UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME. 
 BY THE SAME AUTHORESS. 
 
 A Daughter of Fife. 
 
 The Bow of Orange Ribbon. 
 
 Between Two Loves. 
 
 She Loved a Sailor. 
 

 
 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
COPYRIGHT. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH 
 MESSRS. JAMES CLARKB & Co. 
 
WOVEN OF LOVE 
 AND GLORY. 
 
 BY 
 
 AMELIA E. BARR, 
 
 Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon" "Between 
 Two Loves" 6*c., &c. 
 
 LONDON : 
 FREDERICK WARNE AND CO., 
 
 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 tA.CZ 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS, i 
 CHAPTER II. ANTONIA AND ISABEL, - 14 
 CHAPTER III. BUILDERS OF THE COMMON- 
 WEALTH, - 3 1 
 
 CHAPTER IV. THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE, 52 
 
 CHAPTER V. A FAMOUS BARBECUE, - - 85 
 
 CHAPTER VI. ROBERT WORTH is DISARMED, 113 
 
 CHAPTER VII. A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT, - 140 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. MOTHER AND PRIEST, 165 
 
 CHAPTER IX. THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO, 185 
 
 CHAPTER X. THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST, 206 
 
 CHAPTER XI. A HAPPY TRUCE, - - - 227 
 
 CHAPTER XII. DANGER AND HELP, - , - 252 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA, - 282 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. FALL OF THE ALAMO, - 303 
 
 CHAPTER XV. GOLIAD, - - - - - 33 
 CHAPTER XVI. THE LOADSTONE IN THE 
 
 BREAST, 353 
 
 CHRPTER XVII. HOME AGAIN, - - - 39 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. UNDER ONE FLAG, - - 41? 
 
 M705G74 
 
 > 
 
WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 " What, are you stepping westward ? " " Yea." 
 
 * # * * * 
 
 Yet who would stop or fear to advance, 
 Though home or shelter there was none, 
 With such a sky to lead him on ! " 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 " Ah ! cool night wind, tremulous stars, 
 Ah ! glimmering water, 
 Fitful earth murmur, 
 Dreaming woods ! " ARNOLD. 
 
 IN A. D. sixteen hundred and ninety-two, 
 a few Franciscan monks began to build 
 a city. The site chosen was a lovely wilder- 
 ness huhdreds of miles away from civiliza- 
 tion on every side, and surrounded by sav- 
 age and warlike tribes. But the spot was 
 as beautiful as the garden of God. It was 
 shielded by picturesque mountains, watered by 
 two rivers, carpeted with flowers innumerable, 
 
a WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 shaded by noble trees, joyful with the notes of 
 a multitude of singing birds. To breathe the 
 balmy atmosphere was to be conscious of some 
 rarer and finer life, and the beauty of the 
 sunny skies marvellous at dawn and eve with 
 tints of saffron and amethyst and opal was 
 like a dream of heaven. 
 
 One of the rivers was fed by a hundred 
 springs situated in the midst of charming bow- 
 ers. The monks called it the San Antonio ; 
 and on its banks they built three noble Mis- 
 sions. The shining white stone of the neigh- 
 borhood rose in graceful domes and spires 
 above the green trees. Sculptures, basso- 
 . os, and lines of gorgeous coloring adorned 
 the exteriors. Within, were splendid altars 
 and the appealing charms of incense, fine ves- 
 and fine music ; while from the belfreys, 
 bells sweet and resonant called to the savages, 
 who spell-bound and half-afraid to 
 
 lainly these priests had to fight as well as 
 to pray. The Indians did not suffer them to 
 >n of their Eden without passion- 
 ate and practical protest. But what the monks 
 had taken, they kept; and the fort and the 
 
THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS. 3 
 
 soldier followed the priest and the Cross. Ere 
 long, the beautiful Mission became a beautiful 
 city, about which a sort of fame full of romance 
 and mystery gathered. Throughout the south 
 and west, up the great highway of the Missis- 
 sippi, on the busy streets of New York, and 
 among the silent hills of New England, men 
 spoke of San Antonio, as in the seventeenth 
 century they spoke of Peru ; as in the eight- 
 eenth century they spoke of Delhi, and Agra, 
 and the Great Mogul. 
 
 Sanguine French traders carried thither rich 
 ventures in fancy wares from New Orleans ; 
 and Spanish dons from the wealthy cities of 
 Central Mexico, and from the splendid homes 
 of Chihuahua, came there to buy. And from 
 the villages of Connecticut, and the woods of 
 Tennessee, and the lagoons of Mississippi, ad- 
 venturous Americans entered the Texan terri- 
 tory at Nacogdoches. They went through the 
 land, buying horses and lending their ready 
 rifles and stout hearts to every effort of that 
 constantly increasing body of Texans, who, 
 even in their swaddling bands, had begun to 
 cry Freedom ! 
 
 At length this cry became a clamor that 
 
4 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 shook even the old viceroyal palace in Mexico ; 
 while in San Antonio it gave a certain pitch 
 to all conversation, and made men wear their 
 cloaks, and set their beavers, and display their 
 arms, with that demonstrative air of independ- 
 ence they called los Americano. For, though 
 the Americans were numerically few, they were 
 like the pinch of salt in a pottage they gave 
 the snap and savor to the whole community. 
 
 Over this Franciscan-Moorish city the sun 
 set with an incomparable glory one evening 
 in May, eighteen thirty-five. The white, flat- 
 roofed, terraced houses each one in its 
 flowery court and the domes and spires of 
 the Missions, with their gilded crosses, had a 
 mirage-like beauty in the rare, soft atmosphere, 
 as if a dream of Old Spain had been material- 
 ized in a wilderness of the New World. 
 
 But human life in all its essentials was in 
 San Antonio, as it was and has been in all 
 other cities since the world began. Women 
 were in their homes, dressing and cooking, 
 nursing their children and dreaming of their 
 lovers. Men were in the market-places, buy- 
 ing and selling, talking of politics and antici- 
 pating war. And yet in spite of these fixed 
 
THE CITY 2N THE WILDERNESS. 5 
 
 attributes, San Antonio was a city penetrated 
 with romantic elements, and constantly pic- 
 turesque. 
 
 On this evening, as the hour of the Angelus 
 
 ' approached, the narrow streets and the great 
 squares were crowded with a humanity that 
 assaulted and captured the senses at once ; so 
 vivid and so various were its component parts. 
 A tall sinewy American with a rifle across his 
 shoulder was paying some money to a Mexican 
 in blue velvet and red silk, whose breast was 
 covered with little silver images of his favorite 
 saints. A party of Mexican officers were 
 strolling to the Alamo ; some in white linen 
 and scarlet sashes, others glittering with color 
 and golden ornaments. Side by side with 
 these were monks of various orders: the 
 Franciscan in his blue gown and large white 
 hat ; the Capuchin in his brown serge ; the 
 Brother of Mercy in his white flowing robes, 
 
 ' Add to these diversities, Indian peons in 
 ancient sandals, women dressed as in the days 
 of Cortez and Pizarro, Mexican vendors of 
 every kind, Jewish traders, negro servants, 
 rancheros curvetting on their horses, Apache 
 and Comanche braves on spying expeditions ; 
 
6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 and, in this various crowd, yet by no means of 
 it, small groups of Americans ; watchful, silent, 
 armed to the teeth : and the mind may catch 
 a glimpse of what the streets of San Antonio 
 were in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred 
 and thirty-five. 
 
 It was just before sunset that the city was 
 always at its gayest point. Yet, at the first 
 toll of the Angelus, a silence like that of en- 
 chantment fell upon it. As a mother cries 
 hush to a noisy child, so the angel of the city 
 seemed in this evening bell to bespeak a 
 minute for holy thought. It was only a 
 minute, for with the last note there was even 
 an access of tumult. The doors and windows 
 of the better houses were thrown open, ladies 
 began to appear on the balconies, there was a 
 sound of laughter and merry greetings, and 
 the tiny cloud of the cigarette in every direc- 
 
 . 
 
 But amid this sunset glamour of splendid 
 color, of velvet, and silk, and gold embroidery, 
 the man who would have certainly first at- 
 tracted a stranger's eye wore the plain and ugly 
 costume common at that day to all American 
 gentlemen. Only black cloth and white linen 
 
THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS. 7 
 
 and a low palmetto hat with a black ribbon 
 around it ; but he wore his simple garments 
 with the air of a man having authority, and he 
 returned the continual salutations of rich and 
 poor, like one who had been long familiar with 
 public appreciation. 
 
 It was Dr. Robert Worth, a physician whose 
 fame had penetrated to the utmost boundaries 
 of the territories of New Spain. He had been 
 twenty-seven years in San Antonio. He was 
 a familiar friend in every home. In sickness 
 and in death he had come close to the hearts 
 in them. Protected at first by the powerful 
 Urrea family, he had found it easy to retain 
 his nationality, and yet live down envy and 
 suspicion. The rich had shown him their 
 gratitude with gold ; the poor he had never 
 sent unrelieved away, and they had given him 
 their love. 
 
 When in the second year of his residence 
 he married Dona Maria Flores, he gave, even 
 to doubtful officials, security for his political 
 intentions. And his future conduct had 
 seemed to warrant their fullest confidence. 
 In those never ceasing American invasions 
 .between eighteen hundred and three and 
 
S WOVEtf OP LOVE AXD GLORf. 
 
 eighteen hundred and thirty-two, he had been 
 the friend and succourer of his countrymen, 
 but never their confederate ; their adviser, but 
 never their confidant. 
 
 He was a tall, muscular man of a distin- 
 guished appearance. His hair was white. His 
 face was handsome and good to see. He was 
 laconic in speech, but his eyes were closely 
 observant of all within their range, and they 
 asked searching questions. He had a reverent 
 soul, wisely tolerant as to creeds, and he loved 
 his country with a passion which absence from 
 it constantly intensified. He was believed to 
 be a thoroughly practical man, fond of accu- 
 mulating land and gold ; but his daughter 
 Antonia knew that he had in reality a noble 
 imagination. When he spoke to her of the 
 woods, she felt the echoes of the forest ring 
 through the room ; when of the sea, its walls 
 melted away in an horizon of long rolling 
 waves. 
 
 He was thinking of Antonia as he walked 
 slowly to his home in the suburbs of the city. 
 Of all his children she was the nearest to 
 him. She had his mother's beauty. She 
 had also his mother's upright rectitude of 
 
THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS. 9 
 
 nature. The Iberian strain had passed her 
 absolutely by. She was a northern rose in a 
 tropical garden. As he drew near to his own 
 gates, he involuntarily quickened his steps. 
 He knew that Antonia would be waiting. He 
 could see among the thick flowering shrubs 
 her tall, slim figure clothed in white. As she 
 came swiftly down the dim aisles to meet him, 
 he felt a sentiment of worship for her. She 
 concentrated in herself his memory of home, 
 mother, and country. She embodied, in the 
 perfectness of their mental companionship, 
 that rarest and sweetest of ties a beloved 
 child, who is also a wise friend and a sympa- 
 thetic comrade. As he entered the garden she 
 slipped her hand into his. He clasped it 
 tightly. His smile answered her smile. There 
 was no need for any words of salutation. 
 
 The full moon had risen. The white house 
 stood clearly out in its radiance. The lattices 
 were wide open and the parlor lighted. They 
 walked slowly towards it, between hedges of 
 white camelias and scarlet japonicas. Vanilla, 
 patchuli, verbena, wild wandering honeysuckle 
 a hundred other scents perfumed the light, 
 warm air, As they came neaf the house there 
 
io WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 was a sound of music, soft and tinkling, with a 
 rhythmic accent as pulsating as a beating 
 heart. 
 
 " It is Don Luis, father." 
 
 " Ah ! He plays well and he looks well." 
 
 They had advanced to where Don Luis was 
 distinctly visible. He was within the room, 
 but leaning against the open door, playing upon 
 a mandolin. Robert Worth smiled as he of- 
 fered his hand to him. It was impossible not 
 to smile at a youth so handsome, and so charm- 
 ing a youth who had all the romance of the 
 past in his name, his home, his picturesque 
 costume ; and all the enchantments of hope 
 and great enthusiasms in his future. 
 
 " Luis, I am glad to see you ; and I felt your 
 music as soon as I heard it." 
 
 He was glancing inquiringly around the room 
 as he spoke ; and Antonia answered the look : 
 
 " Mother and Isabel are supping with Dona 
 Valdcz. There is to be a dance. I am waiting 
 for you, father. You must put on your velvet 
 vest." 
 
 "And you, Luis? " 
 
 " I do not go. I asked the judge for the 
 appointment. He refused me, Very well ! I 
 
THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS II 
 
 care not to drink chocolate and dance in his 
 house. One hand washes the other, and one 
 cousin should help another." 
 
 " Why did he refuse you ? " 
 
 "Who can tell?" but Luis shrugged his 
 shoulders expressively, and added, " He gave 
 the office to Blas-Sangre." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " Yes, it is so -naturally ; Blas-Sangre is 
 rich, and when the devil of money condescends 
 to appear, every little devil rises up to do him 
 homage." 
 
 " Let it pass, Luis, Suppose you sing me 
 that last verse again. It had a taking charm. 
 The music was like a boat rocking on the 
 water." 
 
 " So it ought to be. I learned the words in 
 New Orleans. The music came from the heart 
 of my mandolin. Listen, Seflor ! 
 
 " ' Row young oarsman, row, young oarsman, 
 
 Into the crypt of the night we float : 
 Fair, faint moonbeams wash and wander, 
 
 Wash and wander about the boat. 
 Not a fetter is here to bind us, 
 
 Love and memory lose their spell ; 
 Friends that we have left behind us, 
 
 Prisoners of content, farewell ! ' " 
 
 " You are a wizard, Luis, and I have had a 
 
12 WOVEN" OF LOVE AND GLORY, 
 
 sail with you. Now, come with us, and show 
 those dandy soldiers from the Alamo how to 
 dance." 
 
 r " Pardon ! I have not yet ceased to cross 
 myself at the affront of this morning. And 
 the Sefiora Valdez is in the same mind as her 
 husband. I should be received by her like a 
 dog at mass. I am going to-morrow to the 
 American colony on the Colorado." 
 
 " Be careful, Luis. These Austin colonists 
 are giving great trouble there have been 
 whispers of very strong measures. I speak as 
 a friend." 
 
 f " My heart to yours ! But let me tell you 
 this about the Americans their drum is in the 
 hands of one who knows how to beat it." 
 
 " As a matter of hearsay, are you aware that 
 three detachments of troops are on their way 
 from Mexico?" 
 
 " For Texas ? " 
 
 " For Texas," 
 
 " What are three detachments ? Can a few 
 thousand men put Texas under lock and key? 
 I assure you not, Sefior; but now I must say 
 adieu!" 
 
 He took the doctor's hand, and, as he held 
 
THE CITY IN THE WILDERNESS. 13 
 
 it, turned his luminous face and splendid 
 eyes upon Antonia. A sympathetic smile 
 brightened her own face like a flame. Then 
 he went silently away, and Antonia watched 
 him disappear among the shrubbery. 
 
 " Come, Antonia ! I am ready. We mus 
 not keep the Sefiora waiting too long." 
 
 " I am ready also, father." Her voice was 
 almost sad, and yet it had a tone of annoyance 
 in it " Don Luis is so imprudent," she said. 
 " He is always in trouble. He is full of 
 enthusiasms ; he is as impossible as his favor- 
 ite, Don Quixote." 
 
 " And I thank God, Antonia, that I can yet 
 feel with him. Woe to the centuries without 
 Quixotes! Nothing will remain to them but 
 Sancho Panzas," 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ANTONIA AND ISABEL. 
 
 " He various changes of the world had known, 
 And some vicissitudes of human fate, 
 Still altering, never in a steady state : 
 Good after ill, and after pain delight, 
 Alternate, like the scenes of day and night. " 
 
 " Ladies whose bright eyes 
 Rain influence." 
 
 " But who the limits of that power shall trace, 
 Which a brave people into life can bring, 
 Or hide at will, for freedom combating 
 By just revenge inflamed ? " 
 
 FOR many years there had never been any 
 doubt in the mind of Robert Worth as 
 to the ultimate destiny of Texas, though he 
 was by no means an adventurer, and had come 
 into the beautiful land by a sequence of 
 natural and business-like events. He was born 
 in New York. In that city he studied his 
 profession, and in eighteen hundred and three 
 began its practice in an office near Contoit's 
 Hotel, opposite the City Park, One day he 
 
AN TON I A AND ISABEL. 15 
 
 was summoned there to attend a sick man. 
 His patient proved to be Don Jaime Urrea, 
 and the rich Mexican grandee conceived a 
 warm friendship for the young physician. 
 
 At that very time, France had just ceded to 
 the United States the territory of Louisiana, 
 and its western boundary was a subject about 
 which Americans were then angrily disputing. 
 They asserted that it was the Rio Grande ; but 
 Spain, who naturally did not want Americans 
 so near her own territory, denied the claim, 
 and made the Sabine River the dividing line. 
 And as Spain had been the original possessor 
 of Louisiana, she considered herself authority 
 on the subject. 
 
 The question was on every tongue, and it 
 was but natural that it should be discussed by 
 Urrea and his physician. In fact, they talked 
 continually of the disputed boundary, and of 
 Mexico. And Mexico was then a name to 
 conjure by. She was as yet a part of Spain, 
 and a sharer in all her ancient glories. She 
 was a land of romance, and her very name 
 tasted on the lips, of gold, and of silver, and of 
 precious stones. Urrea easily persuaded the 
 young man to return to Mexico with him. 
 
i6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 The following year there was a suspicious 
 number of American visitors and traders in 
 San Antonio, and one of the Urreas was sent 
 with a considerable number of troops to garri- 
 son the city. For Spain was well aware that, 
 however statesmen might settle the question, 
 the young and adventurous of the American 
 people considered Texas United States terri- 
 tory, and would be well inclined to take posses- 
 sion of it by force of arms, if an opportunity 
 offered. 
 
 Robert Worth accompanied General Urrea 
 to San Antonio, and the visit was decisive as 
 to his future life. The country enchanted 
 him. He was smitten with love for it, as men 
 are smitten with a beautiful face. And the 
 white Moorish city had one special charm for 
 him it was seldom quite free from Americans, 
 Among the mediaeval loungers in the narrow 
 streets, it filled his heart with joy to see at in- 
 tervals two or three big men in buckskin or 
 homespun. And he did not much wonder that 
 the Morisco-Hispano-Mexican feared these 
 Anglo-Americans, and suspected them of an 
 intention to add Texan to their names. 
 
 His inclination to remain in San Antonio 
 
ANTON1A AMD ISABEL If 
 
 was settled by his marriage. Dona Maria 
 Flores, though connected with the great Mex- 
 ican families of Yturbide and Landesa, owned 
 much property in San Antonio. She had been 
 born within its limits, and educated in its 
 convent, and a visit to Mexico and New Or- 
 leans had only strengthened her attachment to 
 her own city. She was a very pretty woman, 
 with an affectionate nature, but she was not 
 intellectual. Even in the convent the sisters 
 had not considered her clever. 
 
 But men often live very happily with 
 commonplace wives, and Robert Worth had 
 never regretted that his Maria did not play on 
 the piano, and paint on velvet, and work fine 
 embroideries for the altars. They had passed 
 nearly twenty-six years together in more than 
 ordinary content and prosperity. Yet no life 
 is without cares and contentions, and Robert 
 Worth had had to face circumstances seve- 
 ral times, which had brought the real man to 
 the front. 
 
 The education of his children had been such 
 a crisis. He had two sons and two daughters, 
 and for them he anticipated a wider and 
 grander career than he had chosen for himself. 
 
1 8 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 When his eldest child, Thomas, had reached 
 the age of fourteen, he determined to send him 
 to New York. He spoke to Dona Maria of this 
 intention. He described Columbia to her with 
 all the affectionate pride of a student for his 
 alma mater. The boy's grandmother also still 
 lived in the home wherein he himself had 
 grown to manhood. His eyes filled with tears 
 when he remembered the red brick house in 
 Canal Street, with its white door and dormer 
 windows, and its one cherry tree in the strip 
 of garden behind. 
 
 But Dona Maria's national and religious 
 principles, or rather prejudices, were very 
 strong. She regarded the college of San Juan 
 de Lateran in Mexico as the fountain-head of 
 knowledge. Her confessor had told her so. 
 All the Yturbides and Landesas had graduated 
 at San Juan. 
 
