"It's Congressional for a conference. Don't mind these parliamentary expressions of mine, Mr. Panther. They give me pleasure an' they hurt nobody."
They reached the Tennesseans without interruption, and the Panther quickly laid his plan before them. They would advance within a quarter of a mile of the cabin, tie their horses in the thickest of the brush, leave four men to guard them, then the rest would go forward to help the besieged.
Crockett's eyes twinkled when the Panther announced the campaign in a few words.
"Very good; very good," he said. "A steering committee could not have done better. That also is parliamentary, but I think you understand it."
They heard detached shots again and then a long yell.
"They're Comanches," said the Panther. "I know their cry, an' I guess there's a lot of them."
Ned hoped that the shout did not mean the achieving of some triumph. They reached presently a dense growth of brush, and there the horses were tied. Four reluctant Tennesseans remained with them and the rest crept forward. They did not hear any shot after they left the horses until they were within three hundred yards of the house. Then an apparition caused all to stop simultaneously.
A streak of flame shot above the trees, curved and fell. It was followed by another and another. Ned was puzzled, but the Panther laughed low.
"This can't be fireworks on election night," said Davy Crockett. "It seems hardly the place for such a display."