“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 to-night; and I was so happy as to persuade General Burleson to send me. The Holy Lady has given me my reward.”
“Have you seen the Senor Doctor lately; Luis,” asked the Senora.
“I left him at nightfall.”
“At nightfall! But that is impossible!”
“It is true. The army of the Americans is but a few miles from San Antonio.”
“Grace of God! Luis!”
“As you say, Senora. It is the grace of God. Did you not know?”
“We know nothing but what Fray Ignatius tells us—that the Americans have been everywhere pulling down churches, and granting martyrdom to the priests, and that everywhere miraculous retributions have pursued them.”
“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 rifle-shots 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 camp-fire, 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 soldier is he!”
“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 from—well, then, I have forgotten the place.”