 But the resolute father would have none of 
 San Juan. " I know all about it, Maria," he 
 said. " They will teach Thomas Latin very 
 thoroughly. They will make him proficient in 
 theology and metaphysics. They will let him 
 dabble in algebra and Spanish literature ; and 
 with great pomp, they will give him his degree, 
 
ANTONIA AND ISABEL. 19 
 
 and * the power of interpreting Aristotle all 
 over the world.' What kind of an education 
 is that, for a man who may have to fight the 
 battles of life in this century ? " 
 
 And since the father carried his point it is 
 immaterial what precise methods he used. 
 Men are not fools even in a contest with wo- 
 men. They usually get their own way, if they 
 take the trouble to go wisely and kindly about 
 it. Two years afterwards, Antonia followed 
 her brother to New York, and this time, the 
 mother made less opposition. Perhaps she 
 divined that opposition would have been still 
 more useless than in the case of the boy. For 
 Robert Worth had one invincible determina- 
 tion ; it was, that this beautiful child, who so 
 much resembled a mother whom he idolized, 
 should be, during the most susceptible years of 
 her life, under that mother's influence. 
 
 And he was well repaid for the self-denial 
 her absence entailed, when Antonia came back 
 to him, alert, self-reliant, industrious, an intel- 
 ligent and responsive companion, a neat and 
 capable housekeeper, who insensibly gave to 
 his home that American air it lacked, and who 
 set upon his table the well-cooked meats and 
 
20 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 delicate dishes which he had often longed 
 for. 
 
 John, the youngest boy, was still in New 
 York finishing his course of study ; but regard- 
 ing Isabel, there seemed to be a tacit relin- 
 quishment of the purpose, so inflexibly carried 
 out with her brothers and sister. Isabel was 
 entirely different from them. Her father had 
 watched her carefully, and come to the convic- 
 tion that it would be impossible to make her 
 nature take the American mintage. She was 
 as distinctly Iberian as Antonia was Anglo- 
 American. 
 
 > In her brothers the admixture of races had 
 been only as alloy to metal. Thomas Worth 
 was but a darker copy of his father. John had 
 the romance and sensitive honor of old Spain, 
 mingled with the love of liberty, and the practi- 
 cal temper, of those Worths who had defied both 
 Charles the First and George the Third. But 
 Isabel had no soul-kinship with her father's 
 people. Robert Worth had seen in the Ytur- 
 bide rcsidencia in Mexico the family portraits 
 which they had brought with them from Cas- 
 tile. Isabel was the Yturbide of her day. 
 She had all their physical traits, and from her 
 
ANTONIA AND ISABEL. a I 
 
 large golden-black eyes the same passionate 
 soul looked forth. He felt that it would be 
 utter cruelty to send her among people who 
 must always be strangers to her. 
 1 So Isabel dreamed away her childhood at 
 her mother's side, or with the sisters in the 
 convent, learning from them such simple and 
 useless matters as they considered necessary 
 for a damosel of family and fortune. On the 
 night of the Seflora Valdez's reception, she 
 had astonished every one by the adorable 
 grace of her dancing, and the captivating way 
 in which she used her fan. Her fingers touched 
 the guitar as if they had played it for a thou- 
 sand years. She sang a Spanish Romancero 
 of El mio Cid with all the fire and tenderness 
 of a Castilian maid. 
 
 Her father watched her with troubled eyes. 
 He almost felt as if he had no part in her. 
 And the thought gave him an unusual anxiety, 
 for he knew this night that the days were fast 
 approaching which would test to extremity the 
 affection which bound his family together. 
 He contrived to draw Antonia aside for a few 
 moments. ; 
 
 " Is she not wonderful ? " he asked. " When 
 
22 WO FEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 did she learn these things ? I mean the way 
 in which she does them ? " 
 
 Isabel was dancing La Cachoucha, and An- 
 tonia looked at her little sister with eyes full 
 of loving speculation. Her answer dropped 
 slowly from her lips, as if a conviction was 
 reluctantly expressed : 
 
 " The way must be a gift from the past 
 her soul has been at school before she was 
 born here. Father, are you troubled ? What 
 is it ? Not Isabel, surely ? " 
 
 " Not Isabel, primarily. Antonia, I have 
 been expecting something for twenty years. 
 It is coming." 
 
 " And you are sorry ? " 
 
 " I am anxious, that is all. Go back to the 
 dancers. In the morning we can talk." 
 
 In the morning the doctor was called very 
 early by some one needing his skill. Antonia 
 heard the swift footsteps and eager voices, 
 and watched him mount the horse always kept 
 ready saddled for such emergencies, and ride 
 away with the messenger. The incident in 
 itself was a usual one, but she was conscious 
 that her soul was moving uneasily and question- 
 ingly in some new and uncertain atmosphere. 
 
" AN TON I A AND ISABEL. 23 
 
 She had felt it on her first entrance into 
 Sefiora Valdez's gran sala a something irre- 
 pressible in the faces of all the men present. 
 She remembered that even the servants had 
 been excited, and that they stood in small 
 groups, talking with suppressed passion and 
 with much demonstrativeness. And the offi- 
 cers from the Alamo ! How conscious they, 
 had been of their own importance ! What airs 
 of condescension and of an almost insufferable 
 protection they had assumed ! Now, that she 
 recalled the faces of Judge Valdez, and other 
 men of years and position, she understood that 
 there had been in them something out of tone 
 with the occasion. In the atmosphere of the 
 festa she had only felt it. In the solitude of 
 her room she could apprehend its nature. 
 
 For she had been born during those stormy 
 days when Magee and Bernardo, with twelve 
 hundred Americans, first flung the banner of 
 Texan independence to the wind ; when the 
 fall of Nacogdoches sent a thrill of sympathy 
 through the United States, and enabled Cos 
 and Toledo, and the other revolutionary gen- 
 erals in Mexico, to carry their arms against 
 Old Spain to the very doors of the vice-royal 
 
24 WOVEN OP LO^E AND GLORY. 
 
 palace. She had heard from her father many 
 a time the whole brave, brilliant story the 
 same story which has been made in all ages 
 from the beginning of time. Only the week 
 before, they had talked it over as they sat under 
 the great fig-tree together. 
 
 " History but repeats itself," the doctor had 
 said then ; " for when the Mexicans drove the 
 Spaniards, with their court ceremonies, their 
 monopolies and taxes, back to Spain, they 
 were just doing what the American colonists 
 did, when they drove the English royalists 
 back to England. It was natural, too, that the 
 Americans should help the Mexicans, for, at 
 first, they were but a little band of patriots ; 
 and the American-Saxon has like the Anglo- 
 Saxon an irresistible impulse to help the weaker 
 side. And oh, Antonia ! The cry of Free- 
 dom ! Who that has a soul can resist it ? " 
 
 She remembered this conversation as she 
 stood in the pallid dawning, and watched her 
 father ride swiftly away. The story of the 
 long struggle in all its salient features flashed 
 through her mind ; and she understood that it. 
 is not the sword alone that gives liberty that 
 there must be patience before courage ; that 
 
AXTON1A AND ISABBL. 25 
 
 great ideas must germinate for years in the 
 hearts of men before the sword can reap the 
 harvest. 
 
 The fascinating memory of Burr passed like 
 a shadow across her dreaming. The hand- 
 some Lafayettes the gallant Nolans the dar*' 
 ing Hunters the thousands of forgotten 
 American traders and explorers bold and en- 
 terprising they had sown the seed. For great 
 ideas are as catching as evil ones. A Mexican, 
 with the iron hand of Old Spain upon him and 
 the shadow of the Inquisition over him, could 
 not look into the face of an American, and not 
 feel the thought of Freedom stirring in his 
 heart. 
 
 It stirred in her own heart. She stood still 
 a moment to feel consciously the glow and the 
 enlargement. Then with an impulse natural, 
 but neither analyzed nor understood, she lifted 
 her prayer-book, and began to recite " the ris- 
 ing prayer." She had not said to herself, " from 
 the love of Freedom to the love of God, it is 
 but a step," but she experienced the emotion 
 and felt all the joy of an adoration, simple and 
 unquestioned, springing as naturally from the 
 soul as the wild flower from the praise. 
 
6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 As she knelt, up rose the sun, and flooded 
 her white figure and her fair unbound hair with 
 the radiance of the early morning. The matin 
 bells chimed from the convent and the churches, 
 and the singing birds began to flutter their 
 bright wings, and praise God also, " in their 
 Latin." 
 
 She took her breakfast alone. The Seftora 
 never came downstairs so early. Isabel had 
 wavering inclinations, and generally followed 
 them. Sometimes, even her father had his cup 
 of strong coffee alone in his study; so the first 
 meal of the day was usually, as perhaps it 
 ought to be, a selfishly-silent one. " Too much 
 enthusiasm and chattering at breakfast, are like 
 too much red at sunrise," the doctor always 
 said ; " a dull, bad day follows it " and Anto- 
 nia's observation had turned the little maxim 
 into a superstition. 
 
 In the Sefiora's room, the precept was either 
 denied, or defied. Antonia heard the laughter 
 and conversation through the closed door, and 
 easily divined the subject of it. It was but 
 natural. The child had a triumph ; one that 
 appealed strongly to her mother's pride and 
 predilections. It was a pleasant sight to see 
 
ANTON1A AND ISABEL. " 27 
 
 them in the shaded sunshine exulting them- 
 selves happily in it. 
 
 The Seftora, plump and still pretty, reclined 
 upon a large gilded bed. Its splendid silk 
 coverlet and pillows cased in embroidery and 
 lace made an effective background for her. 
 She leaned with a luxurious indolence among 
 them, sipping chocolate and smoking a cigar- 
 rito. Isabel was on a couch of the same de- 
 scription. She wore a satin petticoat, and a 
 loose linen waist richly trimmed with lace. It 
 showed her beautiful shoulders and arms to 
 perfection. Her hands were folded above her 
 head. Her tiny feet, shod in satin, were 
 quivering like a bird's wings, as if they were 
 keeping time with the restlessness of her spirit. 
 
 She had large eyes, dark and bright ; strong 
 eyebrows, a pale complexion with a flood of 
 brilliant color in the cheeks, dazzling even 
 teeth, and a small, handsome mouth. Her 
 black hair was loose and flowing, and caressed 
 her cheeks and temples in numberless little 
 curls and tendrils. Her face was one flush of 
 joy and youth. She had a look half-earnest 
 and half-childlike, and altogether charming. 
 Antonia adored her, and she was pleased to 
 
28 WOVEN OP LOVE AND 'GLORY. 
 
 listen to the child, telling over again the 
 pretty things that had been said to her. 
 
 " Only Don Luis was not there at all, Anto- 
 nia. There is always something wanting," 
 and her voice fell with those sad inflections 
 that are often only the very excess of delight. 
 
 The Seftora looked sharply at her. " Don 
 Luis was not desirable, He was better away 
 much better!" 
 "But why?" 
 
 " Because, Antonia, he is suspected. There 
 is an American called Houston. Don Luis met 
 him in Nacogdoches. He has given his soul to 
 him, I think. He would have fought Morello 
 about him, if the captain could have drawn his 
 sword in such a quarrel. I should not have 
 known about the affair had not Sefiora Valdez 
 told me. Your father says nothing against 
 the Americans." 
 
 " Perhaps, then, he knows nothing against 
 them." 
 
 "You will excuse me, Antonia; not only the 
 living but the dead must have heard of their 
 wickedness. They are a nation of ingrates. 
 Ingratcs are cowards. It was these words 
 Captain Morello said, when Don Luis drew his 
 
ANTONIA AND ISABEL. 29 
 
 sword, made a circle with its point and stood it 
 upright in the centre. It was a challenge to 
 the whole garrison, and about this fellow Hous- 
 ton, whom he calls his friend ! Holy Virgin 
 preserve us from such Mexicans ! " 
 
 " It is easier to talk than to fight. Morel- 
 lo's tongue is sharper than his sword." 
 - " Captain Morello was placing his sword be- 
 side that of Don Luis, when the Commandant 
 interfered. He would not permit his officers 
 to fight in such a quarrel. ' Santo Dios ! ' he 
 said, ' you shall all have your opportunity very 
 soon, gentlemen.' Just reflect upon the folly 
 of a boy like Don Luis, challenging a soldier 
 like Morello ! " 
 
 " He was in no danger, mother, " said An- 
 tonia scornfully. " Morello is a bully, who 
 wears the pavement out with his spurs and 
 sabre. His weapons are for show. Ameri- 
 cans, at least, wear their arms for use, and not 
 for ornament." ' 
 
 : " Listen, Antonia ! I will not have them 
 spoken of. They are Jews or at least in- 
 fidels, all of them ! the devil himself is their 
 father the bishop, when he was here last 
 confirmation, told me so." 
 
30 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Mother ! " 
 
 " At least they are unbaptized Christians, 
 Antonia. If you are not baptized, the devil 
 sends you to do his work. As for Don Luis, 
 he is a very Judas! Ah, Maria Santissima! 
 how I do pity his good mother ! " 
 
 " Poor Don Luis ! " said Isabel plaintively. 
 " He is so handsome, and he sings like a very 
 angel. And he loves my father ; he wanted to 
 be a doctor, so that he could always be with 
 him. I dare say this man called Houston is 
 no better than a Jew, and perhaps very ugly 
 beside. Let us talk no more about him and 
 the Americans. I am weary of them ; as Tia 
 Rachella says, ' they have their spoon in every 
 one's mess.' ' 
 
 And Antonia, whose heart was burning, only 
 stooped down and closed her sister's pretty 
 mouth with a kiss. Her tongue was impatient 
 to speak for the father, and grandmother, and 
 the friends, so dear to her ; but she possessed 
 great discretion, and also a large share of that 
 rarest of all womanly graces, the power under 
 provocation, of " putting on Patience the 
 noble." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 " Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant na- 
 tion rousing herself like a strong man after sleep and 
 shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an 
 eagle mewing her mighty youth and kindling her un- 
 dazzled eye in the full mid-day beam." MlLTON. 
 
 " And from these grounds, concluding as we doe, 
 Warres causes diuerse, so by consequence 
 
 Diuerse we must conclude their natures too : 
 For war proceeding from Omnipotence, 
 
 No doubt is holy, wise, and without error ; 
 The sword, of justice and of sin, the terror." 
 
 LORD BROOKE. 
 
 IT is the fashion now to live for the present ; 
 but the men of fifty years ago, the men 
 who builded the nation, they reverenced the 
 past, and therefore they could work for the 
 future. As Robert Worth rode through the 
 streets of San Antonio that afternoon, he was 
 thinking, not of his own life, but of his chil- 
 dren's and of the generations which should 
 come after them. 
 
 The city was flooded with sunshine, and 
 
3* WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLO&Y. 
 
 crowded with a pack-train going to Sonora ; 
 the animals restlessly protesting against the 
 heat and flies; their Mexican drivers in the 
 pulqueria, spending their last peso with their 
 compadres, or with the escort of soldiers which 
 was to accompany them a little squad of 
 small, lithe men, with round, yellow, beardless 
 faces, bearing in a singular degree the stamp of 
 being native to the soil. Their lieutenant, a 
 gorgeously clad officer with a very distinguished 
 air, was coming slowly down the street to join 
 them. He bowed, and smiled pleasantly to the 
 doctor as he passed him, and then in a few 
 moments the word of command and the shout- 
 ing of men and the clatter of hoofs invaded 
 the enchanted atmosphere like an insult. 
 
 But the tumult scarcely jarred with the 
 thoughts of his mind. They had been alto- 
 gether of war and rumors of war. Every hour 
 that subtile consciousness of coming events, 
 which makes whole communities at times 
 prescient, was becoming stronger. " If the 
 powers of the air have anything to do with the 
 destinies of men," he muttered, " there must 
 be unseen battalions around me. The air I am 
 breathingjs charged with the feeling of battle." 
 
BUILDERS OF TtiE COMMONWEALTH. 33 
 
 After leaving the city there were only a few 
 Mexican huts on the shady road leading to his 
 own house. All within them were asleep, even 
 the fighting cocks tied outside were dozing on 
 their perches. He was unusually weary, he 
 had been riding since dawn, and his heart had 
 not been in sympathy with his body, it had 
 said no good cheer to it, whispered no word of 
 courage or promise. 
 
 All at once his physical endurance seemed 
 exhausted, and he saw the white wall and 
 arched gateway of his garden and the turrets 
 of his home with an inexpressible relief. But 
 it was the hour of siesta, and he was always 
 careful not to let the requirements of his pro- 
 fession disturb his household. So he rode 
 quietly to the rear, where he found a peon nod- 
 ding within the stable door. He opened his 
 eyes unnaturally wide, and rose to serve his 
 master. 
 
 " See thou rub the mare well down, and give 
 her corn and water." 
 
 " To be sure, Seftor, that is to be done. A 
 stranger has been here to-day ; an American." 
 
 " What did he say to thee ? " 
 
 "That he would call again, Seftor." 
 
34 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 The incident was not an unusual one, and it 
 did not trouble the doctor's mind. There was . 
 on the side of the house a low extension con- ' 
 taining two rooms. These rooms belonged ex- 
 clusively to him. One was his study, his office, 
 his covert, the place to which he went when he 
 wanted to be alone with his own soul. There 
 were a bed and bath and refreshments in the 
 other room. He went directly to it, and after 
 eating and washing, fell into a profound 
 sleep. 
 
 At the hour before Angelus the house was as 
 noisy and busy as if it had been an inn. The 
 servants were running hither and thither, all 
 of them expressing themselves in voluble 
 Spanish. The cooks were quarrelling in the 
 kitchen. Antonia was showing the table men, 
 as she had to do afresh every day, how to lay 
 the cloth and serve the dishes in the American 
 fashion. When the duty was completed, she 
 went into the garden to listen for the Angelus. 
 The young ladies of to-day would doubtless 
 consider her toilet frightfully unbecoming; but 
 Antonia looked lovely in it, though but a white 
 muslin frock, with a straight skirt and low waist 
 and short, full sleeves. It was confined by a 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 35 
 
 blue belt with a gold buckle, and her feet were 
 in sandalled slippers of black satin. 
 
 The Angelus tolled, and the thousands of 
 Hail Maries ! which blended with its swinging 
 vibrations were uttered, and left to their fate, 
 as all spoken words must be. Antonia still 
 observed the form. It lent for a moment a 
 solemn beauty to her face. She was about to 
 re-enter the house, when she saw a stranger ap- 
 proaching it. He was dressed in a handsome 
 buckskin suit, and a wide Mexican hat, but she 
 knew at once that he was an American, and 
 she waited to receive him. 
 
 As soon as he saw her, he removed his hat 
 and approached with it in his hand. Perhaps 
 he was conscious that the act not only did 
 homage to womanhood, but revealed more per- 
 fectly a face of remarkable beauty and nobility. 
 For the rest, he was very tall, powerfully built, 
 elegantly proportioned, and his address had the 
 grace and polish of a cultured gentleman. 
 
 " I wish to see Dr. Worth, Dona." 
 
 With a gentle inclination of the head, she 
 led him to the door of her father's office. She 
 was the only one in the Doctor's family at all 
 familiar with the room. The Sefiora said so 
 
36 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 many books made her feel as if she -vere in a 
 church or monastery ; she was afraid to say 
 anything but paternosters in it. Isabel cow- 
 ered before the poor skeleton in the corner, 
 and the centipedes and snakes that filled the 
 bottles on the shelves. There was not a ser- 
 vant that would enter the room. 
 
 But Antonia did not regard books as a part 
 of some vague spiritual power. She knew the 
 history of the skeleton. She had seen the death 
 of many of those " little devils " corked up in 
 alcohol. She knew that at this hour, if her 
 father were at home he was always disengaged, 
 and she opened the door fearlessly, saying, 
 " Father, here is a gentleman who wishes to 
 see you." 
 
 The doctor had quite refreshed himself, and, 
 In a house-suit of clean, white linen, was lying 
 on a couch reading. He arose with alacrity, and 
 with his pleasant smile seemed to welcome the 
 intruder, as he stepped behind him and closed 
 the door. Antonia had disappeared. They 
 were quite alone. 
 
 "You are Doctor Robert Worth, sir?" 
 
