it was not possible with three hundred and sixty. However, we

made the effort, and on the great prairie were attacked by the enemy lying in ambush there. Entirely encircled

by them, yet still fighting and pressing onward, we defended ourselves until our ammunition gave out. Then

we accepted the terms of capitulation offered by Urrea, and were marched back to Goliad as prisoners of war.

"Urrea laughed at the articles, and said his only intention in them was to prevent the loss of Mexican blood.

Most of his officers remonstrated with with{sic} him, but he flew into a passion at Miralejes. `The Senor

Presidente's orders are not to be trifled with. By the Virgin of Guadelupe!' he cried, `it would be as much as

"It gave the Mexican soldiers pleasure to tell us these things, and though we scarcely believed such treachery

possible, we were very uneasy. On the eighth day after the surrender, a lovely Sunday morning, we were

marched out of the fort on pretence of sending us to Louisiana; according to the articles of surrender, and we

"But I noticed that we were surrounded by a double row of soldiers, and that made me suspicious. In a few

moments, Fannin was marched into the centre, and told to sit down on a low stool. He felt that his hour had

come. He took his watch and his purse, and gave them to some poor woman who stood outside lamenting and

praying for the poor Americans. I shall never forget the calmness and brightness of his face. The Mexican

colonel raised his sword, the drums beat, and the slaughter began. Fifty men at a time were shot; and those

"When the lips of the officer moved to give the order: Fire! I fell upon my face as if dead. As I lay, I was

pierced by a bayonet through the shoulder, but I made no sign of life. After the execution, the camp followers

came to rob the dead. A kindhearted Mexican woman helped me to reach the river. I found a horse tied

there, and I took it. I have been on the point of giving up life several times, but I met a man coming here with

The doctor was trembling with grief and anger, and he felt Antonia's hand on his shoulder.

"Who did not know him in Fannin's camp? Any of us would have been glad to save poor Jack; and he had a

"That was the man, young lady. Grant was a doctor, and the Mexicans wanted doctors. They offered him his

life for his services, but he would not have it unless his friend's life also was spared. They were shot holding

each other's hands, and fell together. I was watching their faces at the moment. There wasn't a bit of fear in

The Senora rose, and came as swiftly as a spirit to them. She looked like a woman walking in her sleep. She

touched the stranger. "I heard you. You saw Dare Grant die. But my boy! My boy! Where is my Juan?"

Then the wretched mother threw up her hands, and with an awful cry fell to the ground. It was hours ere she

The distress of the father, the brother and sisters of the dead youth was submerged in the speechless despair

of the mother. She could not swallow food; she turned away from the the{sic} sympathy of all who loved her.

Even Isabel's caresses were received with an apathy which was terrifying. With the severed curl of her boy's

Poor Antonia, weighed down with the double loss that had come to her, felt, for the first time, as if their

condition was utterly hopeless. The mental picture of her brother and her lover meeting their tragic death

hand in hand, their youth and beauty, their courage and fidelity, was constantly before her. With all the purity

and strength of her true heart, she loved Dare; but she did not for a moment wish that he had taken a different

course. "It is just what I should have expected from him," she said to Isabel. "If he had let poor Jack die

alone, I could never have loved him in the same way again. But oh, Isabel, how miserable I am?"

"Sweet Antonia, I can only weep with you. Think of this; it was on last Sunday morning. Do you remember

"I was in what seemed to be an unreasonable distress. I went away to weep. My very thoughts were tired with

their sorrowful journeys up and down my mind, trying to find out hope and only meeting despair. Oh, my

"And mi madre, Antonia? I fear, indeed, that she will lose her senses. She will not speak to Thomas, nor even

to me. She has not said a prayer since Jack's death. She cannot sleep. I am afraid of her, Antonia."

"Tonight we are to move further east; perhaps the journey may waken her out of this trance of grief. I can

see that our father is wretched about her; and Thomas wanders in and out of the room as if his heart was

"Thomas loved Jack. Luis told me that he sat with him and Lopez, and that he sobbed like a woman. But,

also, he means a great revenge. None of the men slept last night. They stood by the campfires talking.

Sometimes I went to the door and looked out. How awful they were in the blaze and darkness! I think,

Isabel had not misjudged the spirit of the camp. The news of the massacre at Goliad was answered by a call

for vengeance that nothing but vengeance could satisfy. On the following day Houston addressed his little

army. He reminded them that they were the children of the heroes who fought for liberty at Yorktown, and

Saratoga, and Bunker Hill. He made a soul stirring review of the events that had passed; he explained to

them their situation, and the designs of the enemy, and how he proposed to meet them.

His voice, loud as a trumpet with a silver sound, inspired all who heard it with courage. His large, bright

visage, serious but hopeful, seemed to sun the camp. "They live too long," he cried, "who outlive freedom.

And I promise you that you shall have a full cup of vengeance. For every man that fell fighting at the Alamo,

for every one treacherously slaughtered at Goliad, you shall be satisfied. If I seem to be flying before the

enemy now, it is for his destruction. Three Mexican armies united, we cannot fight. We can fight them singly.

And every mile we make them follow us weakens them, separates them, confuses them. The low lands of the

Brazos, the unfordable streams, the morasses, the pathless woods, are in league with us. And we must place

our women and children in safety. Even if we have to carry them to General Gaines and the United States

troops, we must protect them, first of all. I believe that we shall win our freedom with our own hands; but if

the worst come, and we have to fall back to the Sabine, we shall find friends and backers there. I know

President Jackson, my old general, the unconquered Christian Mars! Do you think he will desert his

countrymen? Never! If we should need help, he has provided it. And the freedom of Texas is sure and certain.

It is at hand. Prepare to achieve it. We shall take up our march eastward in three hours."

Ringing shouts answered the summons. The camp was in a tumult of preparation immediately; Houston was

lending his great physical strength to the mechanical difficulties to be encountered. A crowd of men was

around. Suddenly a woman touched him on the arm, and he straightened himself and looked at her.

"You will kill Santa Anna, General? You will kill this fiend who has escaped from hell! By the mother of

He was so moved with pity that he could not for a moment or two give her any stronger assurance. For this

suppliant, pallid and frenzied with sorrow, was the once beautiful Senora Worth. He looked at her hollow

eyes, and shrunk form, and worn clothing, and remembered with a pang, the lovely, gracious lady clad in

satin and lace, with a jewelled comb in her fine hair and a jewelled fan in her beautiful hands, and a wave of

"By the memory of my own dear mother, Senora, I will make Santa Anna pay the full price of his cruelties."

"Thank you, Senor"; and she glided away with her tearless eyes fixed upon the curl of black hair in her open

The memorial of wrongs, which resulted in the Declaration of Texan Independence, was drawn up with

statesmanlike ability by David G. Burnett, a native of New Jersey, a man of great learning, dignity, and

experience; who, as early as 1806, sailed from New York to join Miranda in his effort to give Spanish

America liberty. The paper need not be quoted here. It gave the greatest prominence to the refusal of trial by

jury, the failure too establish a system of public education, the tyranny of military law, the demand that the

colonists should give up arms necessary for their protection or their sustenance, the inciting of the Indians to

massacre the American settlers, and the refusal of the right to worship the Almighty according to the dictates

of their own consciences. Burnett was elected Governor, and Houston felt that he could now give his whole

The seat of Government was removed to Harrisburg, a small place on the Buffalo Bayou; and Houston was

sure that this change would cause Santa Anna to diverge from his route to Nacogdoches. He dispatched

orders to the men scattered up and down the Brazos from Washington to Fort Benda distance of eighty

milesto join him on the march to Harrisburg, and he struck his own camp at the time he had specified.

