“We made ’em leg it—you ought to’ve seen ’em leg it!” jubilated Leo. “Ten of ’em, only three miles from this camp. The lieutenant ’lowed ’em to think they were chasing us back, till they were in about five rods of us, and then we turned to let ’em have it, and you ought to’ve seen ’em leg it. They legged it so smart they didn’t take time to aim, and shot by pointing their guns over their shoulders. We chased ’em two miles and then we quit.”
“If four Texans can lick ten Mexican regulars that easy,” quoth Jim, scornfully, “I rather guess we won’t have much trouble cleaning out Bejar.”
“Maybe we won’t have to clean it out,” proposed Jim. “Did you know we’ve sent a message by a paisano to Cos, asking whether he’ll respect a flag of truce for a parley?”
“Who wants to parley?” demanded Leo, hotly. “What about?”
“There was a council of war at headquarters, anyway,” pursued Jim. “I got that straight. And the council decided we ought to try to make it clear to Cos just why Texas is fighting. When he understands that all we’re after is our rights under the republic he might agree to quit with us till we could treat with Santa Anna. I reckon General Austin’d rather save Texas by peace than by war, of course. It’d mean a lot of lives.”
“Suppose so,” admitted Leo. “The men here in this very camp are the best crop in Texas, so far. All right; let ’em parley, if they can. We’ll be getting reinforcements all the time, anyway. Ugartechea might agree to a talk—he’s white, for a Mexican—but Cos never will. You’ll see.”
And General Cos didn’t. He sent back word that he would respect no flag of truce from “rebels.” This reply was worth a hundred men, it made the little army so indignant and determined.
Captains Allen and Benjamin Fort Smith marched into camp with their detachment from Victoria and Goliad way, and with the supplies and munitions captured by Captain Collingsworth at Goliad. Among other things, they brought along the six-pounder brass cannon, so that now the army had a battery of two.
The muskets were distributed to the men who needed them; and late that afternoon advance was resumed in earnest, for the Salado Creek, which was only five miles from Bejar.
When they went into camp, after the first stretch, Colonel Jim Bowie rode in! He had got out of San Antonio just in time. Glad indeed were the army to see Jim Bowie. He reported that the Mexican troops were fortifying the town—had built walls across the streets leading into the two plazas or squares, so that these were now enclosed entirely; had mounted cannon behind these walls and on the flat tops of the stone houses; and were making ready to repel all attacks. The old mission of the Alamo, surrounded by a high, thick wall, across the San Antonio River, just outside of the town, also was well garrisoned. And reinforcements had been received, and Colonel Ugartechea was about to be sent after more reinforcements.