 Their eyes met, their souls knew each other* 
 
 "And you are Sam Houston? " 
 
; BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 37 
 
 The questions were answered in a hand grip, 
 a sympathetic smile on both faces the free- 
 masonry of kindred spirits. 
 
 " I have a letter from your son Thomas, 
 doctor, and I think, also, that you will have 
 something to say to me, and I to you." 
 
 The most prudent of patriots could not have 
 resisted this man. He had that true imperial 
 look which all born rulers of men possess that 
 look that half coerces, and wholly persuades. 
 Robert Worth acknowledged its power by his 
 instant and decisive answer. 
 
 " I have, indeed, much to say to you. We 
 shall have dinner directly, then you will give 
 the night to me ? " 
 
 After a short conversation he led him into 
 the sala and introduced him to Antonia. He 
 himself had to prepare the Seflora for her vis- 
 itor, and he had a little quaking of the heart 
 as he entered her room. She was dressed for 
 dinner, and turned with a laughing face to 
 meet him. 
 
 " I have been listening to the cooks quarrel- 
 ling over the olla, Roberto. But what can my 
 poor Manuel say when your Irishwoman at- 
 tacks him. Listen to her! 'Take your dirty 
 
38 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 stew aff the fire then ! Shure it isn't fit for a 
 Christian to ate at all ! ' " 
 
 " I hope it is, Maria, for we have a visitor 
 to-night." 
 
 " Who, then, my love ? " 
 
 "Mr. Houston." 
 
 " Sam Houston ? Holy Virgin of Guadalupe 
 preserve us ! I will not see the man." 
 
 "I think you will, Maria. He has brought 
 this letter for you from our son Thomas; and 
 he has been so kind as to take charge of some 
 fine horses, and sell them well for him in San 
 Antonio. When a man does us a kindness, we 
 should say thank you." 
 
 "That is truth, if the man is not the Evil 
 One. As for this Sam Houston, you should 
 have heard what was said of him at the Valdez's." 
 
 " I did hear. Everything was a lie." 
 
 " But he is a very common man." 
 
 " Maria, do you call a soldier, a lawyer, a 
 member of the United States Congress, a gov- 
 ernor of a great State like Tennessee, a common 
 man ? Houston has been all of these things." 
 
 " It is, however, true that he has lived with 
 Indians, and with those Americans, who are 
 bad, who have no God, who are infidels, and 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 39 
 
 perhaps even cannibals. If he is a good 
 man, why does he live with bad men ? Not 
 even the saints could do that. A good man 
 should be in his home. Why does he not stay 
 at home." 
 
 " Alas ! Maria, that is a woman's fault. He 
 loved a beautiful girl. He married her. My 
 dear one, she did not bless his life as you have 
 blessed mine. No one knows what his sorrow 
 was, for he told no one. And he never blamed 
 her, only he left his high office and turned his 
 back forever on his home." 
 
 " Ah ! the cruel woman. Holy Virgin, what 
 hard hearts thou hast to pray for ! " 
 
 "Come down and smile upon him, Maria. I 
 should like him to see a high-born Mexican 
 lady. Are they not the kindest and fairest 
 among all God's women ? I know, at least, 
 Maria, that you are kind and fair"; and he 
 took her hands, and drew her within his em- 
 brace. 
 
 What good wife can resist her husband's 
 wooing? Maria did not. She lifted her face, 
 her eyes shone through happy tears, she whis 
 pered softly: " My Robert, it is a joy to please 
 you, I will be kind; I will be grateful about 
 
4 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Thomas. You shall see that I will make a 
 pleasant evening." 
 
 So the triumphant husband went down, 
 proud and happy, with his smiling wife upon 
 his arm. Isabel was already in the room. ' 
 She also wore a white frock, but her hair was 
 pinned back with gold butterflies, and she had 
 a beautiful golden necklace around her throat. 
 And the Sefiora kept her word. She paid her 
 guest great attention. She talked to him of 
 his adventures with the Indians. She request- 
 ed her daughters to sing to him. She told 
 him stories of the old Castilian families with 
 which she was connected, and described her 
 visit to New Orleans with a great deal of 
 pleasant humor. She felt that she was doing 
 herself justice ; that she was charming ; and, con- 
 sequently, she also was charmed with the guest 
 and the occasion which had been so favorable 
 to her. 
 
 After the ladies had retired, the doctor led 
 his visitor into his study. He sat down silently 
 and placed a chair for Houston. Both men 
 hesitated for a moment to open the conversa- 
 tion. Worth, because he was treading on un- 
 known ground ; Houston, because he did not 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 4* 
 
 wish to force, even by a question, a resolution 
 which he felt sure would come voluntarily. 
 
 The jar of tobacco stood between them, and 
 they filled their pipes silently. Then Worth 
 laid a letter upon the table, and said : " I un- 
 stand from this, that my son Thomas thinks 
 the time has come for decisive action." 
 
 " Thomas Worth is right. With such souls 
 as his the foundation of the state must be laid." 
 
 " I am glad Thomas has taken the position 
 he has ; but you must remember, sir, that he is 
 unmarried and unembarrassed by many circum- 
 stances which render decisive movement on 
 my part a much more difficult thing. Yet no 
 man now living has watched the Americanizing 
 of Texas with the interest that I have." 
 
 " You have been long on the watch, sir." 
 
 " I was here when my countrymen came first, 
 in little companies of five or ten men. I saw 
 the party of twenty, who joined the priest 
 Hidalgo in eighteen hundred and ten, when 
 Mexico made her first attempt to throw off the 
 Spanish yoke." 
 
 " An unsuccessful attempt." 
 
 " Yes. The next year I made a pretended 
 professional journey to Chihuahua, to try and 
 
4* WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 save their lives. I failed. They were shot 
 with Hidalgo there." 
 
 " Yet the strife for liberty went on." 
 " It did. Two years afterwards, Magee and, 
 Bernardo, with twelve hundred Americans, 
 raised the standard of independence on the 
 Trinity River. I saw them them take this very 
 city, though it was ably defended by Salcedo. 
 They fought like heroes. I had many of the 
 wounded in my house. I succored them with 
 my purse." 
 
 " It was a great deed for a handful of men." 
 " The fame of it brought young Americans 
 by hundreds here. To a man they joined the 
 Mexican party struggling to free themselves 
 from the tyranny of old Spain. I do not think 
 any one of them received money. The love of 
 freedom and the love of adventure were alike 
 their motive and their reward." 
 . " Mexico owed these men a debt she has for- 
 gotten." 
 
 " She forgot it very quickly. In the follow-, 
 ing year, though they had again defended San 
 Antonio against the Spaniards, the Mexicans 
 drove all the Americans out of the city their 
 rifles had saved," 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 43 
 
 "You were here ; tell me the true reason." 
 
 " It was not altogether ingratitude. It was 
 the. instinct of self-preservation. The very 
 bravery of the Americans made the men whom 
 they had defended hate and fear them ; and 
 there was a continual influx of young men from 
 the States. The Mexicans said to each other : 
 * There is no end to these Americans. Very 
 soon they will make a quarrel and turn their 
 arms against us. They do not conform to our 
 customs, and they will not take an order from 
 any officer but their own.' ' 
 
 Houston smiled. " It is a way the Saxon 
 race has," he said. " The old Britons made 
 the same complaint of them. They went first 
 to England to help the Britons fight the 
 Romans, and they liked the country so well, 
 they determined to stay there. If I remember 
 rightly the old Britons had to let them do so." 
 
 " It is an old political situation. You can 
 go back to Genesis and find Pharaoh arguing 
 about the Jews in the same manner." 
 
 " What happened after this forcible expulsion 
 of the American element from Texas ? " 
 
 " Mexican independence was for a time 
 abandoned, and the Spanish viceroys were 
 
44 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 more tyrannical than ever. But Americans still 
 came, though they pursued different tactics. 
 They bought land and settled on the great 
 rivers. In eighteen twenty-one, Austin, with 
 the permission of the Spanish viceroy in Mexico, 
 introduced three hundred families." 
 
 " That was a step in the right direction ; but 
 I am astonished the viceroy sanctioned it." 
 
 " Apodoca, who was then viceroy, was a 
 Spaniard of the proudest type. He had very 
 much the same contempt for the Mexicans 
 that an old English viceroy in New York had 
 for the colonists he was sent to govern. I dare 
 say any of them would have permitted three 
 hundred German families to settle in some 
 part of British America, as far from New York 
 as Texas is from Mexico. I do not need to 
 tell you that Austin's colonists are a band of 
 choice spirits, hardy working men, trained in 
 the district schools of New England and New 
 York nearly every one of them a farmer or 
 mechanic." 
 
 "They were the very material liberty 
 needed. They have made homes." 
 
 " That is the truth. The fighters who pre- 
 ceded them owned nothing but their horses 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 45 
 
 and their rifles. But these men brought with 
 them their wives and their children, their 
 civilization, their inborn love of freedom and 
 national faith. They accepted the guarantee 
 of the Spanish government, and they expected 
 the Spanish government to keep its promises." 
 
 " It did not." 
 
 "It had no opportunity. The colonists were 
 hardly settled when the standard of revolt 
 against Spain was again raised. Santa Anna 
 took the field for a republican form of govern- 
 ment, and once more a body of Americans, 
 under the Tennesseeaji, Long, joined the Mexi- 
 can army." 
 
 *' I remember that, well." 
 
 " In eighteen twenty-four, Santa Anna, Vic- 
 toria and Bravo drove the Spaniards forever 
 from Mexico, and then they promulgated the 
 famous constitution of eighteen twenty-four. 
 It was a noble constitution, purely demo- 
 cratic and federal, and the Texan colonists 
 to a man gladly swore to obey it. The 
 form was altogether elective, and what par- 
 ticularly pleased the American element was 
 the fact that the local government of every 
 gtate was left to itself," 
 
4 6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Houston laughed heartily. " Do you know A 
 Worth/' he said, " State Rights is our political 
 religion. The average American citizen would 
 expect the Almighty to conform to a written 
 constitution, and recognize the rights of man- 
 kind." ; 
 
 "I don't think he expects more than he gets, 
 Houston. Where is there a grander consti- 
 tution than is guaranteed to us in His Word ; 
 or one that more completely recognizes the 
 rights of all humanity ?" 
 
 "Thank you, Worth. I see that I have 
 spoken better than I knew. I was sitting in 
 the United States Congress, when this con- 
 stitution passed, and very much occupied with 
 the politics of Tennessee." 
 
 " I will not detain you with Mexican politics. 
 It may be briefly said that for the last ten 
 years there has been a constant fight between 
 Pedraza, Guerrero, Bustamante and Santa 
 Anna for the Presidency of Mexico. After so 
 much war and misery the country is now 
 ready to resign all the blessings the constitu- 
 tion of eighteen twenty-four promised her. 
 For peace she is willing to have a dictator in 
 Santa Anna." 
 
BUILDERS Of THE COMMONWEALTH, 47 
 
 " If Mexicans want a dictator let them bow 
 down to Santa Anna ! But do you think the 
 twenty thousand free-born Americans in Texas 
 are going to have a dictator ? They will have 
 the constitution of eighteen twenty-four or 
 they will have independence, and make their 
 o\vn constitution ! Yes, sir ! " 
 
 "You know the men for whom you speak?" 
 
 " I have been up and down among them for 
 two years. Just after I came to Texas I was 
 elected to the convention which sent Stephen 
 Austin to Mexico with a statement of our 
 wrongs. Did we get any redress ? No, sir ! 
 And as for poor Austin, is he not in the dun- 
 geons of the Inquisition? We have waited 
 two years for an answer. Great heavens ! 
 Doctor, surely that is long enough ! " 
 
 "Was this convention a body of any in- 
 fluence?" 
 
 "Influence! There were men there whose 
 names will never be forgotten. They met in 
 a log house ; they wore buckskin and home- 
 spun ; but I tell you, sir, they were debating 
 the fate of unborn millions." 
 
 " Two years since Austin went to Mexico ? " 
 
 " A two years* chapter of tyranny. In them 
 
48 WOVEtt OJ? LOVE AND 
 
 Santa Anna has quite overthrown the repub- 
 lic of which we were a part. He has made 
 himself dictator, and, because our authorities 
 have protested against the change, they have 
 been driven from office by a military force. I 
 tell you, sir, the petty outrages everywhere 
 perpetrated by petty officials have filled the 
 cup of endurance. It is boiling over. Now, 
 doctor, what are you going to do ? Are you 
 with us, or against us ? " 
 
 " I have told you that I have been with 
 my countrymen always heart and soul with 
 them." 
 
 The doctor spoke with some irritation, and 
 Houston laid his closed hand hard upon the 
 table to emphasize his reply : 
 
 " Heart and soul I Very good ! But we 
 want your body now. You must tuck your 
 bowie-knife and your revolvers in your belt, 
 and take your rifle in your hand, and be ready 
 to help us drive the Mexican force out of this 
 very city." 
 
 " When it comes to that I shall be no 
 laggard." 
 
 But he was deathly pale, for he was suffer- 
 ing as men suffer who feel the sweet bonds of 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 49 
 
 wife and children and home, and dread the 
 rending of them apart, In a moment, how- 
 ever, the soul behind his white face made 
 it visibly luminous. " Houston," he said, 
 11 whenever the cause of freedom needs me, I 
 am ready. I shall want no second call. But 
 is it not possible, that even yet " 
 
 " It is impossible to avert what is already 
 here. Within a few days, perhaps to-morrow, 
 you will hear the publication of an edict from 
 Santa Anna, ordering every American to give 
 up his arms." 
 
 " What ! Give up our arms ! No, no, 
 by Heaven! I will die fighting for mine, 
 rather." 
 
 | " Exactly. That is how every white man 
 in Texas feels about it. And if such a wonder 
 as a coward existed among them, he under- 
 stands that he may as well die fighting Mex- 
 icans, as die of hunger or be scalped by 
 Indians. A large proportion of the colonists 
 depend on their rifles for their daily food. 
 Ml of them know that they must defend their 
 own homes from the Comanche, or see them 
 perish. Now, do you imagine that Americans 
 will obey any such order? By all the great 
 
 4 
 
50 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 men of seventeen seventy-five, if they did, I 
 would go over to the Mexicans and help them 
 to wipe the degenerate cowards out of ex- 
 istence ! " 
 
 He rose as he spoke ; he looked like a flame, 
 and his words cut like a sword. Worth 
 caught fire at his vehemence and passion. 
 He clasped his hands in sympathy as he 
 walked with him to the door. They stood 
 silently together for a moment on the thresh- 
 old, gazing into the night. Over the glorious 
 land the full moon hung enamoured. Into 
 the sweet, warm air mockingbirds were pouring 
 low, broken songs of ineffable melody. The 
 white city in the mystical light looked like an 
 enchanted city. It was so still that the very 
 houses looked asleep. 
 
 " It is a beautiful land," said the doctor. 
 
 11 It is worthy of freedom," answered Hous- 
 ton. Then he went with long, swinging steps 
 down the garden, and into the shadows 
 beyond, and Worth turned in and closed the 
 door. 
 
 lie had been watching for this very hour 
 for twenty years; and yet he found himself 
 wholly unorepared for it. Like one led by 
 
BUILDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 51 
 
 confused and uncertain thoughts, he went 
 about the room mechanically locking up his 
 papers, and the surgical instruments he valued 
 so highly. As he did so he perceived the 
 book he had been reading when Houston 
 entered. It was lying open where he had laid 
 it down. A singular smile flitted over his face. 
 He lifted it and carried it closer to the light. 
 It was his college Cicero. 
 
 " I was nineteen years old when I marked 
 that passage," he said ; " and I do not think I 
 have ever read it since, until to-night. I was 
 reading it when Houston came into the room. 
 Is it a message, I wonder ? 
 ; " l But when thou considerest everything 
 carefully and thoughtfully ; of all societies 
 none is of more importance, none more dear, 
 than that which unites us with the common- 
 wealth. Our parents, children, relations and 
 neighbors are dear, but our fatherland em- 
 braces the whole round of these endearments. 
 In its defence, who would not dare to die, if 
 only he could assist it? ' " 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 
 
 "O blest be he ! O blest be he ! 
 
 Let him all blessings prove, 
 Who made the chains, the shining chains, 
 The holy chains of love ! " 
 
 Spanish Ballad. 
 14 If you love a lady bright, 
 
 Seek, and you shall find a way 
 All that love would say, to say ; 
 If you watch the occasion right." 
 
 Spanish Ballad. 
 
 IN the morning Isabel took breakfast with 
 her sister. This was always a pleasant 
 event to Antonia. She petted Isabel, she 
 waited upon her, sweetened her chocolate, 
 spread her cakes with honey, and listened to 
 all her complaints of Tia Rachela. Isabel came 
 fc gliding in when Antonia was about half way 
 * through the meal. Her scarlet petticoat was 
 gorgeous, her bodice white as snow, her hair 
 glossy as a bird's wing, but her lips drooped 
 
 and trembled, and there was the shadow of 
 
 i 
 
 tears in her eyes. Antonia kissed their white 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 53 
 
 fringed lids, held the little form close in her 
 arms, and fluttered about in that motherly 
 way which Isabel had learned to demand and 
 enjoy. 
 
 " What has grieved you this morning, little 
 dove ? " 
 
 " It is Tia Rachela, as usual. The cross old 
 woman ! She is going to tell mi madre some- 
 thing. Antonia, you must make her keep her 
 tongue between her teeth. I promised her to 
 confess to Fray Ignatius, and she said I must 
 also tell mi madre. I vowed to say twenty Hail 
 Marias and ten Glorias, and she said ' I ought 
 to go back to the convent.' ' 
 
 " But what dreadful thing have you been 
 doing, Iza ? " 
 
 Iza blushed and looked into her chocolate 
 cup, as she answered slowly : " I gave a-^ 
 flower away. Only a suchil flower, Antonia, 
 that I wore at my breast last night." 
 
 " Whom did you give it to, Iza ? " 
 
 Iza hesitated, moved her chair close to 
 Antonia, and then hid her face on her sister's 
 breast. 
 
 " But this is serious, darling. Surely you 
 did not give it to Seflor Houston ? " 
 
54 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Could you think I was so silly ? When 
 madre was talking to him last night, and when 
 I was singing my pretty serenade, he heard 
 nothing at all. He was thinking his own 
 thoughts." 
 
 " Not to Seftor Houston ? Who then ? Tell 
 me, Iza." u - 
 
 " To Don Luis." 
 
 " Don Luis ! But he is not here. He went 
 to the Colorado." 
 
 " How stupid are you, Antonia ! In New 
 York they did not teach you to put this and 
 that together. As soon as I saw Seftor Hous- 
 ton, I said to myself : ' Don Luis was going to 
 him ; very likely they have met each other on 
 the road ; very likely Don Luis is back in San 
 Antonio. He would not want to go away with- 
 out bidding me good-by/ and, of course, I 
 was right." \ 
 
 " But when did you see him last night 
 You never left the room." 
 
 "So many things are possible. My heart 
 said to me when the talk was going on, ' Don 
 Luis is waiting under the oleanders/ and I 
 walked on to the balcony and there he was, 
 and he looked so sad, and I dropped my suchil 
 
TUB SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 55 
 
 flower to him; and Rachela saw me, for I think 
 she has a million eyes, and that is the whole 
 matter." 
 
 " But why did not Don Luis come in ?" 
 
 " Mi madre forbade me to speak to him. 
 That is the fault of the Valdez's." 
 
 " Then you disobeyed mi madre, and you 
 know what Fray Ignatius and the Sisters have 
 taught you about the fourth command." 
 
 " Oh, indeed, I did not think of the fourth 
 command ! A sin without intention has not 
 penance ; and consider, Antonia, I am now six- 
 teen, and they would shut me up like a chicken 
 in its shell. Antonia, sweet Antonia, speak 
 to Rachela, and make your little Iza happy. 
 Fear is so bad for me. See, I do not even care 
 for my cakes and honey this morning." 
 
 " I will give Rachela the blue silk kerchief I 
 brought from New York. She will forget a 
 great deal for that, and then, Iza, darling, you 
 must tell Fray Ignatius of your sin, because it 
 is not good to have an unconfessed sin on the 
 soul." 
 