In less than twentyfour hours they reached San Felipe, a distance of twentyeight miles. The suffering of

the women and children on that march can never be told. Acts of heroism on the part of the men and of

fortitude on the part of the women that are almost incredible, marked every step of the way. The Senora sat in

her wagon, speechless, and lost in a maze of melancholy anguish. She did not seem to heed want, or cold, or

wet, or the utter misery of her surroundings. Her soul had concentrated all its consciousness upon the strand

of hair she continually smoothed through her fingers. Dr. Worth, in his capacity of physician, accompanied

the flying families, and he was thus able to pay some attention to his distraught wife; but she answered

nothing he said to her. If she looked at him, her eyes either flamed with anger, or expressed something of the

terror to be seen in the eyes of a hunted animal. It was evident that her childish intelligence had seized upon

The condition of a wife so beloved almost broke his heart. The tragic death of his dear son was not so hard to

endure as this living woe at his side. And when they reached San Felipe and found it in ashes, a bitter cry of

hopeless suffering came from every woman's lips. They had thought to find there a little food, and a day's

sheltered restingplace. Even Antonia's brave soul fainted, at the want and suffering around her. She had

gold, but it could not buy bread for the little ones, weeping with hunger and terrified by the fretfulness of

It was on this night Houston wrote: "I will do the best I can; but be assured the fame of Jackson could never

compensate me for my anxiety and mental pain." And yet, when he was told that a blind woman and her

seven children had been passed by, and did not know the enemy were approaching, he delayed the march

During these days of grief and privation Isabel's nature grew to its finest proportions. Her patient efforts to

arouse her mother, and her cheerfulness under the loss of all comforts, were delightful. Besides which, she

had an inexhaustible fund of sympathy for the babies. She was never without one in her arms. Three mothers,

who had died on the road, left their children to her care. And it was wonderful and pitiful to see the delicately

nurtured girl, making all kinds of efforts to secure little necessaries for the children she had elected to care

"The Holy Mother helps me," she said to, Antonia. "She makes the poor little ones good, and I am not very

At San Felipe they were joined by nearly one hundred men, who also brought word that a fine company were

advancing to their aid from Mississippi, under General Quitman; and that two large cannon, sent by the

people of Cincinnati, were within a few miles. And thus hoping and fearing, hungry and weary to the death,

they reached, on the 16th of April, after a march of eighteen miles, a place called McArley's. They had come

over a boggy prairie under a cold rain, and were depressed beyond expression. But there was a little shelter

here for the women and children to sleep under. The men camped in the open. They had not a tent in their

About ten o'clock that night, Doctor Worth was sitting with his wife and children and Antonia in one corner

of a room in a deserted cabin. He had the Senora's wasted hand in his own, and was talking to her. She sat in

apathetic silence. It was impossible to tell whether she heard or understood him.

"I wonder where Isabel is," said Antonia; and with the words the girl entered the room. She had in her arms a

"Mi madre," she cried, "you know how to save him! He is dying! Save him! Listen to me! The Holy Mother

A change like a flash of light passed over the Senora's face. "The poor little one!" Her motherly instincts

crushed down everything else. In the child's agony she forgot her own grief. With glad hearts the doctor and

Antonia encouraged her in her good work, and when at length the sufferer had been relieved and was sleeping

against her breast, the Senora had wept. The stone from her heart had been rolled away by a little child. Her

own selfish sorrow had been buried in a wave of holy, unselfish maternal affection. The key to her nature had

On the next day they marched ten miles through a heavy rain, and arrived at Burnett's settlement. The women

had shelter, the men slept on the wet groundtook the prairie without coverwith their arms in their hands.

They knew they were in the vicinity of Santa Anna, and all were ready to answer in an instant the three taps

of the drum, which was the only instrument of martial music in the camp, and which was never touched but

Another day of eighteen miles brought them to within a short distance of Harrisburg. Santa Anna had just

been there, and the place was in ashes. It was evident to all, now, that the day and the hour was at hand.

Houston first thought of the two hundred families he had in charge, and they were quickly taken over the

bayou. When he had seen the last one in this comparative safety, he uttered so fervent a "Thank God!" that

the men around unconsciously repeated it. The bayou though narrow was twenty feet deep, and the very

home of alligators. There was only one small bridge in the vicinity. He intended its destruction, and thus to

make his little band and the deep, dangerous stream a double barrier between the Mexicans and the women

"This morning we are in preparation to meet Santa Anna. We will only be about seven hundred to march,

besides the camp guard. But we go to conquest. The troops are in fine spirits, and now is the time for action. I

leave the result in the hands of an allwise God, and I rely confidently in his Providence. "SAM

The women and children, under a competent guide, continued their march eastward. But they were worn out.

Many were unable to put their feet to the ground. The wagons were crowded with these helpless ones. The

Senora had so far recovered as to understand that within a few hours Santa Anna and the Americans must

meet. And, mentally led by Isabel's passionate hatred, she now showed a vindictiveness beyond that of any

She spent hours upon her knees, imploring the saints, and the stars, and the angel Michael, to fight against

Santa Anna. To Isabel she whispered, "I have even informed the evil one where he may be found. The wretch

who ordered such infamies! He poisons the air of the whole world as he goes through it. I shall never be

happy till I know that he is in purgatory. He will be hated even thereand in a worse place, too. Yes, it is

pleasant to think of that! There will be many accusers of him there. I shall comfort myself with imagining his

punishment. Isabel, do you believe with your heart that Senor Houston and the Americans will be strong

"Then do be a little delighted. How can you bear things with such a provoking indifference? But as Luis is

"Chito! Chito! Do not be cruel, mi madre. I would stab Santa Anna with my own handsvery slowly, I

would stab him. It would be so sweet. The Sisters told me of a woman in the Holy Book, who smiled upon

the one she hated, and gave him milk and butter, and when he slept, drove a great nail through his temples. I

know how she felt. What a feast it would be, to strike, and strike, and strike! I could drive ten, twenty, fifty

No one had before dared to breathe her boy's name in her hearing. She herself had never spoken it. It fell

upon the ears of both women like a strain of forgotten music. They looked at each other with eyes that stirred

memory and love to their sweetest depths. Almost in whispers they began to talk of the dead boy, to recall

how lovable, how charming, how affectionate, how obedient he had been. Then the Senora broke open the

seals of her sorrow, and, with bitter reproaches on herself, confessed that the kiss she had denied her Juan

"If I had only blessed him," she moaned; "I had saved him from his misfortune. A mother's blessing is such a

holy thing! And he knelt at my knees, and begged it. I can see his eyes in the darkness, when my eyes are

shut. I can hear his voice when I am asleep. Isabel, I shall never be happy till I see Juan again, and say to him,

Both were weeping, but Isabel said, bravely: "I am sure that Juan does not blame you now, mi madre. In the

other world one understands better. And remember, also, the letter which he wrote you. His last thought was

yours. He fell with your name on his lips. These things are certain. And was it not good of Dare to die with

him? A friend like that! Out of the talebooks who ever hears of such a thing? Antonia has wept much. In the

nights, when she thinks I am asleep, I hear her. Have you seen that she has grown white and thin? I think that

"In an hour of mercy may the merciful One remember Dare Grant! I will pray for his peace as long as I live.

If he had left Juanif he had come back aloneI think indeed I should have hated him."

"That was also the opinion of Antoniashe would never have loved him the same. I am sure she would not

"My good Antonia! Go bring her to me, Isabel. I want to comfort her. She has been so patient with me. I have

felt itfelt it every minute; and I have been stupid and selfish, and have forgotten that she too was

The next day it was found impossible to move. The majority of the women had husbands with the army. They

had left their wives, to secure everlasting freedom for their children; but, even if Houston was victorious, they

might be wounded and need their help. To be near them in any case was the one thing about which they were

"We will not move another inch," said a brave little Massachusetts woman, who had been the natural leader

of this domestic Exodus; "we will rest ourselves a little here, and if the Mexicans want some extraordinary

fighting they can have it; especially, if they come meddling with us or our children. My husband told me just

to get out of reach of shot and shell and wait there till we heard of the victory, and I am for doing THAT, and

Nearly two hundred women, bent upon their own way, are not to be taken any other way; and the few old

men who had been sent to guide the party, and shoot what game was necessary for their support, surrendered

at once to this feminine mutiny. Besides, the condition of the boys and girls between seven and fourteen was

really a deplorable one. They were too old to be cared for as infants, and they had been obliged, with the

strength of children, to accomplish the labor of men and women. Many were crippled in their feet, others

It was now the 20th of April. The Senora and her daughters had been six weeks with the American army,

exposed to all the privations which such a life entailed. But the most obvious of these privations were,

perhaps, those which were most easily borne. Women endure great calamities better than the little

annoyances affecting those wants which are part and parcel of their sex or their caste. It was not the

necessaries so much as the luxuries of life which the Senora missedthe changes of raimentthe

During the whole of the 20th, there was almost a Sabbath stillness. It was a warm, balmy day. The wearied

children were under the wagons and under the trees, sleeping the dead sleep of extreme exhaustion. The

mothers, wherever it was possible, slept also. The guides were a little apart, listening and smoking. If they

spoke, it was only in monosyllables. Rest was so much more needed than food that little or no attempt was

At dawn next morningnay, a little before dawnwhen all was chill, and gray, and misty, and there was

not a sound but the wailing of a sick child, the Senora touched her daughters. Her voice was strange to them;

"Antonio! Isabel! I HAVE SEEN JUAN! I HAVE SEEN JUAN! My eyes were shut, but I have seen him. He

was a beautiful shadow, with a great, shadowy host around him. He bent on me such eyes! Holy Mother!

their love was unfathomable, and I heard his voice. It was far off, yet near. `Madre!' he said, `TOMORROW

YOU SHALL HEAR FROM US.' Now I am happy. There are words in my heart, but I cannot explain them

to you. I know what they mean. I will weep no more. They put my Juan's body in the grave, but they have not

All day she was silent and full of thought, but her face was smiling and hopeful, and she had the air of one

waiting for some assured happiness. About three o'clock in the afternoon she stood up quickly and cried,

"Hark! the battle has begun!" Every one listened intently, and after a short pause the oldest of the guides

nodded. "I'd give the rest of my life to be young again," he said, "just for three hours to be young, and behind

The words fell from the Senora's lips with a singular significance. Her face and voice were the face and voice

of some glad diviner, triumphantly carrying her own augury. Under a little grove of trees she walked until

sunset, passing the beads of her rosary through her fingers, and mechanically whispering the prayers

appointed. The act undoubtedly quieted her, but Antonia knew that she lay awake all night, praying for the

About ten o'clock of the morning of the 22d, a horseman was seen coming toward the camp at full speed.

