"How many men may we number, Mañuel, and think you the chances are for us?"
"By the blessed Virgin, if we were not ten to five Mañuel Nevarro would not eat his tortilla in peace. The Captain says we will scatter them like pecans in a high wind."
"What bone is there to fight for at Gonzales?"
"Cannon, Inez, cannon. Don't you know we sent a thousand men to bring it here, and the white rascal sent five hundred to keep it there. By the Virgin, we will see who gets it!"
"Holy Mother protect us! Mañuel, take care of yourself, man, and rush not into danger. It will profit you little that we have many men, if some strong arm tells your length on the sward."
"Never fear, Inez—never fear. We must not stop till every American turns his back on the Alamo, and his face to the East."
"But you will not harm those that live here in peace with all men?"
"The Padre told our General, yesterday, that we must fight till all submitted, or the last American child was driven to the far bank of the Sabine."
Inez laid her hand on his arm, and looking him full in the face, asked, in a low tone—"Mañuel, would you help to drive Mary from her home among us? She who nursed me in sickness, and bound the white bread to your bleeding arm, and made the tea for my dying mother, when none other came to help? Mañuel! Mañuel! she is alone in the world, with only her cousin. Spare Mary in her little home; she hurts none, but makes many to die in peace."
Mañuel's face softened somewhat, but he replied in the same determined tone—"The Padre says she is an accursed heretic, and he will not rest till she is far away. But I tell you now, Inez, she will not be harmed; for he said he would see that she was protected, and would himself take her to a place of safety. He said she had been kind to our people, and none should molest her or her cousin; but leave all to him."