 . "Antonia, do not say such cruel things. I 
 have confessed to you. Fray Ignatius will give 
 me a hard penance. Perhaps he may say to 
 
56 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 mi madre : ' That child had better go back to 
 the convent. I say so, because I have knowl- 
 edge.' And now I am tired of that life ; I am 
 almost a woman, Antonia, am I not ? " 
 
 Antonia looked tenderly into her face. She 
 saw some inscrutable change there. All was the 
 same, and all was different. She did not under- 
 stand that it was in the eyes, those lookouts of 
 the soul. They had lost the frank, inquisitive 
 stare of childhood ; they were tender and misty ; 
 they reflected a heart passionate and fearful, in 
 which love was making himself lord of all. 
 
 Antonia was not without experience. There 
 was in New York a gay, handsome youth, to 
 whom her thoughts lovingly turned. She had 
 promised to trust him, and to wait for him, 
 and neither silence nor distance had weakened 
 her faith or her affection. Don Luis had also 
 made her understand how hard it was to leave 
 Isabel, just when he had hoped to woo and 
 win her. He had asked her to watch over his 
 beloved, and to say a word in his favor when 
 all others would be condemning him. 
 
 Her sympathy had been almost a promise, 
 and, indeed, she thought Isabel could hardly 
 have a more suitable lover. He was handsome, 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 57 
 
 gallant, rich, and of good morals and noble 
 family. They had been much together in 
 their lives ; their childish affection had been 
 permitted ; she felt quite sure that the parents 
 of both had contemplated a stronger affection! 
 and a more lasting tie between them. 
 
 And evidently Don Luis had advanced 
 further in his suit than the Seftora was aware 
 of. He had not been able to resist the charm 
 of secretly wooing the fresh young girl he 
 hoped to make his wife. Their love must be 
 authorized and sanctioned ; true, he wished 
 that ; but the charm of winning the prize be- 
 fore it was given was irresistible. Antonia 
 comprehended all without many words ; but 
 she took her sister into the garden, where they 
 could be quite alone, and she sought the girl's 
 confidence because she was sure she could be 
 to her a loving guide. 
 
 Isabel was ready enough to talk, and the 
 morning was conducive to confidence. They 
 strolled slowly between the myrtle hedges in 
 the sweet gloom of overshadowing trees, hear- 
 ing only like a faint musical confusion the 
 mingled murmur of the city. 
 
 " It was just here," said Isabel, " I was 
 
58 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 walking and sitting and doing nothing at all 
 but looking at the trees and the birds and 
 feeling happy, and Don Luis came to me. He 
 might have come down from the skies, I was 
 so astonished. And he looked so handsome, 
 and he said such words ! Oh, Antonia ! they 
 went straight to my heart." 
 
 " When was this, dear ? " 
 
 " It was in the morning. I had been to 
 mass with Rachela. I had said every prayer 
 with my whole heart, and Rachela told me I 
 might stay in the garden until the sun grew 
 hot. And as soon as Rachela was gone, Don 
 Luis came came just as sudden as an angel." 
 
 " He must have followed you from mass." 
 
 11 Perhaps." 
 
 " He should not have done that." 
 
 11 If a thing is delightful, nobody should do 
 It. Luis said he knew that it was decided that 
 we should marry, but that he wanted me to be 
 his wife because I loved him. His face was 
 shining with joy, his eyes were like two stars, 
 he called me his life, his adorable mistress, his 
 queen, and he knelt down and took my hands 
 and kissed them. I was too happy to speak." 
 
 "Oh, Iza!" 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 59 
 
 * " Very well, Antonia ! It is easy to say ' Oh, 
 Iza '; but what would you have done ? And 
 reflect on this ; no one, not even Rachela, saw 
 him. So then, our angels were quite agreeable 
 and willing. And I I was in such joy, that 
 I went straight in and told Holy Maria of my 
 happiness. But when a person has not been 
 in love, how can they know ; and I see that 
 you are going to say as Sister Sacrementa said 
 to Lores Valdez ' You are a wicked girl, and 
 such things are not to be spoken of ! ' ' 
 
 " Oh, my darling one, I am not so cruel. I 
 think you did nothing very wrong, Iza. When 
 love comes into your soul, it is like a new life. 
 If it is a pure, good love, it is a kind of murder 
 to kill it in any way." 
 
 " It has just struck me, Antonia, that you 
 may be in love also." 
 
 " When I was in New York, our brother 
 Jack had a friend, and he loved me, and I 
 loved him." 
 
 t 
 
 " But did grandmamma let him talk to 
 you?" 
 
 " He came every night. We went walking 
 and driving. In the summer we sailed upon 
 the river ; in the winter we skated upon the 
 
60 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ice. He helped me with my lessons. He went 
 with me to church." 
 
 " And was grandmamma with you ? " 
 
 " Very seldom. Often Jack was with us ; 
 more often we were quite alone." 
 ' " Holy Virgin ! Who ever heard tell of 
 such good fortune ? Consuelo Ladrello had 
 never been an hour alone with Don Domingo 
 before they were married." 
 
 "A good girl does not need a duenna to 
 watch her ; that is what I think. And an 
 American girl, pure and free, would not suffer 
 herself to be watched by any woman, old or 
 young. Her lover comes boldly into her 
 home; she is too proud to meet him in 
 secret." 
 
 " Ah ! that would be a perfect joy. That is 
 what I would like ! But fancy what Rachela 
 would say ; and mi madre would cover her eyes 
 and refuse to see me if I said such words. 
 Believe this. It was in the spring Luis told 
 me that he loved me, and though I have seen 
 him often since, he has never found another 
 moment to speak to me alone, not for one five 
 minutes. Oh, Antonia ! let me have one five 
 minutes this afternoon ! He is going away, 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 61 
 
 and there is to be war, and I may never, never 
 see him again ! " 
 
 . " Do not weep, little dove. How can you 
 see him this afternoon ? " 
 
 " He will be here, in this very place, I know 
 he will. When he put the suchil flower to his 
 lips last night he made me understand it. 
 This afternoon, during the hour of siesta, will 
 you come with me? Only for five minutes, 
 Antonia ! You can manage Rachela, I am 
 sure you can." 
 
 " I can manage Rachela, and you shall have 
 one whole hour, Iza. One whole hour ! Come, 
 now, we must make a visit to our mother. She 
 will be wondering at our delay." 
 The Seflora had not yet risen. She had 
 taken her chocolate and smoked her cigarito, 
 but was still drowsing. " I have had a bad 
 night, children," she said; "full of dreadful 
 dreams. It must have been that American. 
 Yet, Holy Mother, how handsome he is ! And 
 I assure you that he has the good manners of 
 a courtier. Still, it was an imprudence, and 
 Sefiora Valdez will make some great thing of it." 
 
 "You were in your own house, mother. 
 What has Sefiora Valdez to do with the guest 
 
62 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY, 
 
 in it? We might as well make some great 
 thing about Captain Morello being present at 
 her party." 
 
 " I have to say to you, Antonia, that Morel- 
 lo is a Castilian ; his family is without a cross. 
 He has the parchments of his noble ancestry 
 to show." 
 
 "And Sefior Houston is an American 
 Scotch-American, he said, last night. Pardon, 
 my mother, but do you know what the men of 
 Scotland are ? " \ 
 
 " Si ! They are monsters ! Fray Ignatius 
 has told me. They are heretics of the worst 
 kind. It is their special delight to put to 
 death good Catholic priests. I saw that in a 
 book ; it must be true." 
 
 " Oh, no, mother ! It is not tru* ! It is 
 mere nonsense. Scotchmen do not molest 
 priests, women, and children. They are the 
 greatest fighters in the world." 
 
 " Quien sabe ? Who has taught you so much 
 about these savages?" 
 
 " Indeed, mother, they are not savages. 
 They are a very learned race of men, and very 
 pious also. Jack has many Scotch-American 
 friends. I know one of them very well "; and 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 63 
 
 with the last words her face flushed, and her 
 voice fell insensibly iuto slow and soft in- 
 flections. 
 
 " Jack knows many of them ! That is like- 
 ly. Your father would send him to New York. 
 All kinds of men are in New York. Fray Ig- 
 natius says they have to keep an army of 
 police there. No wonder ! And my son is so 
 full of nobilities, so generous, so honorable, he 
 will not keep himself exclusive. He is the 
 true resemblance of my brother Don Juan 
 Flores. Juan was always pitying the poor and 
 making friends with those beneath him. At 
 last he went into the convent of the Bernard- 
 ines and died like a very saint." 
 
 " I think our Jack will be more likely to die 
 like a very hero. If there is any thing Jack 
 hates, it is oppression. He would right a beg- 
 gar, if he saw him wronged." 
 i " Poco a poco ! I am tired of rights and 
 wrongs. Let us talk a little about our dresses, 
 for there will be a gay winter. Seftora Valdez 
 assured me of it ; many soldiers are coming 
 here, and we shall have parties, and cock-fights, 
 and, perhaps, even a bull-feast." j 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Isabel clapping her hands en- 
 
64 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 thusiastically ; " a bull-feast ! That is what I 
 long to see ! " ,. 
 
 At this moment the doctor entered the room, 
 and Isabel ran to meet him. No father could 
 have resisted her pretty ways, her kisses, her 
 endearments, her coaxing diminutives of 
 speech, her childlike loveliness and simplicity. 
 
 "What is making you so happy, Queri- 
 dita?"* 
 
 " Mi madre says there is perhaps to be a bull- 
 feast this winter. Holy Virgin, think of it ! 
 That is the one thing I long to see ! " 
 
 With her clinging arms around him, and her 
 eager face lifted to his for sympathy, the father 
 could not dash the hope which he knew in his 
 heart was very unlikely to be realized. Neither 
 did he think it necessary to express opposition 
 or disapproval for what had as yet no tangible 
 existence. So he answered her with smiles 
 and caresses, and a little quotation which com- 
 mitted him to nothing: 
 
 " As, Panem et Circenses was the cry 
 Among the Roman populace of old ; 
 So, Pan y Toros ! is the cry of Spain." 
 
 The Sefiora smiled appreciatively and put out 
 * Little dear, - - 
 
TffE SlHtfLVG 3 AND 3 OP LOVE. 6$ 
 
 her hand. "Pan y Toros ! " she repeated. 
 "And have you reflected, children, that no 
 other nation in the world cries it. Only Spain 
 and her children ! That is because only men 
 of the Spanish race are brave enough to fight 
 bulls, and only Spanish bulls are brave enough 
 to fight men." 
 
 She was quite pleased with herself for this 
 speech, and finding no one inclined to dispute 
 the statement, she went on to describe a festi- 
 val of bulls she had been present at in the city 
 of Mexico. The subject delighted her, and she 
 grew eloquent over it ; and, conscious only of 
 Isabel's shining eyes and enthusiastic interest, 
 she did not notice the air of thoughtfulness 
 which had settled over her husband's face, nor 
 yet Antonia's ill-disguised weariness and 
 anxiety. 
 
 On the night of the Valdez's party her 
 father had said he would talk with her. An- 
 tonia was watching for the confidence, but not 
 with any great desire. Her heart and her in- 
 telligence told her it would mean trouble, and 
 she had that natural feeling of youth which 
 gladly postpones the evil day. And while her 
 father was silent she believed there were still 
 
66 WO FEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 possibilities of escape from it. So she was not 
 sorry that he again went to his office in the 
 city without any special word for her. It was 
 another day stolen from the uncertain future, 
 for the calm usage of the present, and she was 
 determined to make happiness in it. 
 
 When all was still in the afternoon Isabel 
 came to her. She would not put the child to 
 the necessity of again asking her help. She 
 rose at once, and said : 
 
 "Sit here, Iza, until I have opened the door 
 for us. Then she took a rich silk kerchief, 
 blue as the sky, in her hand, and went to the 
 wide, matted hall. There she found Rachela 
 asleep on a cane lounge. Antonia woke her. 
 
 " Rachela, I wish to go into the garden for 
 an hour." 
 
 The Seftorita does the thing she wants to. 
 Rachela would not presume to interfere. The 
 Scfiorita became an Americano in New York." 
 
 " There are good things in New York, Ra- 
 chela ; for instance, this kerchief." 
 
 " That is indeed magnificent ! " 
 
 " If you permit my sister to walk in the gar- 
 den with me, I shall give it to you this mo. 
 ment," 
 
TI-TE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 67 
 
 " Dofta Isabel is different. She is a Mexi- 
 caine. She must be watched continually." 
 
 " For what reason ? She is as innocent as an 
 angel." 
 
 " Let her simply grow up, and you will see 
 that she is not innocent as the angels. Oh, 
 indeed ! I could say something about last 
 night ! Dofia Isabel has no vocation for a nun ; 
 but, graciasa Dios! Rachela is not yet blind or 
 deaf." 
 
 " Let the child go with me for an hour, 
 Rachela. The kerchief will be so becoming to 
 you. There is not another in San Antonio 
 like it." 
 
 Rachela was past forty, but not yet past the 
 age of coquetry. " It will look gorgeous with 
 my gold ear-rings, but " 
 
 11 1 will give you also the blue satin bow like 
 it, to wear at your breast." 
 
 " Si, si ! I will give the permission, 
 Seftorita for your sake alone. The kerchief 
 and bow are a little thing to you. To me, 
 they will be a great adornment. You are not 
 to leave the garden, however, and for one hour's 
 walk only, Sefiorita ; certainly there is time 
 for no more." 
 
6S WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " I will take care of Isabel ; no harm shall 
 come to her. You may keep your eyes shut 
 for one hour, Rachela, and you may shut your 
 ears also, and put your feet on the couch and 
 let them rest. I will watch Isabel carefully, be 
 sure of that." 
 
 "The child is very clever, and she has a 
 lover already, I fear. Keep your eyes on the 
 myrtle hedge that skirts the road. I have to 
 say this it is not for nothing she wants to 
 walk with you this afternoon. She would be 
 better fast asleep." 
 
 In a few moments the kerchief and the bow 
 were safely folded in the capacious pocket of 
 Rachela's apron, and Isabel and Antonia were 
 softly treading the shady walk between the 
 myrtle hedges. Rachela's eyes were appar- 
 ently fast closed when the girls pased her, but 
 she did not fail to notice how charmingly 
 Isabel had dressed herself. She wore, it is 
 true, her Spanish costume ; but she had red 
 roses at her breast, and her white lace mantilla 
 over her head. 
 
 "Ah ! she is a clever little thing ! " Rachela 
 muttered. " She knows that she is irresistible 
 in her Castilian dress. Bah ! those French 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 69 
 
 frocks are enough to drive a man a mile away. 
 I can almost forgive her now. Had she 
 worn the French frock I would not have 
 forgiven her. I would never have yield- 
 ed again, no, not even if the Seftorita 
 Antonia should offer me her scarlet Indian 
 shawl worked in gold, I was always a fool 
 Holy Mother forgive me ! Well, then ; I used 
 to have my own lovers plenty of them 
 handsome young arrieros and rancheros; 
 there was Tadeo, a valento of the first class; 
 and Buffa and well, I will sleep ; they do 
 not remember me, I dare say; and I have 
 forgotten their names." 
 
 In the mean time the sisters sat down 
 beneath a great fig-tree. No sunshine, no 
 shower, could penetrate its thick foliage. The 
 wide space beneath the spreading branches 
 was a little parlor, cool and sweet, and full of 
 soft, green lights, and the earthy smell of turf, 
 and the wandering scents of the garden. 
 
 Isabel's eyes shone with an incomparable 
 light. She was pale, but exquisitely beautiful, 
 and even her hands and feet expressed the 
 idea of expectation. Antonia had a piece of 
 needlework in her hand, She affected the 
 
7 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 calmness she did not feel, for her heart was 
 f trembling for the tender little heart beating 
 j with so much love and anxiety beside her. 
 
 But Isabel's divination, however arrived at, 
 was not at fault. In a few moments Don Luis 
 lightly leaped the hedge, and without a 
 moment's hesitation sought the shadow of the 
 fig-tree. As he approached, Antonia looked 
 at him with a new interest. It was not only 
 that he loved Isabel, but that Isabel loved him. 
 She had given him sympathy before, now she 
 gave him a sister's affection. 
 
 " How handsome he is ! " she thought. 
 "How gallant he looks in his velvet and silver 
 and embroidered jacket ! And how eager are 
 his steps ! And how joyful his face ! He is 
 the kind of Romeo that Shakespeare dreamed 
 about ! Isabel is really an angel to him. He 
 would really die for her. What has this 
 Spanish knight of the sixteenth century to do 
 ? in Texas in the nineteenth century?" 
 
 He answered her mental question in his own 
 charming way. He was so happy, so radiantly 
 happy, so persuasive, so compelling, that 
 Antonia granted him, without a word, the favor 
 his eyes asked for. And the lovers hardly 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 7* 
 
 heard the excuse she made ; they understood 
 nothing of it, only that she would be reading 
 in the myrtle walk for one hour, and, by so 
 doing, would protect them from intrusion. 
 
 One whole hour ! Isabel had thought the 
 promise a perfect magnificence of opportunity. 
 But how swiftly it went. Luis had not told 
 her the half of his love and his hopes. He 
 had been forced to speak of politics and busi- 
 ness, and every such word was just so many 
 stolen from far sweeter words words that fell 
 like music from his lips, and were repeated 
 with infinite power from his eyes. Low words, 
 that had the pleading of a thousand voices in 
 them ; words full of melody, thrilling with 
 romance ; poetical, and yet real as the sunshine 
 around them. 
 
 In lovers of a colder race, bound by con- 
 ventional ties, and a dress rigorously divested 
 of every picturesque element, such wooing 
 might have appeared ridiculous ; but in Don 
 Luis, the most natural thing about it was its 
 extravagance. When he knelt at the feet of 
 his beloved and kissed her hands, the action 
 was the unavoidable outcome of his tempera- 
 ment. When he said to her, "Angel mio! you 
 
7 3 -WO F.E.V OF LO VE AND GLOR V. 
 
 are the light of my darkness, the perfume of 
 all flowers that bloom for me, the love of my 
 loves, my life, my youth, my lyre, my star, had 
 I a thousand souls with which to love, I would 
 give them all to you ! " he believed every word 
 he uttered, and he uttered every word with 
 the passion of a believer. 
 
 He stirred into life also in the heart of 
 Isabel a love as living as his own. In that 
 hour she stepped outside all of her childhood's 
 immaturities. She became a woman. She 
 accepted with joyful tears a woman's lot of 
 love and sorrow. She said to Antonia: 
 
 " Luis was in my heart before ; now, I have 
 put him in my soul. My soul will never die. 
 So I shall never forget him never cease to 
 love him." 
 
 Rachela faithfully kept her agreement. For 
 one hour she was asleep to all her charge did, 
 and Isabel was In her own room when the 
 precious sixty minutes were over. Happy ? 
 So happy that her soul seemed to have pushed 
 her body aside, as a thing not to be taken 
 Into account. She sang like a bird for very 
 gladsomeness. It was impossible for her to be 
 still, and as she went about her room with 
 
SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 73 
 
 little dancing, balancing movements of her 
 hands and feet, Antonia knew that they 
 were keeping their happy rhythmic motion 
 to the melody love sang in her heart. 
 
 And she rejoiced with her little sister, 
 though she was not free from a certain regret 
 for her concession, for it is the after-reckoning 
 with conscience that is so disagreeably strict 
 and uncomfortable. And yet, why make an 
 element of anger and suspicion between Isabel 
 and her mother when there appeared to be no 
 cause to do so ? Don Luis was going away. 
 He was in disgrace with his family almost 
 disinherited ; the country was on the point of 
 war, and its fortunes might give him some 
 opportunities no one now foresaw. But if 
 Isabel's mother had once declared that she 
 would " never sanction the marriage," Antonia 
 knew that, however she might afterwards 
 regret her haste and prejudice, she would stand 
 passionately by her decision. Was it not 
 better, then, to prevent words being said 
 which might cause sorrow and regret in the 
 future ? 
 
 But as regarded Isabel's father, no such 
 reason existed. The happiness of his children 
 
74 WOVEN.OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 was to him a more sacred thing than his own 
 prejudices. He liked Don Luis, and his friend* 
 ship with his mother, the Seftora Alveda, was 
 a long and tried one. The youth's political 
 partialities, though bringing him at present 
 into disgrace, were such as he himself had 
 largely helped to form. Antonia was sure 
 that her father would sympathize with Isabel, 
 and excuse in her the lapse of duty which had 
 given his little girl so much happiness. Yes, 
 it would be right to tell him every thing, and 
 she did not fear but Isabel would agree in her 
 decision. 
 