Women and children stood breathlessly waiting his approach. No one could speak. If a child moved, the

movement was angrily reproved. The tension was too great to admit of a touch through any sense. Some,

unable to bear the extended strain, sank upon the ground and covered their faces with their hands. But the

halfgrown children, wan with privations and fever, ragged and barefoot, watched steadily the horse and its

As he came near, and the beat of the horse's hoofs could be heard, a cry almost inarticulate, not to be

described, shrill and agonizing in its intensity, broke simultaneously from the anxious women. It was one cry

from many hearts, all at the last point of endurance. Thomas Worth understood it. He flung his hat up, and

When he reached the camp, every face was wet with tears, and a crowd of faces was instantly round him. All

the agonies of war were on them. He raised himself in his stirrups and shouted out:

"You may all go back to your homes! Santa Anna is completely overthrown! The Mexican army is destroyed!

There will be no more fighting, no more fears. The independence of Texas is won! No matter where you

come from, YOU ARE ALL TEXANS NOW! Victory! Freedom! Peace! My dear friends, go back to your

Then he dismounted and sought his mother and sisters. With joyful amazement he recognized the change in

the Senora. "You look like yourself, dear mother," he said. "Father sends you this kiss. He would have

brought it, but there are a few wounded men to look after; and also I can ride quicker. Antonia, cheer up my

dear!and Isabel, little darling, you will not need to cry any more for your ribbons, and mantillas, and pretty

"Thomas! You have not much feeling, I think. What I want to know about, is Luis. You think of no one; and,

as for my dresses, and mantillas, I dare say Fray Ignatius has sold, or burned them."

"Queridita! Was I cruel? Luis is well. He has not a scratch. He was in the front of the battle, too."

"THAT, of course. Would you imagine that Luis would be at the rear? He is General Houston's friend, and

"Pretty one, do not be angry with me. I will tell you some good news. Luis is coming here, unless you go

"We will go back with you, Thomas. I am full of impatience. I remember my dear home. I will go to it, like a

In half an hour they had turned the heads of their horses westward again. They went so rapidly, and were

under so much excitement, that sustained conversation was impossible. And the Senora also fell into a sound

sleep as soon as the first homeward steps had been taken. Whatever had been made known to her by Juan had

received its fulfilment. She was assured and happy. She slept till they reached the victorious camp, and her

husband awakened her with a kiss. She answered him with her old childish impulsiveness. And among the

He believed her. To his reverent soul there was nothing incredible in the statement. The tie between a mother

and her child is not broken by death. Was it unlikely, then, that Juan should have been conscious of, and

touched by, the mental agony which his untimely death had caused a mother so beloved?

And oh! how different was the return to the ground west of the Buffalo Bayou. The very atmosphere was

changed. A day or two of spring had brought out the flowers and unfolded every green thing. Doctor Worth

took his family to a fine Mexican marquee, and among other comforts the Senora found there the chocolate

just as they were sitting down to it, Luis and Lopez entered the tent together. Isabel had expected the visit and

prepared for it as far as her limited wardrobe permitted. And her fine hair, and bright eyes, her perfect face

and form, and the charming innocence of her manners, adorned her as the color and perfume of the rose make

the beauty of the flower. She was so lovely that she could dare to banter Luis on the splendor of his attire.

"It is evident, mi madre, that Luis has found at least the baggage of a majorgeneral. Such velvet and silver

embroidery! Such a silk sash! They are fit at the very least for a sultan of the Turks."

He came to her crowned with victory. Like a hero he came, and like a lover. They had a thousand pretty

things to say to each other; and a thousand blissful plans in prospect. Life to them had never before been so

Indeed, a wonderful exaltation possessed both Luis and Lopez. The sombre, handsome face of the latter was

transfigured by it. He kissed the hand of the Senora, and then turned to Antonia. Her pallor and emaciation

shocked him. He could only murmur, "Senorita!" But she saw the surprise, the sorrow, the sympathy, yes, the

adoring love in his heart, and she was thankful to him for the reticence that relieved her from special

Doctor Worth made room for Lopez beside him. Luis sat by Isabel, upon a pile of splendid military

saddlecloths. As she sipped her chocolate, he smoked his cigarito in a lazy fashion, and gave himself up

with delight to that foolishness of lovemaking which is often far wiser than the very words of wisdom.

As yet the ladies had not spoken of the battle. It was won. That great fact had been as much as they could

bear at first. The Senora wanted to sleep. Isabel wanted to see Luis. Only Antonia was anxious for the details,

and she had been busy in preparing the respectable meal which her mother had so long craved. The apparent

indifference was natural enough. The assurance of good fortune is always sufficient for the first stage of

reaction from anxiety. When the most urgent personal feelings have been satisfied, then comes the demand

"I had that great honor, Maria. Lopez and Luis were with the cavalry, and Ortiz also has had some

"Very good! But I am impatient for the story; so is Antonia; and as for Isabelbah! the little one is listening

to another story. One must excuse her. We expected the battle on the twentieth, but no!"

"The enemy were expecting it also, and were in high spirits and perfect preparation. Houston thought it

prudent to dash their enthusiasm by uncertainty and waiting. But at dawn, on the twentyfirst, we heard the

three taps of the drum, and seven hundred soldiers sprang to their feet as one man. Houston had been

watching all night. He spoke to us with a tongue of fire and then, while we cooked and ate our breakfast, he

lay down and slept. The sun came up without a cloud, and shone brightly on his face. He sprang to his feet

and said to Burleson, as he saluted him: `The sun of Austerlitz has risen again.'

"Some one brought him a piece of cornbread and broiled beef. He sat upon the grass and ate itor rather

upon the blue hyacinths that covered the grass; they are red now. For many weeks I had not seen his

countenance so bright; all traces of trouble and anxiety were gone. He called Deaf Smiththe scout of

"At nine o'clock, General Cos joined Santa Anna with five hundred and forty men, and for a moment I

thought we had made a mistake in not attacking the enemy before his reinforcements came up. But the

knowledge that Cos was present, raised enthusiasm to the highest pitch. Our troops remembered his parole at

the Alamo, and the shameful manner in which he had broken it; and there was not a man who did not long to

"About three o'clock in the afternoon, Houston ordered the attack. The seven hundred Americans were

divided into three bodies. I saw Houston in the very centre of the line, and I have a confused memory of

Milard and Lamar, Burleson and Sherman and Wharton, in front of their divisions."

