"You forget one thing, my dear," interposed the captain.
"And what is that?" questioned Mrs. Foster.
"You forget the Mexican rebels."
"Those barefooted, half-starved ragamuffins!" cried Mrs. Foster. "They can have nothing to do with our plans here at the post."
"On the contrary, they may be mischievous enough to upset the whole routine of garrison life. You have read something about the Mexican rebels, Mr. Overton?"
"I have seen a few paragraphs in the newspaper, sir," Hal answered. "Enough to know that some pretender in the country across the border is trying to upset the present government in his own interests."
"What do you think, Overton, about the chances of that rebellion?"
"As far, sir, as I have been able to form any opinion from the press accounts, it seems that only a few hundred of the rebels are in the field, and that they are spending most of their time in running away from the troops of the Mexican government."
"Ah, but the fact that the rebels are in the field, instead of in their graves, shows that their movement possesses some stability," replied Captain Foster. "The fact is that other Mexicans over here on the Texas side are organizing to go to the aid of the rebels just across the Rio Grande. Our government has information that the Mexican sympathizers in this state have secured a good many stands of rifles and a considerable supply of ammunition, and are watching their chance to slip over the border into Mexico with their war supplies. Now, the few hundred rebels at present in the field in Mexico may be joined by enough more Mexicans from this side to make an army of two or three thousand men. If so many get together under the standard of the rebel leader, then more thousands will flock in answer to the call. The rebel army may be ten thousand strong next week, and twenty thousand the week after."
"But surely," interposed Mrs. Foster, "this government will not allow the Mexican rebels on this side of the river to take their war supplies across the river into Mexico?"