 At this moment Rachela entered. The 
 Sefiora wished her daughters to call upon the 
 American manteau-maker for her, and the ride 
 in the open carriage to the Plaza would enable 
 them to bow to their acquaintances, and 
 exhibit their last new dresses from New 
 Orleans. Rachela was already prepared for 
 the excursion, and she was not long in attiring 
 Isabel. 
 
 " To be sure, the siesta has made you look 
 charming this afternoon," she said, looking 
 steadily into the girl's beaming, blushing face, 
 " and this rose silk is enchanting. Santa Maria, 
 
THE SHI XING BANDS OF LOVE. 75 
 
 how I pity the officers who will have the great 
 fortune to see you this afternoon, and break 
 their hearts for the sight ! But you must not 
 look at them, mark ! I shall tell the Sefiora if 
 you do. It is enough if they look at you. 
 And the American way of the Sefiorita An- 
 tonia, which is to bow and smile to every ad- 
 mirer, it will but make more enchanting the 
 becoming modesty of the high-born Mexi- 
 caine." 
 
 " Keep your tongue still, Rachela. Ah ! if 
 you strike me, I will go to my father. He will 
 not permit it. I am not a child to be struck 
 and scolded, and told when to open and shut 
 my eyes. I shall do as my sister does, and 
 the Holy Mother herself will be satisfied with 
 me ! " 
 
 "Chito! Chito!! You wicked one! Oh, 
 Maria Santissima, cast on this child a look of 
 compassion ! The American last night has 
 bewitched her ! I said that he looked like a 
 Jew." 
 
 " I am not wicked, Rachela ; and grdcias a" 
 Dios, there is no Inquisition now to put the 
 question ! " 
 1 Isabel was in a great passion, or the awful 
 
76 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY, 
 
 word that had made lips parch and blanch to 
 utter it for generations would never have been 
 launched at the offending woman's head. But 
 its effect was magical. Rachela put up her 
 hands palm outwards, as if to shield herself 
 from a blow, and then without another word 
 stooped down and tied the satin sandals on 
 Isabel's restless feet. She was muttering 
 prayers during the whole action, for Isabel had 
 been quick to perceive her advantage, and was 
 following it up by a defiant little monologue 
 of rebellious speeches. 
 
 In the midst of this scene, Antonia entered. 
 She was dressed for the carriage, and the car- 
 riage stood at the door waiting ; but her face 
 was full of fear, and she said, hurriedly : 
 
 " Rachela, can you not make some excuse to 
 my mother which will permit us to remain at 
 home ? Hark ! There is something wrong in 
 the city." 
 
 In a moment the three women were on the 
 balcony, intently, anxiously listening. Then 
 they were aware of a strange confusion in the 
 subtle, amber atmosphere. It was as if they 
 heard the noise of battle afar off ; and Rachela, 
 without a word, glided away to the Seflora. 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 77 
 
 Isabel and Antonia stood hand in hand, listen- 
 ing to the vague trouble and the echo of harsh, 
 grating voices, mingled with the blare of clar- 
 ions, the roll of drums, and the rattle of scatter- 
 ing rifle-shots. Yet the noises were so blended 
 together, so indistinct, so strangely expressive 
 of both laughter and defiance, that it was im- 
 possible to identify or describe them. 
 
 Suddenly a horseman came at a rapid pace 
 towards the house, and Antonia, leaning over 
 the balcony, saw him deliver a note to Rachela, 
 and then hurry away at the same reckless 
 speed. The note was from the doctor to his 
 wife, and it did not tend to allay their anxiety. 
 "Keep within the house," it said; "there are 
 difficulties in the city. In an hour or two I 
 will be at home." 
 
 But it was near midnight when he arrived, 
 and Antonia saw that he was a different man. 
 He looked younger. His blue eyes shone with 
 the light behind them. On his -face there 
 was the impress of an invincible determina- 
 tion. His very walk had lost its listless, glid- 
 ing tread, and his steps were firm, alert and 
 rapid. 
 
 No one had been able to go to bed until he 
 
7 8 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 arrived, though Isabel slept restlessly in her 
 father's chair, and the Seftora lay upon the 
 couch, drowsing a little between her frequent 
 attacks of weeping and angry anticipation. 
 For she was sure it was the Americans. " Any- 
 thing was possible with such a man as Sam 
 Houston near the city." 
 
 " Perhaps it is Santa Anna," at length sug- 
 gested Antonia. " He has been making trouble 
 ever since I can remember. He was born with 
 a sword in his hand, I think." 
 
 " Ca ! And every American with a rifle in his 
 hand ! Santa Anna is a monster, but at least 
 he fights for his own country. Texas is not the 
 country of the Americans." 
 
 " But, indeed, they believe that Texas is their 
 country "; and to these words Doctor Worth 
 entered. 
 
 " What is the matter? What is the matter, 
 Roberto ? I have been made sick with these 
 uncertainties. Why did you not come home 
 at the Angelus?" 
 
 "I have had a good reason for my delay, 
 Maria. About three o'clock I received a mes- 
 sage from the Scftora Alveda, and I visited her. 
 She is in great trouble, and she had not been 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 79 
 
 able to bear it with her usual fortitude. She 
 had fainted." 
 
 " Ah, the poor mother ! She has a son who 
 will break her heart." 
 
 " She made no complaint of Luis. She is 
 distracted about her country, and as I came 
 home I understood why. For she is a very 
 shrewd woman, and she perceives that Santa 
 Anna is preparing trouble enough for it." 
 
 " Well, then, what is it ? " 
 
 " When I left her house, I noticed many 
 Americans, as well as many Mexicans, on the 
 streets. They were standing together, too ; 
 and there was something in their faces, and in 
 the way their arms were carried, which was 
 very striking and portentous. I fancied they 
 looked coldly on me, and I was troubled by the 
 circumstance. In the Plaza I saw the military 
 band approaching, accompanied by half a dozen 
 officers and a few soldiers. The noise stopped 
 suddenly, and Captain Morello proclaimed as 
 a bando (edict) of the highest authority, an 
 order for all Americans to surrender their arms 
 of every description to the officials and at ths 
 places notified." 
 
 " Very good ' " 
 
So WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY* 
 
 " Maria, nothing could be worse ! Nothing 
 could be more shameful and disastrous. The 
 Americans had evidently been expecting this 
 useless bombast, and ere the words were well 
 uttered, they answered them with a yell of 
 defiance. I do not think more than one proc- 
 lamation was necessary, but Morello went 
 from point to point in the city and the 
 Americans followed him. I can tell you this, 
 Maria: all the millions in Mexico can not take 
 their rifles from the ten thousand Americans in 
 Texas, able to carry them." 
 
 " We shall see ! We shall see ! But, Roberto, 
 you at least will not interfere in their quarrels. 
 You have never done so hitherto." 
 
 " No one has ever proposed to disarm me 
 before, Maria. I tell you frankly, I will not 
 give up a single rifle, or revolver, or weapon of 
 any kind, that I possess. I would rather be 
 slain with them. I have never carried arms 
 before, but I shall carry them now. I apolo- 
 gize to my countrymen for not having them 
 with me this afternoon. My dearest wife! 
 My good Maria ! do not cry in that despairing 
 way." 
 
 w You will be killed, Roberto ! You will bQ 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 8 1 
 
 a rebel ! You will be shot like a dog, and then 
 what will become of me and my daughters ? " 
 
 "You have two sons, Maria. They will 
 avenge their father, and protect their mother 
 and sisters." 
 
 " I shall die of shame ! I shall die of shame 
 and sorrow ! " 
 
 " Not of shame, Maria. If I permitted 
 these men to deprive me of my arms, you 
 might well die of shame." 
 
 " What is it ? Only a gun, or a pistol, that 
 you never use ?" 
 
 " Great God, Maria ! It is everything ! It 
 is honor ! It is liberty ! It is respect to 
 myself ! It is loyalty to my country ! It is 
 fidelity to my countrymen ! It is true that for 
 many years the garrison has fully protected 
 us, and I have not needed to use the arms in 
 my house. But thousands of husbands and 
 fathers need them hourly, to procure food for 
 their children and wives, and to protect them 
 from the savages. One tie binds us. Their 
 cause is my cause. Their country is my 
 country, and their God is my God. Children, 
 am I right or wrong?" 
 
 They both stepped swiftly to his side. 
 
82 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Isabel laid her cheek against his, and answered 
 him with a kiss. Antonia clasped his hand, 
 stood close to him, and said : " We are all sure 
 that you are right, dear father. My mother is 
 weary and sick with anxiety, but she thinks so 
 too. Mother always thinks as you do, father. 
 Dear mother, here is Rachela with a cup of 
 chocolate, and you will sleep and grow strong 
 before morning." 
 
 But the Sefiora, though she suffered her 
 daughter's caresses, did not answer them, 
 neither did she speak to her husband, though 
 he opened the door for her and stood waiting 
 with a face full of anxious love for a word or a 
 smile from her. And the miserable wife, still 
 more miserable than her husband, noticed that 
 Isabel did not follow her. Never before 
 had Isabel seemed to prefer any society 
 to her mother's, and the unhappy Sefiora 
 felt the defection, even amid her graver 
 trouble. 
 
 But Isabel had seen something new in her 
 father that night ; something that touched her 
 awakening soul with admiration. She lingered 
 with him and Antonia, listening with vague 
 comprehension to their conversation, until 
 
THE SHINING BANDS OF LOVE. 83 
 
 Rachela called her angrily ; and as she was not 
 brave enough for a second rebellion that night, 
 she obediently answered her summons. 
 
 An hour afterwards, Antonia stepped cau- 
 tiously within her room. She was sleeping, and 
 smiling in her sleep. Where was her loving, 
 innocent soul wandering? Between the myrtle 
 hedges and under the fig-tree with her lover? 
 Oh, who can tell where the soul goes when 
 sleep gives it some release ? Perhaps it is at 
 night our angels need to watch us most care- 
 fully. For the soul, in dreams, can visit evil 
 and sorrowful places, as well as happy and 
 holy ones. But Isabel slept and smiled, and 
 Antonia whispered a prayer at her side ere she 
 went to her own rest. 
 
 And the waning moon cast a pathetic 
 beauty over the Eden-like land, till dawn 
 brought that mystical silence in which every 
 new day is born. Then Robert Worth rose 
 from the chair in which he had been sitting so 
 long, remembering the past and forecasting the 
 future. He walked to the window, opened it, 
 and looked towards the mountains. They had 
 an ethereal hue, a light without rays, a clear- 
 ness almost polar in its severity. But in some 
 
84 - WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 way their appearance infused into his soul 
 calmness and strength. 
 
 " Liberty has always been bought with life, 
 and the glory of the greatest nations hand- 
 seled with the blood of their founders." This 
 was the thought in his heart, as looking far off 
 to the horizon, he asked hopefully : 
 
 " What then, O God, shall this good land produce. 
 That Thou art watering it so carefully ? " 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 
 
 * So when fierce zeal a nation rends, 
 
 And stern injustice rules the throne. 
 Beneath the yoke meek virtue bends, 
 
 And modest truth is heard to groan. 
 But when fair Freedom's star appears, 
 Then hushed are sighs, and calmed are fears. 
 
 And who, when nations long opprest, 
 Decree to curb the oppressor's pride, 
 
 And patriot virtues fire the breast, 
 Who shall the generous ardor chide ? 
 
 What shall withstand the great decree, 
 
 When a brave nation will be free ? " 
 
 IT is flesh and blood that makes husbands 
 and wives, fathers and children, and for 
 the next few days these ties were sorely 
 wounded in Robert Worth's house. The Se- 
 fiora was what Rachela called " difficult." In 
 reality, she was angry and sullen. At such 
 times she always went early to mass, said many 
 prayers, and still further irritated herself by 
 unnecessary fasting. But there are few homes 
 which totally escape the visitations of this 
 SS 
 
86 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 pious temper in some form or other. And no 
 creed modifies it ; the strict Calvinist and strict 
 Catholic are equally disagreeable while under 
 its influence. 
 
 Besides, the Sefiora, like the ill-tempered 
 prophet, thought she " did well to be angry." 
 She imagined herself deserted and betrayed in 
 all her tenderest feelings, her husband a rebel, 
 her home made desolate, her sons and daugh- 
 ters supporting their father's imprudent views. 
 She could only see one alternative before her ; 
 she must choose between her country and her 
 religion, or her husband and children. 
 
 True, she had not yet heard from her sons, 
 but she would listen to none of Rachela's 
 hopes regarding them. Thomas had always 
 said yes to all his father's opinions. How 
 could she expect anything from John when he 
 was being carefully trained in the very princi- 
 ples which everywhere made the Americans so 
 irritating to the Mexican government. 
 
 Her husband and Antonia she would not 
 see. Isabel she received in her darkened 
 room, with passionate weeping and many re- 
 proaches. The unhappy husband had ex- 
 pected this trouble at the outset. It was one 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 87 
 
 of those domestic thorns which fester and 
 hamper, but to which the very best of men 
 have to submit. He could only send pleasant 
 and affectionate messages by Rachela, know- 
 ing that Rachela would deliver them with her 
 own modifications of tone and manner. 
 
 " The Seftor sends his great love to the Se- 
 flora. Grace of Mary ! If he would do a little 
 as the most wise and tender of spouses wishes 
 him ! That would be for the good fortune of 
 every one." 
 
 " Ah, Rachela, my heart is broken ! Bring 
 me my mantilla. I will go to early mass, 
 when one's husband and children forsake 
 them, who, then, is possible but the Holy 
 Mother?" 
 
 " My Seftora, you will take cold ; the morn- 
 ing is chill ; besides, I have to say the streets 
 will be full of those insolent Americans." 
 
 " I shall be glad to take cold, perhaps 
 even to die. And the Americans do not 
 offend women. Even the devil has his good 
 points." 
 
 " Holy Virgin ! Offend women ! They do 
 not even think us worth looking at. But then 
 it is an intolerable offence to see them stand- 
 
88 WOVEN OF LOV AND GLORY. 
 
 ing in our streets, as if they had made the 
 whole land." 
 
 But this morning, early as it was, the streets 
 were empty of Americans. There had been 
 hundreds of them there at the proclamation ; 
 there was not one to be seen twelve hours af- 
 terwards. But at the principal rendezvous of 
 the city, and on the very walls of the Alamo, 
 they had left this characteristic notice ; 
 
 " To SANTA ANNA : 
 
 If you want our arms take them. 
 
 TEN THOUSAND AMERICAN TEXANS. 
 
 Robert Worth saw it with an irrepressible 
 emotion of pride and satisfaction. He had 
 faithfully fulfilled his promise to his con- 
 science, and, with his rifle across his shoulder, 
 and his revolvers and knife in his belt, was tak- 
 ing the road to his office with a somewhat 
 marked deliberation. He was yet a remark, 
 ably handsome man ; and what man is there 
 that a rifle does not give a kind of nobility to ? 
 With an up-head carriage and the light of h.V 
 soul in his face, he trod the narrow, uneven 
 street like a soldier full of enthusiasm at his 
 own commission 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 89 
 
 No one interfered with his solitary parade. 
 He perceived, indeed, a marked approval of it. 
 The Zavalas, Navarros, Garcias, and other 
 prominent citizens, addressed him with but a 
 slightly repressed sympathy. They directed 
 his attention with meaning looks to the counter-, 
 proclamation of the Americans. They made 
 him understand by the pressure of their hands 
 that they also were on the side of liberty. \ 
 
 As he did not hurry, he met several officers, 
 but they wisely affected not to see what they 
 did not wish to see. For Doctor Worth was a 
 person to whom very wide latitude might be 
 given. To both the military and the civilians 
 his skill was a necessity. The attitude he had 
 taken was privately discussed, but no one pub- 
 licly acted or even commented upon it. Per- 
 haps he was a little disappointed at this. He 
 had come to a point when a frank avowal of 
 his opinions would be a genuine satisfaction ; 
 when, in fact, his long-repressed national feel- 
 ing was imperious. 
 
 On the third morning, as he crossed the 
 Plaza, some one called him. The voice made 
 his heart leap ; his whole nature responded to 
 it like the strings of a harp to the sweep of a 
 
90 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 skilful hand. He turned quickly, and saw two 
 young men galloping towards him. The fore- 
 most figure was his son his beloved youngest 
 son whom he had just been thinking of as 
 well out of danger, safe and happy in the peace- 
 ful halls of Columbia. And lo ! here he was 
 in the very home of the enemy ; and he was 
 glad of it. 
 
 "Why, Jack!" he cried; "Why, Jack, my 
 boy! I never thought of you here." He had 
 his hand on the lad's shoulder, and was gazing 
 into his bright face with tears and smiles and 
 happy wonder. 
 
 " Father, I had to come. And there are 
 plenty more coming. And here is my other 
 self the best fellow that ever lived : Darius 
 Grant. 'Dare' \ve call him, father, for there is 
 not anything he won't venture if he thinks it 
 worth the winning. And how is mi madre and 
 Antonia, and Iza? And isn't it jolly to see 
 you with a rifle ? " 
 
 "Well, Dare; well, Jack; you arc both wel- 
 come ; never so welcome to Texas as at this 
 hour. Come home at once and refresh your- 
 selves." 
 
 There was so much to tell that at first the 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE, $t 
 
 conversation was in fragments and exclama- 
 tions, and the voices of the two young men, 
 pitched high and clear in their excitement, 
 went far before them as if impatient of their 
 welcome. Antonia heard them first. She was 
 on the balcony, standing thoughtful and attent. 
 It seemed to her as if in those days she was 
 always listening. Jack's voice was the loudest, 
 but she heard Dare's first. It vibrated in mid- 
 air and fell upon her consciousness, clear and 
 sweet as a far-away bell. 
 
 " That is Dare's voice here'' 
 
 She leaned forward, her soul hearkened after 
 the vibrations, and again they called her. 
 With swift steps she reached the open door. 
 Racheia sat in her chair within it. 
 
 " The Sefiorita had better remain within," 
 she said, sullenly ; " the sun grows hot." 
 
 " Let me pass, Racheia, I am in a hurry." 
 
 " To be sure, the Sefiorita will have her 
 way good or bad." 
 
 Antonia heeded her not ; she was hastening 
 down the main avenue toward the gateway. 
 This avenue was hedged on each side with 
 oleanders, and they met in a light, waving arch 
 above her head. At this season they were one 
 
93 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 mass of pale pink blossoms and dark glossy 
 leaves. The vivid sunshine through them 
 made a rosy light which tinged her face and 
 her white gown with an indescribable glow. If 
 a mortal woman can ever look like an angel, 
 the fair, swiftly moving Antonia had at that 
 moment the angelic expression of joy and 
 love ; the angelic unconsciousness of rapid and 
 graceful movement ; the angelic atmosphere 
 that was in itself a dream of paradise ; rose- 
 tinted, divinely sweet and warm. 
 
 Dare saw her coming, and suddenly ceased 
 speaking He was in the midst of a sentence, 
 but he forgot what he was saying. He forgot 
 where he was. He knew nothing, felt nothing, 
 saw nothing, heard nothing but Antonia. And 
 yet he did not fall at her feet, and kiss her hands 
 and whisper delightful extravagances ; all of 
 which things an Iberian lover would have 
 done, and felt and looked in the doing per- 
 fectly graceful and natural. 
 
 Dare Grant only clasped both the pretty 
 hands held out to him ; only said " Antonia ! An- 
 tonia!" only looked at her with eyes full of a 
 loving question, which found its instant answer 
 in her own. In that moment they revealed tq 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 93 
 
 each other the length and breadth, the height 
 and the depth of their affection. They had not 
 thought of disguising it ; they made no attempt 
 to do so ; and Robert Worth needed not the 
 confession which, a few hours later, Grant 
 thought it right to make to him. 
 
 When they entered the house together, a 
 happy, noisy group, Rachela had left her chair 
 and was going hurriedly upstairs to tell the 
 Sefiora her surmise ; but Jack passed her with 
 a bound, and was at his mother's siae before 
 the heavy old woman had comprehended hie 
 passing salutation. 
 