"They were in perfect order, Antonia; and when Sherman shouted the battlecry: `REMEMBER THE

ALAMO! GOLIAD AND THE ALAMO!' it was taken up by the whole seven hundred, and such a shout of

vengeance mortal ears never heard before. The air was full of it, and it appeared to be echoed and repeated by

"With this shout on our lips, we advanced to within sixty paces of the Mexican lines, and then a storm of

bullets went flying over our heads. One ball, however, shattered Houston's ankle, and another struck his horse

in the breast. But both man and horse were of the finest metal, and they pressed on regardless of their

wounds. We did not answer the volley until we poured our lead into their very bosoms. No time for reloading

then. We clubbed our rifles till they broke, flung them away and fired our pistols in the eyes of the enemy;

then, nothing else remaining, took our bowieknives from our belts and cut our way through the walls of

Lopez rose at the words. It was impossible for him to express himself sufficiently in an attitude of repose. His

eyes glowed like fire, his dark face was like a flame, he threw up his hands as he cried:

"Nothing comparable to that charge with knives was ever made on earth! If I had seen through the smoke and

"Perhaps indeed, he did lead it," said the Senora, in a solemn voice. "I saw yes, by all the saints of God! I saw

a great host with my Juan. They stretched out vast, shadowy armsthey made me FEEL what I can never

tell. But I shall honor Senor Houston. I shall say to him some day. `Senor, the unseen battalionsthe mighty

dead as well as the mighty livingwon the battle.' Roberto, believe me, there are things women understand

A little awe, a solemn silence, answered the earnest woman. Luis and Isabel came close to her, and Isabel

took her hand. Lopez resumed the conversation. "I know Colonel Bowie," he said. "In the last days at San

Antonio I was often with him. Brave as a lion, true to his friends, relentless to his foes, was he. The knife he

made was the expression of his character in steel. It is a knife of extreme unctionthe oil and wafer are all

that remains for the men who feels its edge. For my part, I honor the Senora's thought. It is a great satisfaction

to me to hope that Bowie, and Crockett, and Travis, and Fannin, and all their company were present at San

"But then you are not alone in the thought, Lopez. I heard General Sherman say, `Poor Fannin! He has been

blamed for not obeying Houston's orders. I THINK HE OBEYED THEM TODAY.' At the moment I did

not comprehend; but now it is plain to me. He thought Fannin had been present, and perhaps it was this belief

made him so impetuous and invincible. He fought like a spirit; one forgot that he was flesh and blood."

"Sherman is of a grand stock," said the doctor; descended from the wise Roger Sherman; bred in

Massachusetts and trained in all the hardy virtues of her sons. It was from his lips the battlecry of

"On the contrary, Maria, they kept their ground with great courage. They were slain by hundreds just where

they stood when the battle began. Twentysix officers and nearly seven hundred men were left dead upon the

field. But the flight was still more terrible. Into the bayou horses and men rolled down together. The deep

black stream became red; it was choked up with their dead bodies, while the mire and water of the morass

"The battle began at three o'clock; but we heard the firing only for a very short time," said Antonia.

"After we reached their breastworks it lasted just eighteen minutes. At four, the whole Mexican army was

dead, or flying in every direction, and the pursuit and slaughter continued until twilight. Truly an unseen

power made all our moves for us. It was a military miracle, for our loss was only eight killed and seventeen

"His anklebone is shattered. He is suffering much. I was with him when he left the field and I was delighted

with his patience and dignity. The men crowded around him. They seized his bridle; they clasped his hands.

"`You have covered yourselves with glory,' he answered. `You have written a grand page in American history

this day, boys. For it was not for fame nor for empire you fought; but for your rights as freemen, for your

"The next moment he fell from his horse and we laid him down at the foot of an oak tree. He had fainted from

loss of blood and the agony of his wound, combined with the superhuman exertions and anxieties of the past

"Yes; I dressed the wound as well as my appliances permitted; but he will not be able to use his foot for some

time. No one slept that night. Weary as the men were, their excitement and happiness were too great for the

bonds of sleep. In the morning the rich spoils of the enemy's camp were divided among them. Houston

refused any part in them. `My share of the honor is sufficient,' he said. Yet the spoils were very valuable ones

to men who but a few hours before had nothing but the clothing they wore and the arms they carried. Among

them were nearly one thousand stand of English muskets, three hundred valuable mules, one hundred fine

horses, provisions, clothing, tents, and at least twelve thousand dollars in silver."

"I was near Houston from first to last. When he saw the battle was won, he did his best to prevent needless

slaughter. But men on a battlefield like San Jacinto cannot be reasoned with; after a certain point, they could

not even be commanded. The majority had some private revenge to satisfy after the public welfare had been

served. We met one old man in a frenzy, covered with blood from his white beard to his boots, his arms bare

"Houston looked at him, and said something about mercy and valor. `General,' he said, `they killed two of my

boys at Goliad, and my brother at the Alamo. I'll not spare a Mexican while I've the strength to kill one. I'm

on the scent for Santa Anna, and, by G, if I find him, I will spare Texas and you any more trouble with the

At this moment Thomas Worth entered the marquee, and, in an excited manner, said:

"Taken! Is it possible the wretch is yet in this world? I was assuring myself that he was in one not so

comfortable. Why is he not killed? It is an inconceivable insult to humanity to let him live. Have you thought

of your brother Juan? Give me the knife in your belt, Thomas, if you cannot use it."

"Maria, my life! Thomas could not wisely kill so important a prisoner. Texas wants him to secure her peace

and independence. The lives of all the Americans in Mexico may depend upon his. Mere personal vengeance

on him would be too dear a satisfaction. On the battlefield he might have been lawfully slainand he was

"Holy Mary! might have been slain! He ought to have been slain, a thousand times over."

"Luis, I wish that you had been a hero, and killed him. Then all our life long, if you had said, `Isabel, I slew

Santa Anna,' I should have given you honor for it. I should be obedient to your wishes for that deed."

"But my charming one, I prefer to be obedient to your wish. Let us not think of the creature; he is but a dead

"I was riding with a young lieutenant, called Sylvester, from Cincinnati, and he saw a man hiding in the

grass. He was in coarsest clothing, but Sylvester noticed under it linen of fine cambric. He said: `You are an

officer, I perceive, sir.' The man denied it, but when he could not escape, he asked to be taken to General

Houston. Sylvester tied him to his bridlerein, and we soon learned the truth; for as we passed the Mexican

prisoners they lifted their hats and said, with a murmur of amazement, `El Presidente!'

"The news spread like wildfire. As we took him through the camp he trembled at the looks and words that

assailed him, and prayed us continually, `for the love of God and the saints,' not to let him be slain. We took

him to Houston in safety. Houston was resting on the ground, having had, as my father knows, a night of

great suffering. Santa Anna approached him, and, laying his hand on his heart, said: `I am General Antonio

Lopez de Santa Anna, President of the Mexican Republic, and I claim to be your prisoner of war.' Houston

pointed to a seat, and then sent for Santa Anna's secretary, Almonte, who is also a prisoner, and who speaks

"When Almonte came, he embraced Santa Anna, and addressing Houston, said: `General, you are born to a

great destiny. You have conquered the Napoleon of the West. Generosity becomes the brave and the

"Houston answered, sternly: `You should have remembered that sentiment at the Alamo and at Goliad.'

"`I have to remind you, General Houston, of the storming of San Sebastian, Ciudad, Riego and Badajos, by

"`Permit me also to bring to your intelligence the battles at Fort Meigs and at the river Raisin. American

prisoners were there given by English officers to their Indian allies for torture and death. The English war cry

"`Sir, permit me to say, that you read history to a devilish purpose, if you read it to search after brutal

precedents. At Goliad our men surrendered. They were promised safeconduct out of Texas. The massacre at

"`It was precisely the same thing as the wholesale murder of Turkish prisoners at Jaffa by the great Napoleon.

Also I had the positive orders of my government to slay all Americans found with arms.'

"`You will at least allow that, in the eyes of recognized nations, your army was but a band of desperadoes,

"`Sir, you show a convenient ignorance. We have a government; and as soon as we can lay down our rifles,

we shall probably be able to make a flag. I say to you, President Santa Anna, that the butchery at Goliad was

without an excuse and without a parallel in civilized warfare. The men had capitulated to General Urrea.'

"`Urrea had no right to receive their capitulation.' Then his mild, handsome face became in a moment

malicious and tigerish, and he said with a cruel emphasis: `If I ever get Urrea into my hands, I will execute

him! I perceive, however, that I have never understood the American character. For the few thousands in the

country, I thought my army an overwhelming one. I underestimated their ability.'

"`I tell you, sir, an army of millions would be too small to enslave ten thousand freeborn angloAmericans.

Liberty is our birthright. We have marched four days on an ear or two of dry corn, and then fought a battle

after it'; and Houston drew from his pocket an ear, partially consumed, which had been his ration. `We have

had no tents, no music, no uniforms, no flag, nothing to stimulate us but the determination to submit to no

"Then he turned to Rusk and Sherman, and called a military counsel about the prisoner, who was placed in an

adjoining tent under a sufficient guard. But the excitement is intense; and the wretch is suffering,

undoubtedly, all the mortal terrors of being torn to pieces by an infuriated soldiery. Houston will have to

The discussion upon this event lasted until midnight. But the ladies retired to their own tent much earlier.

They knelt together in grateful prayer, and then kissed each other upon their knees. It was so sweet to lie

down once more in safety; to have the luxury of a tent, and a mattress, and pillow.

