"What is the news in the capital?" asked Ned.
Benito pondered his reply.
"The President, the protector of us all, the great General Santa Anna, grows more angry at the Texans, the wild Americans who have come into the wilderness of the far North," he replied. "They talk of an army going soon against them, and they talk, too, of a daring escape."
He paused and contemplatively lit a cigarrito.
"What was the escape?" asked Ned, the pulse in his wrist beginning to beat hard.
"One of the Texans, whom the great Santa Anna holds, but a boy they say he was, though fierce, slipped between the bars of his window and is gone. They wish to get him back; they are anxious to take him again for reasons that are too much for Benito."
"Do you think they will find him?"
"How do I know? But they say he is yet in the capital, and there is a reward of one hundred good Spanish dollars for the one who will bring him in, or who will tell where he is to be found."
Benito quietly puffed at his cigarrito and Juana, the cooking being over, threw ashes on the coals.
"If he is still hiding within reach of Santa Anna's arm," said Ned, "somebody is sure to betray him for the reward."