 " Madre ! Mother, I am here ! " 
 
 The Sefiora was on her couch in her darkened 
 room. She had been at the very earliest mass, 
 had a headache, and had come home in a 
 state of rebellion against heaven and earth. 
 But Jack was her idol, the one child for whose 
 presence she continually pined, the one human 
 creature to whose will and happiness she de- 
 lighted to sacrifice her own. When she heard 
 his voice she rose quickly, crying out : 
 
 "A miracle ! A miracle ! Grace of God and 
 Mary, a miracle ! Only this morning, my pre- 
 cious, my boy ! I asked the Holy Mother to 
 
94 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY, 
 
 pity my sorrows, and send you to me. I vow 
 to Mary a new shrine. I vow to keep it, and 
 dress it for one whole year. I will give my 
 opal ring to the poor. Oh, Juan ! Juan ! Juan ! 
 I am too blessed." 
 
 Her words were broken into pieces by his 
 kisses. He knelt at her knees, and stroked her 
 face, and patted her hands, and did all with 
 such natural fervor and grace, that anything 
 else, or anything less, must have seemed cold 
 and unfilial. 
 
 " Come, my beautiful mother, and see my 
 friend. I have told him so much about you ; 
 and poor Dare has no mother. I have promised 
 him that you will be his mother also. Dare 
 is so good the finest fellow in all the world ; 
 come down and see Dare, and let us have a 
 real Mexican dinner, madre. I have not tasted 
 an olla since I left you." 
 
 She could not resist him. She made Rachela 
 lay out her prettiest dress, and when Jack said 
 "how beautiful your hair is, mother; no one has 
 hair like you ! " she drew out the great shell 
 pins, and let it fall like a cloud around her, 
 and with a glad pride gave Rachela the order 
 to et out her jewelled comb and gilded fan and 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 95 
 
 finest mantilla. And oh ! how happy is that 
 mother who has such pure and fervent admira- 
 tion from her son ; and how happy is that son 
 to whom his mother is ever beautiful ! 
 
 Jack's presence drove all the evil spirits out 
 of the house. The windows were thrown open ; 
 the sunshine came in. He was running after 
 Isabel, he was playing the mandolin ; his voice, 
 his laugh, his quick footstep, were everywhere. 
 
 In spite of the trouble in the city, there was 
 a real festival in the house. The Sefiora came 
 down in her sweetest temper and her finest 
 garments. She arranged Jack's dinner herself, 
 selected the dishes and gave strict orders about 
 their serving. She took Jack's friend at once 
 into her favor, and Dare thought her wonder- 
 fully lovely and gracious. He sat with her on 
 the balcony, and talked of Jack, telling her how 
 clever he was, and how all his comrades loved 
 him for his sunny temper and affectionate 
 heart. 
 
 It was a happy dinner, lengthened out with 
 merry conversation. Every one thought that 
 a few hours might be given to family love and 
 family joy. It would be good to have the 
 memory of them in the days that were fast 
 
$6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 coming. So they sat long over the sweetmeats, 
 and fresh figs, and the pale wines of Xeres and 
 Alicante. And they rose up with laughter, 
 looking into each others' faces with eyes that 
 seemed to bespeak love and remembrance. 
 And then they went from the table, and saw 
 not Destiny standing cold and pitiless behind 
 them, marking two places for evermore vacant. 
 
 There was not much siesta that day. The 
 Seftora, Isabel and Jack sat together ; the 
 Seflora dozed a little, but not enough to lose 
 consciousness of Jack's presence and Jack's 
 voice. The father, happy, and yet acutely 
 anxious, went to and fro between his children 
 and his study. Antonia and Dare were in the 
 myrtle walk or under the fig-tree. This hour 
 was the blossoming time of their lives. And it 
 was not the less sweet and tender because of 
 the dark shadows on the edge of the sunshine. 
 Nor were they afraid to face the shadows, to 
 inquire of them, and thus to taste the deeper 
 rapture of love when love is gemmed with 
 tears. i 
 
 It was understood that the young men were 
 
 'going away in the morning very early ; so 
 
 early that their adieus must be said with their 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 97 
 
 good-nights. It was at this hour that the 
 Scfiora found courage to ask : 
 
 " My Juan, where do you go ? " 
 
 "To Gonzales, mi madre." 
 
 "But why? Oh, Juan, do not desert your 
 madre, and your country ! " 
 
 " Desert you, madre ! I am your boy to my 
 last breath ! My country I love with my 
 whole soul. That is why I have come back to 
 you and to her! She is in trouble and her 
 sons must stand by her." 
 
 " Do not talk with two meanings. Oh, Juan ! 
 why do you go to Gonzales ? " 
 
 " We have heard that Colonel Ugartchea is 
 to be there soon, and to take away the arms of 
 the Americans. That is not to be endured. 
 If you yourself were a man, you would have 
 been away ere this to help them, I am 
 sure." 
 
 11 Me/! The Blessed Virgin knows I would 
 ut off my hands and feet first. Juan, listen to 
 tne dear one ! You are a Mexican." 
 
 " My heart is Mexican, for it is yours. But 
 I must stand with my father and with my 
 brother, and with my American compatriots. 
 Are we slaves, that we must give up our arms? 
 
 7 
 
98 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 No, but if we gave them up we should deserve 
 to be slaves." { 
 
 "God and the saints !" she answered, pas- 
 sionately. " What a trouble about a few guns ! 
 One would think the Mexicans wanted the 
 wives and children, the homes and lands of the 
 Americans. They cry out from one end of 
 Texas to the other." 
 
 " They cry out in old England and in New 
 England, in New York, in New Orleans, and 
 all down the Mississippi. And men are crying 
 back to them : ' Stand to your rifles and we 
 will come and help you ! ' The idea of disarm- 
 ing ten thousand Americans !" Jack laughed 
 with scornful amusement at the notion. 
 " What a game it will be ! Mother, you can't 
 tell how a man gets to love his rifle. He that 
 takes our purse takes trash ; but our rifles ! 
 By George Washington, that's a different 
 story ! " 
 
 " Juan, my darling, you are my last hope. 
 Your brother was Lorn with an American 
 heart. He has even become a heretic. Fray 
 Ignatius says he went into the Colorado and 
 was what they call immersed ; he that was bap- 
 tized with holy water by the thrice holy bishop 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 99 
 
 of Durango. My beloved one, go and see Fray 
 Ignatius; late as it is, he will rise and counsel 
 you." 
 
 " My heart, my conscience, my country, my 
 father, my brother, Santa Anna's despotism, 
 have already counselled me." 
 
 " Speak no more. I see that you also are a 
 rebel and a heretic. Mother of sorrows, give 
 me thy compassion ! " Then, turning to Juan, 
 she cried out : " May God pardon me for hav- 
 ing brought into this world such ingrates.! Go 
 from me ! You have broken my heart ! " 
 
 He fell at her feet, and, in spite of her reluc- 
 tance, took her hands 
 
 " Sweetest mother, wait but a little while. 
 You will see that we are right. Do not be 
 cross with Juan. I am going away. Kiss me, 
 mother. Kiss me, and give me your bless- 
 ing." 
 
 " No, I will not bless you. I will not kiss 
 you. You want what is impossible, what is 
 wicked." 
 
 " I want freedom." 
 
 v, "And to get freedom you tread upon your 
 mother's heart. Let loose my hands. I am 
 weary to death of this everlasting talk of 
 
100 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 freedom. I think indeed that the Americans 
 know but two words : freedom and dollars. 
 Ring for Rachela. She, at least, is faithful to 
 me." 
 
 " Not till you kiss me, mother. Do not 
 send me away unblessed and unloved. That 
 is to doom me to misfortune. Mi madre, I 
 beg this favor from you." He had risen, but 
 he still held her hands, and he was weeping 
 as innocent young men are not ashamed to 
 weep. 
 
 If she had looked at him ! Oh, if she had 
 but once looked at his face, she could not have 
 resisted its beauty, its sorrow, its imploration ! 
 But she would not look. She drew her hands 
 angrily away from him. She turned her back 
 upon her suppliant son and imperiously sum- 
 moned Rachela. 
 
 " Good-by, mi madre." 
 
 " Good-by, mi madrc !" 
 
 She would not turn to him, or answer him a 
 word. 
 
 " Mi madre, here comes Rachela ! Say 
 'God bless you, Juan.' It is my last word, 
 sweet mother ! " 
 
 She neither moved nor spoke. The next 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 101 
 
 moment Rachela entered, and the wretched 
 woman abandoned herself to her care with 
 vehement sobs and complainings. 
 
 Jack was inexpressibly sorrowful. He went 
 into the garden, hoping in its silence and soli- 
 tude to find some relief. He loved his mother 
 with his strongest affection. Every one of her 
 sobs wrung his heart. Was it right to wound 
 and disobey her for the sake of freedom ? 
 Mother was a certain good ; freedom only a 
 glorious promise. Mother was a living fact ; 
 freedom an intangible idea. 
 
 Ah, but men have always fought more pas- 
 sionately for ideas than for facts ! Tyrants 
 are safe while they touch only silver and gold ; 
 but when they try to bind a man's ideals the 
 freedom of his citizenship the purity of his 
 faith he will die to preserve them in their in- 
 tegrity. 
 
 Besides, freedom for every generation has 
 but her hour. If that hour is not seized, no 
 other may come for the men who have suf- 
 fered it to pass. But mother would grow 
 more loving as the days went by. And this 
 was ever the end of Jack's reasoning ; for no 
 man knows how deep the roots of his nature 
 
102 WO YEN OF LOVE A ND GL OR Y. 
 
 strike into his native land, until he sees her in 
 the grasp of a tyrant, and hears her crying to 
 him for deliverance. 
 
 The struggle left the impress on his face. 
 He passed a boundary in it. Certain boyish 
 feelings and graces would never again be pos- 
 sible to him. He went into the house, weary, 
 and longing for companionship that would 
 comfort or strengthen him. Only Isabel was 
 in the parlor. She appeared to be asleep 
 among the sofa cushions, but she opened her 
 eyes wide as he took a chair beside her. 
 
 " I have been waiting to kiss you again, 
 Juan ; do you think this trouble will last very 
 long ? " 
 
 "It will be over directly, Iza. Do not fret 
 yourself about it, angel mio. The Americans 
 are great fighters, and their quarrel is just. 
 Well, then, it will be settled by the good God 
 quickly." 
 
 " Rachela says that Santa Anna has sent off 
 a million of men to fight the Americans. 
 Some they will cut in pieces, and some are to 
 be sent to the mines to work in chains." 
 
 " God is not dead of old age, Iza. Santa 
 Anna is a miraculous tyrant. He has com- 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 103 
 
 mitted every crime under heaven, but I think 
 he will not cut the Americans in pieces." 
 
 " And if the Americans should even make 
 him go back to Mexico ! " 
 
 " I think that is very possible." 
 
 "What then, Juan?" 
 
 " He would pay for some of his crimes here ; 
 the rest he would -settle for in purgatory. 
 And you, too, Iza, are you with the Ameri- 
 cans?" 
 
 " Luis Alveda says they are right." 
 
 " Oh-h ! I see! So Luis is to be my brother 
 too. Is that so, little dear ? " 
 
 " Have you room in your heart for him ? Or 
 has this Dare Grant filled it? " 
 
 " If I had twenty sisters, I should have room 
 for twenty brothers, if they were like Dare and 
 Luis. But, indeed, Luis had his place there 
 before I knew Dare." 
 
 " And perhaps you may see him soon ; he is 
 with Seflor Sam Houston. Seftor Houston 
 was here not a week ago. Will you think of 
 that ? And the mother and uncle of Luis are 
 angry at him ; he will be disinherited, and we 
 shall be very poor, I think. But there is always 
 my father, who loves Luis." 
 
104 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Luis will win his own inheritance. I think 
 you will be very rich." 
 
 " And, Juan, if you see Luis, say to him, 
 * Iza thinks of you continually.' " 
 
 At this moment Rachela angrily called her 
 charge 
 
 "Are you totally and forever wicked, disobe- 
 dient one ? Two hours I have been kept wait- 
 ing. Very well ! The Sisters are the only 
 duenna for you ; and back to the convent you 
 shall go to-morrow. The Sefiora is of my 
 mind, also." 
 
 " My father will not permit it. I will go to 
 my father. And think of this, Rachela: I am 
 no longer to be treated like a baby." But she 
 kissed Juan ' farewell/ and went away without 
 further dispute. 
 
 The handsome room looked strangely lonely 
 and desolate when the door had closed behind 
 her. Jack rose, and roughly shook himself, as 
 if by that means he hoped to throw off the 
 oppression and melancholy that was invading 
 even his light heart. Hundreds of moths were 
 dashing themselves to death against the high 
 glass shade that covered the blowing candles 
 from them. He stood and looked at their 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 105 
 
 hopeless efforts to reach the flame. He had an 
 unpleasant thought ; one of those thoughts 
 which have the force of a presentiment. He put 
 it away with annoyance, muttering, "It is time 
 enough to meet misfortune when it comes." 
 
 The sound of a footstep made him stand 
 erect and face the door. 
 
 It was only a sleepy peon with a request 
 that he would go to his father's study. A dif- 
 ferent mental atmosphere met him there. The 
 doctor was walking up and down the room, 
 and Dare and Antonia sat together at the open 
 window. 
 
 " Your father wants to hear about our jour- 
 ney, Jack, Take my chair and tell him what 
 happened. Antonia and I will walk within 
 hearing ; a roof makes me restless such a night 
 as this"; for the waning moon had risen, and 
 the cool wind from the Gulf was shaking a 
 thousand scents from the trees and the flower- 
 ing shrubs. 
 
 The change was made with the words, and 
 the doctor sat down beside his son, " I was 
 asking, Jack, how you knew so much about 
 Texan affairs, and how you came so suddenly 
 to take part in them ? " 
 
io6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Indeed, father, we could not escape know- 
 ing. The Texan fever was more or less in 
 every young man's blood. One night Dare 
 had a supper at his rooms, and there were 
 thirty of us present. A man called Faulkner 
 a fine fellow from Nacogdoches spoke to us. 
 How do you think he spoke, when his only 
 brother, a lad of twenty, is working in a Mexi- 
 can mine loaded with chains?" 
 , "For what?" 
 
 " He said one day that 'the natural bound- 
 aries of the United States are the Atlantic 
 and Pacific oceans.' He was sent to the mines 
 for the words. Faulkner's only hope for him 
 is in the independence of Texas. He had us 
 on fire in five minutes all but Sandy McDon- 
 ald, who loves to argue, and therefore took 
 the Mexican side." 
 
 " What could he say for it ? " 
 
 " He said it was a very unjustlike thing to 
 make Mexico give her American settlers in 
 Texas two hundred and twenty-four millions 
 of acres because she thought a change of gov- 
 ernment best for her own interests." 
 
 "The Americans settled in Texas under the 
 solemn guarantee of the constitution of eighteen 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUET 107 
 
 twenty-four. How many of them would have 
 built homes under a tyrannical despotism like 
 that Santa Anna is now forcing upon them ? " 
 asked the doctor, warmly. 
 
 " McDonald said, ' There is a deal of talk 
 about freedom among you Americans, and it 
 just means nothing at all,' You should have 
 seen Faulkner ! He turned on him like a tor- 
 nado. 'How should you know anything about 
 freedom, McDonald ? ' he cried. ' You are in 
 feudal darkness in the Highlands of Scotland. 
 You have only just emigrated into freedom. 
 But we Americans are born free ! If you can 
 not feel the difference between a federal con- 
 stitution and a military and religious despotism, 
 there is simply no use talking to you. How 
 would you like to find yourself in a country 
 where suddenly trial by jury and the exercise 
 of your religion was denied you? Of course 
 you could abandon the home you had built, 
 and the acres you had bought and put under 
 cultivation, and thus make some Mexican heir 
 to your ten years' labor. Perhaps a Scot, for 
 conscience* sake, would do this.' " 
 
 " And what answer made he ? " 
 
 " He said, 'A Scot kens how to grip tight to 
 
Io8 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ten years' labor as well as yoursel', Faulkner; 
 and neither man nor de'il can come between 
 him and his religion; but ' 'But} shouted 
 Faulkner ; ' there is no but / It is God and our 
 right! God and our right, against priestcraft 
 and despotism ! ' 
 
 "Then every one of us leaped to our feet, and 
 we swore to follow Faulkner to Texas at an 
 hour's notice ; and Sandy said we were ' a par- 
 cel of fools ' ; and then, would you believe it, 
 father, when our boat was leaving the pier, 
 amid the cheers and hurrahs of thousands, 
 Sandy leaped on the boat and joined us?" 
 
 " What did he say then ? " 
 
 " He said, ' I am a born fool to go with you, 
 but I think there is a kind o' witchcraft in that 
 word Texas. It has been stirring me up morn, 
 ing and night like the voice o' the charmer, 
 and I be to follow it though I ken well enough 
 it isna leading me in the paths o' peace and 
 pleasantness!" 
 
 " Did you find the same enthusiasm outside 
 of New York?" 
 
 "All along the Ohio and Mississippi we gath- 
 ered recruits; and at Randolph, sixty miles above 
 Memphis, we were joined by David Crockett." 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. 109 
 
 "Jack!" 
 
 " True, father ! And then at every landing 
 we took on men. For at every landing Crock- 
 ett spoke to the people ; and, as we stopped 
 very often, we were cheered all the way down 
 the river. The Mediterranean, though the 
 biggest boat on it, was soon crowded ; but at 
 Helena, Crockett and a great number of the 
 leading men of the expedition got off. And as 
 Dare and Crockett had become friends, I fol- 
 lowed them." 
 
 " Where did you go to ? " 
 
 " We went ostensibly to a big barbecue at 
 John Bowie's plantation, which is a few miles 
 below Helena. Invitations to this barbecue 
 had been sent hundreds of miles throughout 
 the surrounding country. We met parties 
 from the depths of the Arkansas wilderness 
 and the furthest boundaries of the Choctaw 
 nation coming to it. There were raftsmen 
 from the Mississippi, from the White, and the 
 St. Francis rivers. There were planters from 
 Lousiana and Tennessee. There were woods- 
 men from Kentucky. There were envoys from 
 New Orleans, Washington, and all the great 
 Eastern cities." 
 
110 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 "I had an invitation myself, Jack." 
 
 " I wish you had accepted it. It was worth 
 the journey. There never was and there never 
 will be such a barbecue again. Thousands 
 were present. The woods were full of sheds 
 and temporary buildings, and platforms for the 
 speakers." 
 
 "Who were the speakers?" 
 
 "Crockett, Hawkins, General Montgomery, 
 Colonel Beauford, the three brothers Cheat- 
 ham, Doc. Bennet, and many others. When 
 the woods were illuminated at night with pine 
 knots, you may imagine the scene and the wild 
 enthusiasm that followed their eloquence." 
 
 " Doc. Bennet is a good partisan, and he is 
 enormously rich." 
 
 " And he has a personal reason for his hatred 
 of Mexico. An insatiable revenge possesses 
 him. His wife and two children were barbar- 
 ously murdered by Mexicans. He appealed to 
 those who could not go to the fight to give 
 money to aid it, and on the spot laid down 
 ten thousand dollars." 
 
 "Good!" 
 
 " Nine other men, either present or there by 
 proxy, instantly gave a like sum, and thirty 
 
A FAMOUS BARBECUE. Ill 
 
 thousand in smaller sums was added to it. 
 
 i . . . 
 
 Every donation was hailed with the wildest 
 transports, and while the woods were ringing 
 with electrifying shouts, Hawkins rallied three 
 hundred men round him and went off at a 
 swinging galop for the Brazos." 
 
 "Oh, Jack! Jack!" 
 
 " In another hour, the rest of the leaders had 
 gathered their detachments, and every man had 
 turned his face to the Texan prairies. Crockett 
 was already far advanced on the way. Sam 
 Houston was known to be kindling the fire on 
 the spot ; and I suppose you know, father," 
 said Jack, sinking his voice to a whisper, " that 
 we have still more powerful backers." 
 
 " General Gaines ? " 
 
 " Well, he has a large body of United States 
 troops at Nacogdoches. He says they are to 
 protect the people of Navasola from the 
 Indians." 
 
 " But Navasola is twenty-nine miles west ol 
 Nacogdoches." 
 
 * " Navasola is in Texas. Very well ! If the 
 
 t United States feel it to be their duty to pro* 
 
 tect the people of Navasola, it seems they 
 
 already consider Texas within their boundary." 
 
,112 WO VEN OF LO VE AND GLOR Y. 
 
 " You think the Indians a mere pretext ? 
 