"Blessed be the hand of God! my children," said the Senora; "and may the angels give us in our dreams

And then, in the dark, Isabel nestled her head in her sister's breast, and whispered: "Forgive me for being

happy, sweet Antonia. Indeed, when I smiled on Luis, I was often thinking of you. In my joy and triumph and

love, I do not forget that one great awful grave at Goliad. But a woman must hide so many things; do you

"Querdita," she whispered, "I comprehend all. God has done right. If His angel had said to me, `One must be

taken and the other left,' I should have prayed, `Spare then my little sister all sorrow.' Goodnight, my

darling"; but as their lips met, Isabel felt upon her cheeks the bitter rain which is the price of accepted

sacrifice; the rain, which afterwards makes the heart soft, and fresh, and responsive to all the airs of God.

At the same moment, the white curtains of the marquee, in which the doctor sat talking with his son and Luis

and Lopez, were opened; and the face of Ortiz showed brown and glowing between them.

"Senors," he said, as he advanced to them, "I am satisfied. I have been appointed on the guard over Santa

Anna. He has recognized me. He has to obey my orders. Will you think of that?" Then taking the doctor's

hand he raised it to his lips. "Senor, I owe this satisfaction to you. You have made me my triumph. How shall

"I assure you that I am not so presumptuous, Senor. Mercy is the right of the Divinity. It is beyond my

capacity. Besides which, it is not likely the Divinity will trouble himself about Santa Anna. I have, therefore,

to obey the orders of the great, the illustrious Houston; which are, to prevent his escape at all risks. May St.

Then Lopez bent forward, and with a smile touched the doctor's hand. "Will you now remember the words I

said of Houston? Did I not tell you, that success was with him? that on his brow was the line of fortune? that

The vicinity of a great battlefield is a dreadful place after the lapse of a day or two. The bayou and the

morass had provided sepulture for hundreds of slain Mexicans, but hundreds still lay upon the open prairie.

Over it, birds of prey hung in dark clouds, heavywinged, sad, sombre, and silent. Nothing disturbed them.

They took no heed of the living. Armed with invincible talons and beaks tipped with iron, they carried on

ceaselessly that automatic gluttony, which made them beneficent crucibles of living fire, for all which would

otherwise have corrupted the higher life. And yet, though innocent as the elements, they were odious in the

Before daylight in the morning the Senora and her daughters were ready to begin their homeward journey.

The doctor could not accompany them, General Houston and the wounded Americans being dependent

largely upon his care and skill. But Luis Alveda and Lopez Navarro received an unlimited furlough; and

about a dozen Mexican prisoners of war belonging to San Antonio were released on Navarro's assurance, and

permitted to travel with the party as camp servants. It was likely, also, that they would be joined by a great

many of the families who had accompanied the great flight; for, on the preceding evening, Houston had

addressed the army, and told the householders and farmers to go home and plant their corn.

Full of happiness, the ladies prepared for their journey. A good army wagon, drawn by eight mules, and

another wagon, containing two tents and everything necessary for a comfortable journey, was waiting for

them. The doctor bid them goodby with smiles and cheerful promises. They were going home. The war was

over. Independence was won. They had the hope of permanent peace. The weather also was as the weather

may be among the fields of Eden. The heavens were cloudless, the air sweet and fresh, and the wild

honeysuckles, with their spread hands full of scent, perfumed the prairies mile after mile. The mules went

kneedeep through warm grasses; the grasses were like waving rainbows, with the myriads of brightly tinted

Even Lopez was radiantly happy. Most unusual smiles lighted up his handsome face, and he jingled the silver

ornaments on his bridle pleasantly to his thoughts as he cantered sometimes a little in advance of the wagon,

sometimes in the rear, occasionally by its side; then, bending forward to lift his hat to the ladies and inquire

Luis kept close to Isabel; and her lovely face and merry chatter beguiled him from all other observations. A

little before noon they halted in a beautiful wood; a tent was spread for the ladies, the animals were loosened

from their harness, and a luxurious meal laid upon the grass. Then the siesta was taken, and at three o'clock

travel was resumed until near sunset, when the camp was made for the night. The same order was followed

every day, and the journey was in every sense an easy and delightful one. The rides, cheered by pleasant

companionship, were not fatiguing; the impromptu meals were keenly relished. And there were many sweet

opportunities for little strolls in the dim green woods, and for delightful conversations, as they sat under the

stars, while the campfire blazed among the picturesque groups of Mexicans playing monte around it.

On the third afternoon, the Senora and Isabel were taking a siesta, but Antonia could not sleep. After one or

two efforts she was thoroughly aroused by the sound of voices which had been very familiar to her in the

black days of the flight those of a woman and her weary family of seven children. She had helped her in

many ways, and she still felt an interest in her welfare. It appeared now to be assured. Antonia found her

camping in a little grove of mulberry trees. She had recovered her health; her children were noisy and happy,

and her husband, a tall, athletic man, with a determined eye and very courteous manners, was unharnessing

the mules from a fine Mexican wagon; part of the lawful spoils of war. They, too, were going home: "back to

the Brazos," said the woman affectionately; and we're in a considerable hurry," she added, because it's about

time to get the corn in. Jake lays out to plant fifty acres this year. He says he can go to planting now with an

easy conscience; he 'lows he has killed enough Mexicans to keep him quiet a spell."

They talked a short time together, and then Antonia walked slowly into the deeper shadows of the wood. She

found a wide rock, under trees softly dimpling, pendulous, and tenderly green; and she sat down in the sweet

gloom, to think of the beloved dead. She had often longed for some quiet spot, where, alone with God and

nature, she could, just for once, give to her sorrow and her love a free expression.

Now the opportunity seemed to be hers. She began to recall her whole acquaintance with Daretheir hours

of pleasant studytheir sails upon the rivertheir intercourse by the firesidethe most happy Sundays,

when they walked in the house of God together. In those days, what a blessed future was before them! She

recalled also the time of hope and anxiety after the storming of the Alamo, and then the last heroic act of his

stainless life. She had felt sure that in such a session with her own soul she would find the relief of

unrestrained and unchecked weeping. But we cannot kindle when we will either the fire or the sensibility of

the soul. She could not weep; tears were far from her. Nay, more, she began to feel as if tears were not

needed for one who had found out so beautiful, so unselfish, so divine a road to the grave. Ought she not

rather to rejoice that he had been so early called and blest? To be glad for herself, too, that all her life long

In the drift of such thoughts, her white, handsome face grew almost angelic. She sat motionless and let them

come to her; as if she were listening to the comforting angels. For God has many ways of saying to the

troubled soul: "Be at peace"; and, certainly, Antonia had not anticipated the calmness and resignation which

At length, in that sweet melancholy which such a mental condition induces, she rose to return to the camp. A

few yards nearer to it she saw Lopez sitting in a reverie as profound as her own had been. He stood up to

meet her. The patience, the pathos, the exaltation in her face touched his heart as no words could have done.

"In whatever dwellingplace of eternity the dear ones who died at Goliad are, I am sure that they remember.

Will the emancipated soul be less faithful than the souls still earthbound? Good souls could not even wish to

"It will never be permitted me to know two souls more pure, more faithful, more brave, Juan was as a brother

to me, and, BY MY SANTIGUADA![6] I count it among God's blessings to have known a man like Senor

Antonia looked at him gratefully. Tears uncalledfor sprang into the eyes of both; they clasped hands and

walked mutely back to the camp together. For the sentiment which attends the realization that all is over, is

They found the camp already in that flurry of excitement always attendant upon its rest and rising, and the

"GRACIOUS MARIA! Is that you, Antonia? At this hour we are all your servants, I think. I, at least, have

been waiting upon your pleasure"; then perceiving the traces of sorrow and emotion on her face, she added,

with an unreasonable querulousness: "I bless God when I see how He has provided for women; giving them

"Dearest mother, I am sorry to have kept you waiting. I hope that you have forgotten nothing. Where is your

mantilla? And have you replenished your cigarito case? Is there water in the wagon?"