 " Of course. Crockett has with him an auto- 
 graph letter from President Jackson, introduc- 
 ing him as 'a God-chosen patriot.' President 
 Jackson already sees Texas in the Union, and 
 Gaines understands that if the American- 
 Texans should be repulsed by Santa Anna, and 
 fall back upon him, that he may then gather 
 them under his standard and lead them for- 
 ward to victory and the conquest of Texas. 
 Father, you will see the Stars and Stripes on 
 the palaces of Mexico." 
 
 " Do not talk too fast, Jack. And now, go 
 lie down on my bed. In four hours you must 
 leave, if you want to reach Gonzales to-night ! " 
 
 Then Dare was called, and the lovers knew 
 that their hour of parting was come. They 
 said nothing of the fears in their hearts ; and 
 on Antonia's lifted face there was only the 
 light of love and of hope. 
 
 "The fight will soon be over, darling, and 
 then ! " 
 
 " And then ? We shall be so happy." 
 
, CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED, 
 
 2 Strange sons of Mexico, and strange her fate ; 
 They fight for freedom who were never free ; 
 A kingless people for a nerveless state." 
 ****** 
 
 " Not all the threats or favors of a crown, 
 A Prince's whisper, or a tyrant's frown, 
 Can awe the spirit or allure the mind 
 Of him, who to strict Honor is inclined. 
 Though all the pomp and pleasure that does wait 
 On public places, and affairs of state ; 
 Though all the storms and tempests should arise. 
 That Church magicians in their cells devise, 
 And from their settled basis nations tear : 
 He would, unmoved, the mighty ruin bear. 
 Secure in innocence, contemn them all, 
 And, decently arrayed, in honor fall." 
 ****** 
 
 " Say, what is honor ? 'Tis the finest sense 
 Of justice which the human mind can frame." 
 
 THE keenest sufferings entailed by war are 
 not on the battle-field, nor in the hospital. 
 They are in the household. There are the 
 maimed affections, the slain hopes, the broken 
 ties of love. And before a shot had been fired 
 
114 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 in the war of Texan independence, the battle 
 had begun in Robert Worth's household. 
 
 The young men lay down to rest, but he sat 
 watching the night away. There was a melan- 
 choly sleepiness in it ; the mockingbirds had 
 ceased singing ; the chirping insects had become 
 weary. Only the clock, with its regular " tick, 
 tick," kept the watch with him. 
 
 When it was near dawn, he lifted a candle 
 and went into the room where Jack and Dare 
 were sleeping. Dare did not move ; Jack 
 opened his eyes wide, and smiled brightly at 
 the intruder. 
 
 "Well, father?" 
 
 " It is time to get up, Jack. Tell Dare." 
 
 In a few minutes both came to him. A 
 bottle of wine, some preserved bears' paws, and 
 biscuits were on the table. They ate standing, 
 speaking very little and almost in whispers ; 
 and then the doctor went with them to the 
 stable. He helped Jack to saddle his horse. 
 He found a sad pleasure in coming so close 
 to him. Once their cheeks touched, and the 
 touch brought the tears to his eyes and sent 
 the blood to his heart. 
 
 With his hand on the saddle, Jack paused 
 
ROBERT, WORTH IS DISARMED. 115 
 
 and said, softly, ''Father, dear, tell mi madre 
 my last look at the house, my last thought in 
 leaving it, was for her. She would not kiss me 
 or bless me last night. Ask her to kiss you for 
 me," and then the lad broke fairly down. The 
 moment had come in which love could find no 
 utterance, and must act. He flung his arm 
 around his father's neck and kissed him. And 
 the father wept also, and yet spoke brave words 
 to both as he walked with them to the gate 
 and watched them ride into the thick mist 
 lying upon the prairie like a cloud. They were 
 only darker spots in it. It swallowed them up. 
 They were lost to sight. 
 
 He thought no one had seen the boys leave 
 but himself. But through the lattices two 
 sorrowful women also watched their departure. 
 The Seflora, as wakeful as her husband, had 
 heard the slight movements, the unusual noises 
 of that early hour, and had divined the cause 
 of them. She looked at Rachela. The woman 
 had fallen into the dead sleep of .exhaustion, 
 and she would not have to parry her objections 
 and warnings. Unshod, and in her night-dress, 
 she slipped through the corridor to the back of 
 the house, and tightly clasping her rosary in 
 
Ii6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 her hands, she stood behind the lattice and 
 watched her boy away. 
 
 He turned in his saddle just before he passed 
 the gate, and she saw his young face lifted with 
 an unconscious, anxious love, to the very lattice 
 at which she stood. In the dim light it had a 
 Grange pallor. The misty air blurred and 
 made all indistinct. It was like seeing her 
 Jack in some woful dream. If he had been 
 dead, such a vision of him might have come to 
 her from the shadow land. 
 
 Usually her grief was noisy and imperative 
 of sympathy. But this morning she could not 
 cry nor lament. She went softly back to her 
 room and sat down, with her crucifix before her 
 aching eyes. Yet she could not say her usual 
 prayers. She could not remember anything 
 but Jack's entreaty " Kiss me, mi madre ! 
 , Bless me, mi madre! " She could not see any- 
 thing but that last rapid turn in the saddle, and 
 that piteous young face, showing so weird and 
 dreamlike through the gray mist of the early 
 dawn. 
 
 Antonia had watched with her. Dare, also, 
 had turned, but there had been something about 
 Dare's attitude far more cheery and hopeful. 
 
'ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 1 17 
 
 On the previous night Antonia had put some 
 sprays of rosemary in his hat-band " to bring 
 good, and keep away evil on a journey"; and 
 as he turned and lifted his hat he put his lips to 
 them. He had the belief that from some point 
 his Antonia was watching him. He conveyed 
 to her, by the strength of his love and his will, 
 the assurance of all their hopes. 
 
 That day Doctor Worth did not go out. The 
 little bravado of carrying arms was impossible 
 to him. It was not that his courage had failed, 
 or that he had lost a tittle of his convictions, 
 but he was depressed by the uncertainty of his 
 position and duty, and he was, besides, the thrall 
 of that intangible anxiety which we call pre- 
 sentiment. 
 
 Yet, however dreary life is, it must go on. 
 The brave-hearted cannot drop daily duty. 
 On the second day the doctor went to his office 
 again, and Antonia arranged the meals and re- 
 ceived company, and did her best to bring the 
 household into peaceful accord with the new 
 elements encroaching on it from all sides. 
 
 But the Seftora was more " difficult " than 
 even Rachela had ever seen her before. She 
 did not go to church, but Fray Ignatius spent 
 
IiS WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 a great deal of time with her; and his influence 
 was not any more conciliating than that of 
 early masses and much fasting. 
 
 He said to her, indeed : " My daughter, you 
 have behaved with the fortitude of a saint. It 
 would have been more than a venial sin, if 
 you had kissed and blessed a rebel in the very 
 act of his rebellion. The Holy Mary will 
 reward and comfort you." 
 . But the Sefiora was not sensible of the 
 reward and comfort ; and she did feel most 
 acutely the cruel wound she had given her 
 mother love. Neither prayers nor penance 
 availed her. She wanted to see Jack. She 
 wanted to kiss him a hundred times, and bless 
 him with every kiss. And it did not help her 
 to be told that these longings were the sug- 
 gestions of the Evil One, and not to be 
 listened to. 
 
 The black-robed monk, gliding about his 
 house with downcast eyes and folded hands, 
 had never seemed to Robert Worth so objec- 
 tionable. He knew that he kept the breach 
 open between himself and his wife that he 
 thought it a point of religious duty to do so. 
 He knew that he was gradually isolating the 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 119 
 
 wretched woman from her husband and 
 children, and that the continual repetition of 
 prayers and penances did not give her any 
 adequate comfort for the wrong she was doing 
 her affections. 
 
 The city was also in a condition of the 
 greatest excitement. The soldiers in the 
 Alamo were under arms. Their officers had 
 evidently received important advices from 
 Mexico. General Cos, the brother-in-law of 
 Santa Anna, was now in command, and it was 
 said immense reinforcements were hourly 
 looked for. The drifting American population 
 had entirely vanished, but its palpable absence 
 inspired the most thoughtful of the people 
 with fear instead of security. 
 
 Nor were the military by any means sure of 
 the loyalty of the city. It was well known 
 that a large proportion of the best citizens 
 hated the despotism of Santa Anna ; and that 
 if the Americans attacked San Antonio, they 
 would receive active sympathy. Party feel- 
 ing was no longer controllable. Men suspected 
 each other. Duels were of constant occur- 
 rence, and families were torn to pieces ; for 
 the monks supported Santa Anna with all their 
 
120 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 influence, and there were few women who dared 
 to disobey them. 
 
 Into the midst of this turbulent, touchy 
 community, there fell one morning a word or 
 two which set it on fire. Doctor Worth was 
 talking on the Plaza with Sefior Lopez Navarro. 
 A Mexican soldier, with his yellow cloak stream- 
 ing out behind him, galloped madly towards 
 the Alamo and left the news there. It spread 
 like wildfire. " There had been a fight at 
 Gonzales, and the Americans had kept their 
 arms. They had also put the Mexicans to 
 flight." 
 
 " And more," added a young Mexican com- 
 ing up to the group of which Robert Worth 
 was one, " Stephen Austin has escaped, and 
 he arrived at Gonzales at the very moment of 
 victory. And more yet : Americans are pour- 
 ing into Gonzales from every quarter." 
 
 An officer tapped Doctor Worth on the 
 shoulder. " Sefior Doctor, your arms. Gen- 
 eral Cos hopes, in the present extremity, you 
 will set an example of obedience." 
 
 " I will not give up my arms. In the present 
 extremity my arms are the greatest need I 
 have." 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 121 
 
 "Then Sefior, it is a great affliction to 
 me I must arrest you." 
 
 He was led away, amid the audible murmurs 
 
 of the men who filled the streets. There 
 
 - 
 
 needed but some one to have said the word ' 
 and they would have taken him forcibly from 
 the military. A great crowd followed him to 
 the gates of the Alamo. For there was 
 scarcely a family in San Antonio of which this 
 good doctor was not an adopted member. The 
 arrest of their favorite confessor would hardly 
 have enraged them more. 
 
 Fray Ignatius brought the news to the 
 Sefiora. Even he was affected by it. Never 
 before had Antonia seen him walk except with 
 thoughtful and deliberate steps. She wondered 
 at his appearance; at its suppressed hurry; at 
 a something in it which struck her as sup- 
 pressed satisfaction. 
 
 And the priest was in his heart satisfied ; 
 though he was consciously telling himself 
 that " he was sorry for the Sefiora, and that 
 he would have been glad if the sins of her 
 husband could have been set against the works 
 of supererogation which the saints of his own 
 convent had amassed." 
 
122 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " But he is an infidel ; he believes not in the 
 saints," he muttered ; " then how could they 
 avail him ! " 
 
 Antonia met him at the door. He said an 
 Ave Maria as he crossed the threshold, and 
 gave her his hand to kiss. She looked won- 
 deringly in his face, for unless it was a special 
 visit, he never called so near the Angelus. 
 Still, it is difficult to throw off a habit of obedi- 
 ence formed in early youth ; and she did not 
 feel as if she could break through the chill 
 atmosphere of the man and ask : " For what 
 reason have you come, father ? " 
 
 A long, shrill shriek from the Sefiora was 
 the first answer to the fearful question in her 
 heart. In a few moments she was at her 
 mother's door. Rachela knelt outside it, tell- 
 ing her rosary. She stolidly kept her place, 
 and a certain instinct for a moment prevented 
 Antonia interrupting her. But the passionate 
 words of her mother, blending with the low, 
 measured tones of the priest, were something 
 far more positive. 
 
 " Let me pass you, Rachela. What is the 
 matter with my mother ? " 
 
 The woman was absorbed in her supplica- 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 123 
 
 tions, and Antonia opened the door. Isabel 
 followed her. They found themselves in the 
 the presence of an angry sorrow that appalled 
 them. The Sefiora had torn her lace mantilla 
 into shreds, and they were scattered over the 
 room as she had flung them from her hands in 
 her frantic walk about it. The large shell comb 
 that confined her hair was trodden to pieces, 
 and its long coils had fallen about her face and 
 shoulders. Her bracelets, her chain of gold, 
 her brooch and rings were scattered on the 
 floor, and she was standing in the centre of it> 
 like an enraged creature ; tearing her handker- 
 chief into strips, as an emphasis to her passion- 
 ate denunciations. 
 
 "It serves him right ! Jesus! Maria ! Joseph! 
 It serves him right! He must carry arms! 
 He, too ! when it was forbidden ! I am glad 
 he is arrested ! Oh, Roberto ! Roberto ! " 
 
 " Patience, my daughter ! This is the hand 
 of God. What can you do but submit ? " 
 
 " What is it, mi madre ? " and Isabel put her 
 arms around her mother with the words mi 
 madre. " Tell Isabel your sorrow." 
 
 " Your father is arrested taken to the 
 Alamo he will be sent to the mines, I told 
 
124 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 him so ! I told him so ! He would not listen 
 to me ! How wicked he has been ! " 
 
 " What has my father done, Fray Ignatius ? 
 Why have they arrested him ? " 
 
 The priest turned to Antonia with a cold 
 face. He did not like her. He felt that she 
 did not believe in him. 
 
 " Seftorita, he has committed a treason. A 
 good citizen obeys the law ; Setter Worth has 
 defied it." 
 
 " Pardon, father, I cannot believe it." 
 
 " A great forbearance has been shown him, 
 but the end of mercy comes. As he persisted 
 in wearing arms, he has been taken to the 
 Alamo and disarmed." 
 
 " It is a great shame ! An infamous shame 
 and wrong ! " cried Antonia. " What right has 
 any one to take my father's arms ? No more 
 than they have to take his purse or his coat." 
 
 " General Santa Anna " 
 
 " General Santa Anna is a tyrant and a thief. 
 I care not who says different." 
 
 " Antonia ! Shameless one ! " 
 
 " Mother, do not strike me." Then she took 
 her mother's hands in her own, and led her tq 
 a couch, caressing her as she spoke 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 125 
 
 11 Don't believe any one any one, mother, 
 who says wrong of my father. You know that 
 he is the best of men. Rachela ! Come here 
 instantly. The rosary is not the thing, now. 
 You ought to be attending to the Sefiora. Get 
 her some valerian and some coffee, and come 
 and remove her clothing. Fray Ignatius, we 
 will beg you to leave us to-night to ourselves." 
 
 " Your mother's sin, in marrying a heretic, 
 has now found her out. It is my duty to make 
 her see her fault." 
 
 44 My mother had a dispensation from one 
 greater than you." 
 
 " Oh, father, pray for me ! I accuse myself ! 
 I accuse myself ! Oh, wretched woman ! Oh, 
 cruel husband ! " 
 
 " Mother, you have been a very happy 
 woman. You have had the best husband in 
 the world. Do not reproach my father for the 
 sins of others. Do not desert him when he is 
 in the power of a human tiger. My God, 
 mother ! let us think of something to be done 
 for his help ! I will see the Navarros, the Gar- 
 cias, Judge Valdez ; I will go to the Plaza and 
 call on the thousands he has cured and helped* 
 to set him free." 
 
\ 
 
 126 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " You will make of yourself something not 
 to be spoken of. This is the judgment of God, 
 my daughter." 
 
 " It is the judgment of a wicked man, Fray 
 Ignatius. My mother is not now able to 
 listen to you. Isabel, come here and comfort 
 her." Isabel put her cheek to her mother's ; 
 she murmured caressing words ; she kissed her 
 face, and coiled up her straggling hair, and 
 with childlike trust amid all, solicited Holy 
 Mary to console them. 
 
 Fray Ignatius watched her with a cold 
 scrutiny. He was saying to himself, " It is 
 the fruit of sin. I warned the Seftora, when 
 she married this heretic, that trouble would 
 come of it. Very well, it has come. Then 
 like a flash a new thought invaded his mind 
 If the Sefior Doctor disappeared forever, 
 why not induce the Sefiora and her daughters 
 to go into a religious house? There was a 
 great deal of money. The church could use 
 it well. 
 
 Antonia did not understand the thought, 
 but she understood its animus, and again she 
 requested his withdrawal. This time she went 
 close to him, and bravely looked straight into 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 127 
 
 his eyes. Their scornful gleam sent a chill to 
 her heart like that of cold steel. At that 
 moment she understood that she had turned a 
 passive enemy into an active one. 
 
 He went, however, without further parley, 
 stopping only to warn the Senora against the 
 sin " of standing with the enemies of God 
 and the Holy Church," and to order Isabel 
 to recite for her mother's pardon and comfort 
 a certain number of aves and paternosters. 
 Antonia went with him to the door, and ere he 
 left he blessed her, and said : " The Sefiorita 
 will examine her soul and see her sin. Then 
 the ever merciful Church will hear her confes- 
 sion, and give her the satisfying penance." 
 
 Antonia bowed in response. When people 
 are in great domestic sorrow, self-examination 
 is a superfluous advice. She listened a mo* 
 ment to his departing footsteps, shivering as 
 she stood in the darkness, for a norther had 
 sprung up, and the cold was severe. She only 
 glanced into the pleasant parlor where the 
 table was laid for dinner, and a great fire of 
 cedar logs was throwing red, dancing lights 
 over the white linen and the shining silver and 
 glass. The chairs were placed around the 
 
12$ IV OVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 table ; her father's at the head. It had a for* 
 saken air that was unendurable. 
 
 The dinner hour was now long past. It 
 would be folly to attempt the meal. How 
 could she and Isabel sit down alone and eat, 
 and her father in prison, and her mother 
 frantic with a loss which she was warned it was 
 sinful to mourn over. Antonia had a soul 
 made for extremities and not afraid to face 
 them, but invisible hands controlled her. 
 What could a woman do, whom society had 
 forbidden to do anything, but endure the 
 pangs of patience ? 
 
 The Sefiora could offer no suggestions. She 
 was not indeed in a mood to think of her re- 
 sources. A spiritual dread was upon her. 
 And with this mingled an intense sense of 
 personal wrong from her husband. " Had she 
 not begged him to be passive ? And he had 
 put an old rifle before her and her daughters! 
 It was all that Sefior Houston's doing. She 
 had an assurance of that." She invoked a 
 thousand maledictions on him. She recalled, 
 with passionate reproaches, Jack's infidelity to 
 her and his God and his country. Her anger 
 passed from one subject to another constantly, 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. I2Q 
 
 finding in all, even in the lukewarmness of 
 Antonia and Isabel, and in their affection for 
 lovers, who were also rebels, an accumulating 
 reason for a stupendous reproach against her- 
 self, her husband, her children, and her un- 
 happy fate. Her whole nature was in revolt 
 in that complete mental and moral anarchy 
 from which springs tragedy and murder. 
 
 Isabel wept so violently that she angered 
 still further the tearless suffering of her mother. 
 " God and the saints! " she cried. " What are 
 you weeping for? Will tears do any good? 
 Do I weep ? God has forbidden me to weep 
 for the wicked. Yet how I suffer! Mary, 
 mother of sorrows, pity me ! " 
 
 She sent Isabel away. Her sobs were not 
 to be borne. And very soon she felt Antonia's 
 white face and silent companionship to be just 
 as unendurable. She would be alone. Not 
 even Rachela woul.d she have near her. She 
 put out all the lights but the taper above a 
 large crucifix, and at 'its foot she sat down in 
 tearless abandon, alone with her reproaches 
 and her remorse. 
 
 Antonia watched with her mother, though 
 shut out from her presence. She feared for a 
 
130 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 state of mind so barren of affection, so unsoft* 
 ened by tears. Besides, it was the climax of a 
 condition which had continued ever since she 
 had sent her boy away without a word of love. 
 In the dim corridor outside she sat still, listen- 
 ing for any noise or movement which might 
 demand help or sympathy. It was not nine 
 o'clock ; but the time lengthened itself out be- 
 yond endurance. Even yet she had hope of 
 some word from her father. Surely, they would 
 let him send some word to them ! 
 
 She heard the murmur of voices downstairs, 
 and she thought angrily of Rachela, and Molly, 
 and Manuel, ''making a little confidence 
 together" over their trouble, and spicing their 
 evening gossip with the strange thing that had 
 happened to the Sefior Doctor. She knew that 
 Rachela and Manuel would call him heretic 
 and Americano, and, by authority of these two 
 words, accuse him of every crime. 
 