"Nothing has been provided. Things most necessary are forgotten, no doubt. When you neglect such matters,

But such little breezes of temper were soon over. The influences surrounding, the prospects in advance, were

too exhilarating to permit of anything but passing shadows, and after an easy, delightful journey, they reached

at length the charming vicinity of the romantic city of the sword. They had but another five miles ride, and it

was the Senora's pleasure to take it at the hour of midnight. She did not wish her return to be observed and

talked about; she was in reality very much mortified by the condition of her own and her daughters'

Consequently, though they made their noon camp so near to their journey's end, they rested there until San

Antonio was asleep and dreaming. It was the happiest rest of all the delightful ones they had known. The

knowledge that it was the last stage of a journey so remarkable, made every one attach a certain tender value

The Senora was gay as a child; Isabel shared and accentuated her enthusiasms; Luis was expressing his

happiness in a variety of songs; now glorifying his love in some pretty romance or serenade, again musically

assuring liberty, or Texas, that he would be delighted at any moment to lay down his life for their sakes.

Antonia was quite as much excited in her own way, which was naturally a much quieter way; and Lopez sat

under a great pecantree, smoking his cigarito with placid smiles and admiring glances at every one.

As the sun set, the full moon rose as it rises nowhere but over Texan or Asian plains; golden, glorious,

seeming to fill the whole heaven and the whole earth with an unspeakable radiance; softly glowing,

exquisitely, magically beautifying. The commonest thing under it was transfigured into something lovely,

fantastic, fairylike. And the dullest souls swelled and rose like the tides under its influence.

Antonia took from their stores the best they had, and a luxurious supper was spread upon the grass. The meal

might have been one of ten courses, it occupied so long; it provoked so much mirth, such a rippling stream of

reminiscence; finally, such a sweetly solemn retrospect of the sorrows and mercies and triumphs of the

campaign they had shared together. This latter feeling soon dominated all others.

The delicious light, the sensuous atmosphere, the white turrets and towers of the city, shining on the horizon

like some mystical, heavenly city in dreamsthe murmur of its far off life, more audible to the spiritual

than the natural earsthe dark figures of the camp servants, lying in groups or quietly shuffling their cards,

No one intended to sleep. They were to rest in the moonlight until the hour of eleven, and then make their last

stage. This night they instinctively kept close together. The Senora had mentally reached that point where it

was not unpleasant to talk over troubles, and to amplify especially her own share of them.

"But, Holy Maria!" she said; "how unnecessary are such sorrows! I am never, in the least, any better for them.

When the Divine Majesty condescends to give me the sunshine of prosperity, I am always exceedingly

religious. On the contrary when I am in sorrow, I do not feel inclined to pray. That is precisely natural. Can

the blessed Mother expect thanks, when she gives her children only suffering and tears?"

"Speak, when you have learned wisdom, Antonia. I shall always believe that trouble comes from the devil;

indeed, Fray Ignatius once told me of a holy man that had one grief upon the heels of the other, and it was the

devil who was sent with all of them. I have myself no doubt that he opened the gates of hell for Santa Anna to

"This thought makes me tremble," said Lopez; "souls that have become angelic, can become evil. The

degraded seraphim, whom we call the devil, was once the companion of archangels, and stood with Michael,

and Raphael, and Gabriel, in the presence of the Holy One. Is there sin in heaven? Can we be tempted even

The inquiry went in different ways to each heart, but no one answered it. There were even a few moments of

constrained, conscious silence, which Luis happily ended, by chanting softly a verse from the hymn of the

"'WHO LIKE THE LORD?' thunders Michael the Chief. Raphael, `THE CURE OF GOD,' bringeth relief,

And, as at Nazareth, prophet of peace, Gabriel, `THE LIGHT OF GOD,' bringeth release."

The noble syllables floated outward and upward, and Antonia and Lopez softly intoned the last line together,

"And as for trouble coming from the devil," said Lopez, "I think, Senora, that Fray Ignatius is wrong. Trouble

is not the worst thing that can come to a man or woman. On the contrary, our Lady of Prosperity is said to do,

them far greater harm. Let me repeat to you what the ever wise Don Francisco de Quevedo Villegas says

"'Where is the virtue prosperity has not staggered? Where the folly she has not augmented? She takes no

counsel, she fears no punishment. She furnishes matter for scandal, experience, and for story. How many

souls, innocent while poor, have fallen into sin and impiety as soon as they drank of the enchanted cup of

prosperity? Men that can bear prosperity, are for heaven; even wise devils leave them alone. As for the one

who persecuted and beggared job, how foolish and impertinent he was! If he had understood humanity, he

would have multiplied his riches, and possessed him of health, and honors, and pleasures: THAT is the trial it

"Oh, to be sure! Quevedo was a wise man. But even wise men don't know everything. However, WE ARE

GOING HOME! I thank the saints for this immeasurable favor. It is a prosperity that is good for women. I

will stake my Santiguida on that! And will you observe that it is Sunday again? Just before sunset I heard the

vesper bells clearly. Remember that we left San Antonio on Sunday also! I have always heard that Sunday

"Friday! Indeed, Luis, I would not have gone one hundred yards upon a Friday. How can you suppose what is

"I think much of the right hour to undertake anything," said Lopez. "The first movements are not in the hands

of men; and we are subject to more influences than we comprehend. There is a ripe time for events, as well as

for fruits: but the hour depends upon forces which we cannot control by giving to them the name of the day;

and our sage Quevedo has made a pleasant mockery thereon. It is at my lips, if your ears care to hear it."

"Quevedo, again! No, it is not proper, Senor. Every day has its duties and its favors, Senor. That man actually

said that fasting on Friday was not a special means of grace! Quevedo was almost a heretic. I have heard Fray

"Mi madre, let us hear what is to be said. Rachela told me, I must fast on a Friday, and cut my nails on a

Wednesday, and never cut them on a Sunday, and take medicine on a Monday, and look after money on

Tuesday, and pay calls and give gifts on Saturday; very well, I do not think much of Rachela; just suppose,

"`On Monday,' says the wise and witty one, buy all that you can meet with, and take all that is to be had for

nothing. On Tuesday, receive all that is given you; for it is Mar's day, and he will look on you with an ill

aspect if you refuse the first proffer and have not a second. On Wednesday, ask of all you meet; perhaps

Mercury may give some one vanity enough to grant you something. Thursday is a good day to believe

nothing that flatterers say. Friday it is well to shun creditors. On Saturday it is well to lie long abed, to walk

at your ease, to eat a good dinner, and to wear comfortable shoes; because Saturn is old, and loves his ease.'"

"Pardon, Senorita Isabel, Sunday comes not into a pasquinade. Senora, let me tell you that it draws near to

eleven. If we leave now we shall reach San Antonio in time to say the prayer of gratitude before the blessed

"Holy Mary! that is what I should desire. Come, my children; I thank you, Senor, for such a blessed memory.

A slight disappointment, however, awaited the Senora. Without asking any questions, without taking

anything into consideration, perhaps, indeed, because she feared to ask or consider, she had assumed that she

would immediately reenter her own home. With the unreason of a child, she had insisted upon expecting

that somehow, or by some not explained efforts, she would find her house precisely as she left it. Little had

been said of its occupancy by Fray Ignatius and his brothers; perhaps she did not quite believe in the

statement; perhaps she expected Fray Ignatius to respect the arrangements which he knew had been so dear to

It was therefore a trialindeed, something of a shockwhen she found they were to be the guests of

Navarro, and when it was made clear to her that her own home had been dismantled and rearranged and was

still in the possession of the Church. But, with a child's unreason, she had also a sweet ductility of nature; she

was easily persuaded, easily pleased, and quite ready to console herself with the assurance that it only needed

Doctor Worth's presence and personal influence to drive away all intruders upon her rights.

In the mean time she was contented. The finest goods in San Antonio were sent early on the following

morning to her room; and the selection of three entire wardrobes gave her abundance of delightful

employment. She almost wept with joy as she passed the fine lawns and rich silks through her worn fingers.

And when she could cast off forever her garment of heaviness and of weariful wanderings, and array herself

in the splendid robes which she wore with such grace and pleasure, she was an honestly grateful woman.

Then she permitted Lopez to let her old acquaintances know of her presence in her native city; and she was

comforted when she began to receive calls from the Senora Alveda, and judge and Senora Valdez, and many

other of her friends and associates. They encouraged her to talk of her sufferings and her great loss. Even the

judge thought it worth his while, now, to conciliate the simple little woman. He had wisdom enough to

perceive that Mexican domination was over, and that the American influence of Doctor Worth was likely to

The Senora found herself a heroine; more than that, she became aware that for some reason those who had

once patronized her were now disposed to pay her a kind of court. But this did not lessen her satisfaction; she

suspected no motive but real kindness, for she had that innate rectitude which has always confidence in the

There was now full reconciliation between Luis and his mother and uncles; and his betrothal to Isabel was

acknowledged with all the customary rejoicings and complimentary calls and receptions. Life quickly began

to fall back into its well defined grooves; if there was anything unusual, every one made an effort to pass it

by without notice. The city was conspicuously in this mind. American rule was accepted in the quiescent

temper with which men and women accept weather which may or may not be agreeable, but which is known

to be unavoidable. Americans were coming by hundreds and by thousands: and those Mexicans who could

not make up their minds to become Texans, and to assimilate with the new elements sure to predominate,

were quietly breaking up their homes and transferring their interests across the Rio Grande.

They were not missed, even for a day. Some American was ready to step into their place, and the pushing,

progressive spirit of the race was soon evident in the hearty way with which they set to work, not only to

repair what war had destroyed, but to inaugurate those movements which are always among their first

necessities. Ministers, physicians, teachers, mechanics of all kinds, were soon at work; churches were built,

Bibles were publicly sold, or given away; schools were advertised; the city was changing its tone as easily as

a woman changes the fashion of her dress. Santa Anna had said truly enough to Houston, that the Texans had

no flag to fight under; but the young Republic very soon flung her ensign out among those of the gray nations

of the world. It floated above the twice glorious Alamo: a bright blue standard, with one white star in the

centre. It was run up at sunrise one morning. The city was watching for it; and when it suddenly flew out in

their sight, it was greeted with the most triumphant enthusiasm. The lonely star in its field of blue touched

every heart's chivalry. It said to them, I stand alone! I have no sister states to encourage and help me! I rely

only on the brave hearts and strong arms that I set me here!" And they answered the silent appeal with a cheer

that promised everything; with a love that even then began to wonder if there were not a place for such a

glorious star in the grand constellation under which most of them had been born.

A short time after their return, the Senora had a letter from her husband, saying that he was going to New

Orleans with General Houston, whose wound was in a dangerous condition. Thomas Worth had been

appointed to an important post in the civil government; and his labors, like those of all the public men of

Texas at that date, were continuous and Herculean. It was impossible for him to leave them; but the doctor

assured his wife that he would return as soon as he had placed Houston in the hands of skilful surgeons; and

She was quite willing to obey the request. Not naturally inclined to worry, she found many sources of content

and pleasure, until the early days of June brought back to her the husband she so truly loved, and with him the

promise of a return to her own home. Indeed the difficulties in the way of this return had vanished ere they

were to meet. Fray Ignatius had convinced himself that his short lease had fully expired; and when Dr. Worth

went armed with the legal process necessary to resume his rights, he found his enemy had already

surrendered them. The house was empty. Nothing of its old splendor remained. Every one of its properties

had been scattered. The poor Senora walked through the desolate rooms with a heartache.

"It was precisely in this spot that the sideboard stood, Roberto!the sideboard that my cousin Johar

presented to me. It came from the City of Mexico, and there was not another like it. I shall regret it all my

"Maria, my dearest, it might have been worse. The silver which adorned it is safe. Those rmonks did not

find out its hidingplace, and I bought you a far more beautiful sideboard in New Orleans; the very newest

"Roberto! Roberto! How happy you make me! To be sure my cousin Johar's sideboard was already

shabbyand to have a sideboard from New Orleans, that, indeed, is something to talk about!"

"Besides, which, dearest one, I bought new furniture for the parlors, and for your own apartments; also for

Antonia's and Isabel's rooms. Indeed, Maria, I thought it best to provide afresh for the whole house."

"How wonderful! No wife in San Antonio has a husband so good. I will never condescend to speak of you

when other women talk of their husbands. New furniture for my whole house! The thing is inconceivably

charming. But when, Roberto, will these things arrive? Is there danger on the road they are coming? Might

not some one take them away? I shall not be able to sleep until I am sure they are safe."

"I chartered a schooner in New Orleans, and came with them to the Bay of Espiritu Santo. There I saw them

placed upon wagons, and only left them after the customs had been paid in the interiorsixty miles away.

You may hire servants at once to prepare the rooms: the furniture will be here in about three days."

"I am the happiest woman in the world, Roberto! "And she really felt herself to be so. Thoughtful love could

have devised nothing more likely to bridge pleasantly and surely over the transition between the past and the

coming life. Every fresh piece of furniture unpacked was a new wonder and a new delight. With her satin

skirts tucked daintily clear of soil, and her mantilla wrapped around her head and shoulders, she went from

room to room, interesting herself in every strip of carpet, and every yard of drapery. Her delight was

infectious. The doctor smiled to find himself comparing shades, and gravely considering the arrangement of

But how was it possible for so loving a husband and father to avoid sharing the pleasure he had provided?

And Isabel was even more excited than her mother. All this grandeur had a double meaning to her; it would

reflect honor upon the betrothal receptions which would be given for Luis and herself"amber satin and

white lace is exactly what I should have desired, Antonia," she said delightedly. "How exceedingly suitable it

will be to me! And those delicious chintzes and dimities for our bedrooms! Did you ever conceive of things

Antonia was quite ready to echo her delight. Housekeeping and homemaking, in all its ways, was her lovable

talent. It was really Antonia who saw all the plans and the desires of the Senora thoroughly carried out. It was

her clever fingers and natural taste which gave to every room that air of comfort and refinement which all felt

On the fourth of July the doctor and his family ate together their first dinner in their renovated home. The day

was one that he never forgot, and he was glad to link it with a domestic occurence so happy and so fortunate.

Sometimes silently, sometimes with a few words to his boys, he had always, on this festival, drank his glass

of fine Xeres to the honor and glory of the land he loved. This day he spoke her name proudly. He recalled

the wonders of her past progress; he anticipated the blessings which she would bring to Texas; he said, as he

lifted the glass in his hand, and let the happy tears flow down his browned and thinned face:

"My wife and daughters, I believe I shall live to see the lone star set in the glorious assemblage of her sister

stars! I shall live to say, I dwell in San Antonio, which is the loveliest city in the loveliest State of the

American Union. For, dear ones, I was born an American citizen, and I ask this favor of God, that I may also

"MI ROBERTO, when you die I shall not long survive you. And now that the house is made so beautiful!

"And, my dear father, remember how you have toiled and suffered for THE INDEPENDENCE OF TEXAS."

"Because, Antonia, I would have Texas go free into a union of free States. This was the hope of Houston.

`We can have help,' he often said to his little army; "a word will call help from Nacogdoches,but we will

emancipate ourselves. If we go into the American States, we will go as equals; we will go as men who have

As the years go on they bring many changeschanges that come as naturally as the seasonsthat tend as

naturally to anticipated growth and decaythat scarcely startle the subjects of them, till a lengthenedout

period of time discloses their vitality and extent. Between the ages of twenty and thirty, ten years do not seem

very destructive to life. The woman at eighteen, and twentyeight, if changed, is usually ripened and

improved; the man at thirty, finer and more mature than he was at twenty. But when this same period is

placed to women and men who are either approaching fifty, or have passed it, the change is distinctly felt.

It was even confessed by the Senora one exquisite morning in the beginning of March, though the sun was

shining warmly, and the flowers blooming, and the birds singing, and all nature rejoicing, as though it was

"I am far from being as gay and strong as I wish to be, Roberto," she, said; "and today, consider what a

company there is coming! And if General Houston is to be added to it, I shall be as weary as I shall be

"SAN BLAS! That is how you talk! But is, it possible to receive him like a common mortal? He is a hero,

"Servants! Bah! Of what use are they, Roberto, since they also have got hold of American ideas?"

"Let me only enumerate to you, Roberto. Thomas and his wife and four children arrived last night. You may

at this moment hear the little Maria crying. I dare say Pepita is washing the child, and using soap which is

very disagreeable. I have always admired the wife of Thomas, but I think she is too fond of her own way with

"Well, well, we must remember that Abbie is a little Puritan. She believes in bringing up children strictly, and

"God be blessed! Isabel's boys are entirely charming. They have been corrected at my own knee. There are

"She is already an angel. Ah, Roberto! If I had only died when I was as innocent as that dear one!"

"I am thankful you did not die, Maria. How dark my life would have been without you!"

"Beloved, then I am glad I am not in the kingdom of heaven; though, if one dies like Christina, one escapes

purgatory. Roberto, when I rise I am very stiff: I think, indeed, I have some rheumatism."

"Let that be confessed; but the good God knows that I lost all my youth in that awful flight of 'thirtysix."

"Maria, we all left or lost something on that dark journey. Today, we shall recover its full value."

"To be surethat is what is saidwe shall see. Will you now send Dolores to me? I must arrange my toilet

with some haste; and tell me, Roberto, what dress is your preference; it is your eyes, beloved, I wish to

Robert Worth was not too old to feel charmed and touched by the compliment. And he was not a thoughtless

or churlish husband; he knew how to repay such a wifely compliment, and it was a pleasant sight to see the

aged companions standing hand in hand before the handsome suits which Dolores had spread out for her

He looked at the purple and the black and the white robes, and then he looked at the face beside him. It was

faded, and had lost its oval shape; but its coloring was yet beautiful, and the large, dark eyes tender and bright

below the snowwhite hair. After a few minutes' consideration, he touched, gently, a robe of white satin. "Put

this on, Maria," he said, "and your white mantilla, and your best jewels. The occasion will excuse the utmost

The choice delighted her. She had really wished to wear it, and some one's judgment to endorse her own

inclinations was all that was necessary to confirm her wish. Dolores found her in the most delightful temper.

She sat before the glass, smiling and talking, while her maid piled high the snowy plaits and curls and

crowned them with the jewelled comb, only worn on very great festivals. Her form was still good, and the

white satin fell gracefully from her throat to her small feet. Besides, whatever of loss or gain had marred her

once fine proportions, was entirely concealed by the beautifying, graceful, veiling folds of her mantilla. There

was the flash of diamonds, and the moonlight glimmer of pearls beneath this flimsy covering; and at her belt

a few white lilies. She was exceedingly pleased with her own appearance, and her satisfaction gave an ease

"By Maria's grace, I am a very pretty old lady," she said to herself; "and I think I shall I astonish my

daughterinlaw a little. One is afraid of these calm, cool, northern women, but I feel today that even Abbie

Indeed, her entrance into the large parlor made quite a sensation. She could see the quiet pleasure in her

husband's face; and her son Thomas, after one glance, put down the child on his knee, and went to meet her.

"Mi madre," he whispered with a kiss. He had not used the pretty Spanish word for years, but in the sudden

rush of admiring tenderness, his boyish heart came back to him, and quite unconsciously he used his

boyhood's speech. After this, she was not the least in awe of her wise daughterinlaw. She touched her

cheek kindly, and asked her about the children, and was immeasurably delighted when Abbie said: "How

beautiful you are today! I wish I had your likeness to send to Boston. Robert, come here and look at your

grandmother! I want you to remember, as long as you live, how grandmother looks today." And Roberta

fine lad eight years old, accustomed to implicit obedience put down the book he was reading, planted

himself squarely before the Senora, and looked at her attentively, as if she was a lesson to be learned.

"I am glad I have such a pretty grandmother. Will you let me stand on tiptoes and kiss you?" and the cool,

calm northern woman's eyes filled with tears, as she brought her younger children, one by one, for the

Senora's caress. The doctor and his son watched this pretty domestic drama with hearts full of pride and

happiness; and before it had lost one particle of its beauty and feeling, the door was flung open with a vigor

which made every one turn to it with expectation. A splendid little lad sprang in, and without any

consideration for satin and lace, clung to the Senora. He was her image: a true Yturbide, young as he was;

Isabel and Luis followed; Isabel more lovely than ever, richly dressed in American fashion, full of pretty

enthusiasms, vivacious, charming, and quite at her ease. She had been married eight years. She was a

Luis also was wonderfully improved. The lighthearted gaiety, which ten years ago had bubbled over in

continual song, was still there; but it was under control, evident only because it made perpetual sunshine on

his face. He had taken the doctor's advicecompleted his study of English and Mexican lawand become a

famous referee in cases of disputed Mexican claims and title deeds. His elegant form and handsome, olive

face looked less picturesque in the dull, uncompromising stiffness of broadcloth, cut into those peculiarly

unbecoming fashions of ugliness which the angloSaxon and angloAmerican affect. But it gained by the

change a certain air of reliability and importance; an air not to be dispensed with in a young lawyer already

"We called upon Antonia," said Isabel, "as we came here. Of course she was engaged with Lopez. They were

reading a book together; and even on such a day as this were taking, with the most blessed indifference, a

minute at a time. They will join us on the Plaza. I represented to them that they might miss a good position.

`That has been already secured,' said Lopez, with that exasperating repose which only the saints could endure

with patience. For that reason, I consider Antonia a saint to permit it. As for me, I should say: `The house is

on fire, Lopez! Will it please you for once to feel a little excited?' Luis says they read, continually, books

which make people think of great solemnities and responsibilities. How foolish, when they are so rich, and

"Here are the carriages," cried Thomas Worth, "and the ceremony of today has its own hour. It will never

"Your mother and I will go first, Thomas; and we will take Abbie and your eldest son. I shall see you in your

place. Luis, bring your boy with you; he has intelligence and will remember the man he will see today, and

On the Plaza, close to the gates of the Alamo, a rostrum had been erected; and around it were a few stands,

set apart for the carriages of the most illustrious of the families of San Antonio. The Senora, from the shaded

depths of her own, watched their arrival. Nothing could be more characteristic than the approach of her

daughters. Antonia and Lopez, stately and handsome, came slowly; their highstepping horses chafing at the

irrestraint. Luis and Isabel drove to their appointed place with a speed and clatter, accentuated by the jingling

of the silver rings of the harness and the silver hanging buttons on the gay dress of the Mexican driver. But

the occupants of both carriages appeared to be great favorites with the populace who thronged the Plaza, the

windows, the flat roofs of the houses, and every available place for hearing and seeing.

The blue flag of Texas fluttered gayly over the lovely city; and there was a salvo of cannon; then, into the

sunshine and into the sight of all stepped the man of his generation. Nature has her royal line, and she makes

no mistakes in the kings she crowns. The physical charm of Houston was at this time very great. His tall,

ample, dignified form attracted attention at once. His eyes penetrated the souls of all upon whom they fell.

His lips were touched with fire, and his words thrilled and swayed men, as the wind sways the heavy heads in

He stretched out his arms to the people, and they stretched out their arms to him. The magnetic chain of

sympathy was complete. The hearts of his listeners were an instrument, on which he played the noblest, most

inspiring, the sweetest of melodies. He kindled them as flame kindles dry grass. He showed them their future

with a prophet's eye, and touched them also with the glad diviner's rapture. They aspired, they rejoiced at his

"Whatever State gave us birth, we have one native land and we have one flag!" Instantly from the grim,

bloodstained walls of the fortress, the blessed Stars and Stripes flew out; and in a moment a thousand

smaller flags, from every high place, gave it salutation. Then the thunder of cannon was answered by the

thunder of voices. Cannon may thunder and make no impression; but the shout of humanity! It stirs and

troubles the deepest heartstream. It is a cry that cannot be resisted. It sets the gates of feeling wide open.

"I look in this glorious sunshine upon the bloody walls of the Alamo. I remember Goliad. I carry my memory

back over the long struggle of thirty years. Do you think the young, brave souls, fired with the love of liberty,

who fell in this long conflict have forgotten it? No! No! No! Wherever in God's Eternity they are this day, I

believe they are permitted to know that Texas has become part of their country, and rests forever under the

flag they loved. The shouting thousands, the booming cannon, that greeted this flag were not all the sounds I

heard! Far off, far off, yet louder than any noise of earth, I heard from the dead years, and the dead heroes of

"It was like Houston to call the dead to the triumph," said the doctor, as he stood with the Senora in her room.

"He is a man by himself, and none like him. I thought that I should never forgive him for sparing the life of

that monsterSanta Anna; but today I forgive him even that. I am so happy that I shall ask Holy Maria to

excuse me the feeling; for it is not good to permit one's self to be too happy; it brings trouble. But indeed,

when I looked at Thomas, I thought how wisely he has married. It is seldom a mother can approve of her

daughterinlaw; but Abbie has many excellenciesgood manners, and a good heart, and a fortune which is

"And strong principles also, Maria. She will bring up her children to know right and wrong, and to do right."

"THAT of course. Every good mother does that. I am sure it is a sight for the angels to see Isabel teaching her

children their prayers. Did you observe also how great a favorite Luis is? He lifted his hat to this one and that

"But, then, a very happy dreamer." Perhaps to dream well and pleasantly is to live a better life. Antonia is

devoted to him. She has a blessed lot. Once I did not think she would be so fortunate."

"Prudent! Patient! It is a miracle to me! I assure you, they even talk together of young Senor Grant! It is

"That is understood. When I spoke last to him, I was a woman brokenhearted. Tonight I will thank him for

all that he has done. Ah, Roberto! His words today went to my, soulI thought of my JuanI thought of

the vision he showed meI wondered if he knewif he sawand heard" she leaned her head upon her

"He was God's greatest gift to us. Maria! dear. Maria! I love you for, all the children you have given me;