 Thinking with a swelling heart of these 
 things, she heard the door open, and a step 
 slowly and heavily ascend the stairs. Ere she 
 had time to wonder at it, her father came in 
 sight. There was a shocking change in his air 
 and appearance, but as he was evidently going 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 131 
 
 to her mother's room, she shrank back and sat 
 motionless so as not to attract his attention. 
 
 Then she went to the parlor, and had the fire 
 renewed and food put upon the table. She 
 was sure that he would need it, and she be- 
 lieved he would be glad to talk over with her 
 the events of the afternoon. 
 
 The Seftora was still sitting at the foot of the 
 crucifix when her husband opened the door. 
 She had not been able to pray ; ave and pater- 
 noster alike had failed her. Her rebellious 
 grief filled every corner of her heart. She un- 
 derstood that some one had entered the room, 
 and she thought of Rachela ; but she found a 
 kind of comfort in the dull stupor of grief she 
 was indulging, and she would not break its 
 spell by lifting her head. 
 
 " Maria." 
 
 She rose up quickly and stood gazing at 
 him. 
 
 She did not shriek or exclaim ; her surprise 
 controlled her. And also her terror ; for his 
 face was white as death, and had an expression 
 of angry despair that terrified her. 
 
 "Roberto! Roberto! Mi Roberto! How 
 you have tortured me ! I have nearly died ! 
 
132 WO FEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Fray Ignatius said you had been sent to 
 prison." 
 
 She spoke as calmly as a frightened child ; 
 sad and hesitating. If he had taken her in his 
 arms she would have sobbed her grief away 
 there. 
 
 But Robert Worth was at that hour pos- 
 sessed by two master passions, tyrannical and 
 insatiable they would take notice of nothing 
 that did not minister to them. 
 
 " Maria, they have taken my arms from me. 
 Cowards ! Cowards ! Miserable cowards ! I 
 refused to give them up ! They held my hands 
 and robbed me robbed me of my manhood 
 and honor! I begged them to shoot me ere 
 they did it, and they spoke courteously and re- 
 gretted this, and hoped that, till I felt that it 
 would be a joy to strangle them." 
 
 " Roberto ! Mi Roberto ! You have ne ! " 
 
 " I want my rifle and all it represents. I 
 want myself back again. Maria, Maria, until 
 then, I am not worthy to be any good woman's 
 husband ! " 
 
 " Roberto, dearest ! It is not your fault." 
 
 " It is my fault. I have waited too long. 
 My sons showed me my duty my soul urged 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 133 
 
 me to do it. I deserve the shame, but I will 
 wipe it out with crimson blood." 
 
 The Sefiora stood speechless, wringing her 
 hands. Her own passion was puny beside the 
 sternness, the reality, and the intensity of the 
 quiet rage before her. She was completely 
 mastered by it. She forgot all but the evident 
 agony she could neither mistake nor console. 
 
 " I have come to say 'farewell,' Maria. We 
 have been very happy together Maria our 
 children dearest ' ' 
 
 "Oh, Roberto! My husband! My soul! 
 My life ! Leave me not." 
 
 " I am going for my arms. I will take them 
 a hundredfold from those who have robbed me. 
 I swear I will!" 
 
 "You do not love me. What are these 
 Americans to you ? I am your wife. Your 
 Maria" 
 
 " These Americans are my brothers my 
 sons. My mother is an American woman." 
 
 "And I?" 
 
 " You are my wife my dear wife ! I love 
 you God Almighty knows how well I love 
 you ; but we must part now, at least for a 
 short time. Maria, my dear one, I must go." 
 
134 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 "Go? Whereto?" 
 
 " I am going to join General Houston." 
 
 " I thought so. I knew it. The accursed 
 one ! Oh that I had him here again ! I would 
 bury my stiletto in his heart ! Over the white 
 hilt I would bury it ! I would wash my hands 
 in his blood, and think them blessed ever 
 afterwards! Stay till daylight, Roberto. I 
 have so much to say, dearest." 
 
 " I cannot. I have stayed too long. And 
 now I must ride without a gun or knife to 
 protect me. Any Indian that I meet can scalp 
 me. Do you understand now what disarming 
 means, Maria? If I had gone with my boy, 
 with my brave Jack, I could at least have 
 sold my life to its last drop." 
 
 " In the morning, Roberto, Lopez Navarro 
 will get you a gun. Oh, if you must go, do 
 not go unarmed ! There are ten thousand 
 Comanche between here and the Brazos." 
 
 " How could I look Lopez Navarro in the 
 face? Or any other man? No, no! I must win 
 back my arms, before I can walk the streets of 
 San Antonio again." 
 
 He took her in his arms, he kissed her eyes, 
 her cheeks, her lips, murmuring tender little 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 135 
 
 Spanish words that meant, oh, so much, to 
 the wretched woman ! words she had taught 
 him with kisses words he never used but to 
 her ears only. 
 
 She clung to his neck, to his hands, to his 
 feet ; she made his farewell an unspeakable 
 agony. At last he laid her upon her couch, 
 sobbing and shrieking like a child in an ex- 
 tremity of physical anguish. But he did not 
 blame her. Her impetuosities, her unreason- 
 able extravagances, were a part of her nature, 
 her race, and her character. He did not ex- 
 pect a weak, excitable woman to become sud- 
 denly a creature of flame and steel. 
 
 But it was a wonderful rest to his exhauste.. 
 body and soul to turn from her to Antonia. 
 She led him quietly to his chair by the parlor 
 fire. She gave him food and wine. She lis- 
 tened patiently, but with a living sympathy, 
 to his wrong. She endorsed, with a clasp of 
 his hand and a smile, his purpose. And she 
 said, almost cheerfully : 
 
 "You have not given up all your arms, 
 father. When I first heard of the edict, I hid 
 in my own room the rifle, the powder and the 
 shot, which were in your study. Paola has 
 
136 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 knives in the stable ; plenty of them. Get one 
 from him." 
 
 Good news is a very relative thing. This 
 information made the doctor feel as if all 
 were now easy and possible. The words he 
 said to her, Antonia never forgot. They sang 
 in her heart like music, and led her on through 
 many a difficult path. The conversation then 
 turned upon money matters, and Antonia re- 
 ceived the key of his study, and full direc- 
 tions as to the gold and papers secreted 
 there. 
 
 Then Isabel was awakened, and the rifle 
 brought down ; and Paola saddled the fleetest 
 horse in the stable, and after one solemn five 
 minutes with his daughter, Robert Worth rode 
 away into the midnight darkness, and into a 
 chaos of public events of which no man living 
 could forecast the outcome. 
 
 Rode away from wife and children and 
 home ; leaving behind him the love and labor 
 of his lifetime 
 
 v The thousand sweet, still joys of such 
 As hand in hand face earthly life." 
 
 For what ? For justice, for freedom of thought 
 and action, for the rights of his manhood, for 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 137 
 
 the brotherhood of race and religion and 
 country. Antonia and Isabel stood hand in 
 hand at the same lattice from which the Seflora 
 had watched her son away, and in a dim, un- 
 certain manner these thoughts connected them- 
 selves in each mind with the same mournful 
 inquiry Is it worth while ? 
 
 As the beat of the horse's hoofs died away, 
 they turned. The night was cold but clear, 
 and the sky appeared so high that their eyes 
 throbbed as they gazed upward at the grand 
 arch, sprinkled with suns and worlds. Sud- 
 denly into the tranquil spaces there was flung 
 a sound of joy and revelry ; and the girls 
 stepped to a lattice at the end of the corridor 
 and looked out. 
 
 The residencia of Don Salvo Valasco was 
 clearly visible from this site. They saw that 
 it was illuminated throughout. Lovely women, 
 shining with jewels, and soldiers in scarlet and 
 gold, were chatting through the graceful move- 
 ments of the danza, or executing the more 
 brilliant Jota Aragonesa. The misty beauty 
 of white lace mantillas, the glitter and color of 
 fans and festival dresses, made a moving 
 picture of great beauty. 
 
238 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 And as they watched it there was a cessa- 
 tion of the dance, followed by the rapid sweep 
 of a powerful hand over the strings of a guitar. 
 Then a group of officers stepped together, and 
 a great wave of melodious song, solemn and 
 triumphant, thrilled the night. It was the 
 national hymn. Antonia and Isabel knew_ it. 
 Every word beat upon their hearts. The power 
 of association, the charm of a stately, fervent 
 melody was upon them. 
 
 ' " It is Seftor Higadillos who leads," whis- 
 pered Isabel, as a resonant voice, powerful and 
 sweet, cried 
 
 " O list to the summons ! The blood of our sires, 
 
 Boils high in our veins, and to vengeance inspires ! 
 I Who bows to the yoke ? who bends to the blow ? " 
 
 and, without a moment's hesitation, the answer 
 came in a chorus of enthusiastic cadences 
 
 " No hero will bend, no Mexican bow ; 
 Our country in tears sends her sons to the fight, 
 To conquer, or die, for our land and our right." 
 
 " You see, the Mexicans think they are in 
 the right they are patriots also, Antonia." 
 
 The sorrowful girl spoke like a puzzled child, 
 fretfully and uncertainly, and Antonia led her 
 
ROBERT WORTH IS DISARMED. 139 
 
 silently away. What could she answer? And 
 when she remembered the dear fugitive, riding 
 alone through the midnight riding now for 
 life and liberty she could not help the uprising 
 again of that cold benumbing question " Is it 
 worth while ? " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 
 
 " All faiths are to their own believers just, 
 For none believe because they will, but must ; 
 The priest continues what the nurse began, 
 And thus the child imposes on the man." 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 " if he be called upon to face 
 Some awful moment, to which heaven has joined 
 Great issues good or bad for humankind, 
 Is happy as a lover ; and attired 
 "With sudden brightness, like a man inspired ; 
 And through the heat of conflict keeps the law 
 In calmness made ; and sees what he foresaw, 
 Or, if an unexpected call succeed, 
 Come when it will, is equal to the need." 
 
 WORDSWORTH. 
 
 " Ah ! love, let us be true 
 
 To one another, through the world which seems 
 To lie before us like a land of dreams ! " 
 
 THE gathering at Don Valasco's was con- 
 stantly repeated in various degrees of 
 splendor among the loyal Mexicans of the 
 city. They were as fully convinced of the 
 justice of their cause as the Americans were. 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 141 
 
 " They had graciously permitted Americans to 
 make homes in their country ; now they wanted 
 not only to build heretic churches and sell her- 
 etic bibles, but also to govern Texas after their 
 own fashion." From a Mexican point of view 
 the American settlers were a godless, atheisti- 
 cal, quarrelsome set of ingrates. For eaten 
 bread is soon forgotten, and Mexicans disliked 
 to remember that their own independence had 
 been won by the aid of the very men they 
 were now trying to force into subjection. 
 
 The two parties were already in array in 
 every house in the city. The Sefiora at variance 
 with her daughters, their Irish cook quarrelling 
 with their Mexican servants, only represented 
 a state of things nearly universal. And after 
 the failure of the Mexicans at Gonzales to dis- 
 arm the Americans, the animosity constantly 
 increased. 
 
 In every church, the priests more bitter, 
 fierce and revengeful than either the civil or 
 military power urged on the people an exter- 
 minating war. A black flag waved from the Mis- 
 sions, and fired every heart with an unrelenting 
 vengeance and hatred. To slay a heretic was 
 a free pass through the dolorous pains of pur- 
 
142 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 gatory. For the priesthood foresaw that the 
 triumph of the American element meant the 
 triumph of freedom of conscience, and the 
 abolition of their own despotism. To them the 
 struggle was one involving all the privileges of 
 their order ; and they urged on the fight with 
 passionate denunciations of the foe, and with 
 magnificent promises of spiritual favors and 
 blessings. In the fortress, the plaza, the houses, 
 the churches, the streets, their fiery words kept 
 society in a ferment. 
 
 . But through all this turmoil the small duties 
 of life went on. Soldiers were parading the 
 streets, and keeping watch on the flat roofs of 
 the houses ; men were solemly swearing alle- 
 giance to Santa Anna, or flying by night to the 
 camp of the Americans ; life and death were 
 held at a pin's fee ; but eating and dressing, 
 dancing and flirting, were pursued with an 
 eagerness typical of pleasure caught in the 
 passing. 
 
 ; And every hour these elements gathered 
 intensity. The always restless populace of 
 San Antonio was at a feverish point of impa~ 
 tience. They wanted the war at their own 
 doors. They wanted the quarrel fought out 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 143 
 
 on their own streets. Business took a second- 
 ary place. Men fingered weapons and dreamed 
 of blood, until the temper of the town was as 
 boisterous and vehement as the temper of the 
 amphitheatre when impatiently waiting for 
 the bulls and the matadores. 
 
 Nor was it possible for Antonia to lock the 
 door upon this pervading spirit. After Doctor 
 Worth's flight, it became necessary for her to 
 assume control over the household. She had 
 promised him to do so, and she was resolved, 
 in spite of all opposition, to follow out his 
 instructions. But it was by no means an easy 
 task. 
 
 Fray Ignatius had both the Sefiora and 
 Rachela completely under his subjection. 
 Molly, the Irish cook, was already dissatisfied. 
 The doctor had saved her life and given her a 
 good home and generous wages, and while the 
 doctor was happy and prosperous Molly was 
 accordingly grateful. But a few words from 
 the priest set affairs in a far pleasanter light to 
 her. She was a true Catholic ; the saints sent 
 the heretic doctor to help. It was therefore 
 the saints to whom gratitude was due. Had 
 she not earned her good wage ? And would not 
 
144 WOVEN OP LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Don Angel Sandoval give her a still larger 
 sum? Or even the Brothers at the Mission of 
 San Jose" ? Molly listened to these words with 
 a complacent pleasure. She reflected that it 
 would be much more agreeable to her to be 
 where she could entirely forget that she had 
 ever been hungry and friendless, and lying at 
 death's door. 
 
 Antonia knew also that Rachela was at heart 
 unfaithful, and soon the conviction was forced 
 an her that servants are never faithful beyond 
 the line of their own interest that it is, indeed, 
 against certain primary laws of nature to expect 
 it. Certainly, it was impossible to doubt that 
 there was in all their dependents a kind of satis- 
 faction in their misfortunes. 
 
 The doctor had done them favors how un, 
 pleasant was their memory ! The Sefiora had 
 offended them by the splendor of her dress, 
 and her complacent air of happiness. Antonia's 
 American ways and her habit of sitting for 
 hours with a book in her hand were a great 
 irritation. 
 
 " She wishes to be thought wiser than other 
 women as wise as even a holy priest she! that 
 never goes to mass, and is nearly a heretic." 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. MS 
 
 said the house steward ; and as for the Seflorita 
 Isabel, a little trouble will be good for her ! 
 Holy Mary ! the way she has been pampered 
 and petted ! It is an absurdity. ' Little dear/ 
 and ' angel/ are the hardest words she hears. 
 Si! if God did not mercifully abate a little the 
 rich they would grow to be 'almightys/ ' 
 
 This was the tone of the conversation of the 
 servants of the household. It was not an un- 
 natural tone, but it was a very unhappy one. 
 People cannot escape from the mood of mind 
 they habitually indulge, and from the animus 
 of the words they habitually use ; and Antonia 
 felt and understood the antagonistic atmos- 
 phere. For the things which we know best of 
 all are precisely the things which no one has 
 ever told us. 
 
 The Sefiora, in a plain black serge gown, 
 and black rebozo over her head, spent her time 
 in prayers and penances. The care of her 
 household had always been delegated to her 
 steward, and to Rachela ; while the duties 
 that more especially belonged to her, had been 
 fulfilled by her husband and by Antonia. In 
 many respects she was but a grown-up baby. 
 And so, in this great extremity, the only duty 
 
 10 
 
146 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY, 
 
 which pressed upon her was the idea of sup- 
 plicating the saints to take charge of her un- 
 happy affairs. 
 
 And Fray Ignatius was daily more hard with 
 her. Antonia even suspected from his grow- 
 ing intolerance and bitterness, that the Ameri- 
 cans were gaining unexpected advantages. 
 But she knew nothing of what was happening. 
 She could hear from afar off the marching and 
 movements of soldiers ; the blare of military 
 music ; the faint echoes of hurrahing multi- 
 tudes ; but there was no one to give her any 
 certain information. Still, she guessed some- 
 thing from the anger of the priest and the 
 reticence of the Mexican servants. If good 
 fortune had been with Santa Anna, she was 
 sure she would have heard of " The glorious ! 
 The invincible ! The magnificent Presidente 
 de la Republica Mexicana ! The Napoleon of 
 the West ! " 
 
 It was not permitted her to go into the city. 
 A proposal to do so had been met with a 
 storm of angry amazement. And steam and 
 electricity had not then annihilated distance 
 and abolished suspense. She could but won- 
 der and hope, and try to read the truth from a 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 147 
 
 Covert inspection of the face and words of 
 Fray Ignatius. 
 
 Between this monk and herself the breach 
 was hourly widening. With angry pain she 
 saw her mother tortured between the fact that 
 she loved her husband, and the horrible doubt 
 that to love him was a mortal sin. She under- 
 stood the underlying motive which prompted 
 the priest to urge upon the Sefiora the re- 
 moval of herself and her daughters to the con- 
 vent. His offer to take charge of the Worth 
 residencia and estate was in her conviction a 
 proposal to rob them of all rights in it. She 
 felt certain that whatever the Church once 
 grasped in its iron hand, it would ever retain. 
 And both to Isabel and herself the thought 
 of a convent was now horrible. " They will 
 force me to be a nun," said Isabel ; "and then, 
 what will Luis do ? And they will never tell 
 me anything about my father and my brothers. 
 I should never hear of them. I should never 
 see them any more ; unless the good God was 
 so kind as to let me meet them in his heaven." 
 
 And Antonia had still darker and more fear- 
 ful thoughts. She had not forgotten the 
 stories whispered to her childhood, of dreadful 
 
148 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 fates reserved for contumacious and disobe- 
 dient women. Whenever Fray Ignatius looked 
 at her she felt as if she were within the shadow 
 of the Inquisition. 
 
 Never had days passed so wearily and anx- 
 iously. Never had nights been so terrible. 
 The sisters did not dare to talk much together; 
 they doubted Rachela ; they were sure their 
 words were listened to and repeated. They 
 were not permitted to be alone with the 
 Seftora. Fray Ignatius had particularly warned 
 Rachela to prevent this. He was gradually 
 bringing the unhappy woman into what he 
 called "a heavenly mind" the influence of 
 her daughters, he was sure, would be that of 
 worldly affections and sinful liberty. And 
 Rachela obeyed the confessor so faithfully, 
 that the Sefiora was almost in a state of solitary 
 confinement. Every day her will was growing 
 weaker, her pathetic obedience more child- 
 like and absolute. 
 
 But at midnight, when every one was asleep, 
 Antonia stepped softly into her sister's room 
 and talked to her. They sat in Isabel's bed 
 clasping each other's hand in the dark, and 
 speaking in whispers. Then Antonia warned 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT.' 149 
 
 and strengthened Isabel. She told her all her 
 fears. She persuaded her to control her wil- 
 fulness, to be obedient, and to assume the 
 childlike thoughtlessness which best satisfied 
 Fray Ignatius. " He told you to-day to be 
 happy, that he would think for you. My dar- 
 ling, let him believe that is the thing you 
 want," said Antonia. " I assure you we shall 
 be the safer for it." 
 
 " He said to me yesterday, when I asked 
 him about the war, ' Do not inquire, child, into 
 things you do not understand. That is to be 
 irreligious/ and then he made the cross on 
 his breast, as if I had put a bad thought into his 
 heart. We are afraid all day, and we sit 
 whispering all night about our fears ; that is 
 the state we are in. The Lord sends us noth- 
 ing but misfortunes, Antonia." 
 
 " My darling, tell the Lord your sorrow, then, 
 but do not repine to Rachela or Fray Ignatius. 
 That is to complain to the merciless of the 
 All-Merciful." 
 
 " Do you think I am wicked, Antonia ? What 
 excuse could I offer to His Divine Majesty, if 
 I spoke evil to him of Rachela and Fray 
 Ignatius ? " 
 
15 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Neither of them are our friends ; do you 
 think so?" 
 
 " Fray Ignatius looks like a goblin ; he gives 
 me a shiver when he looks at me ; arid as for 
 Rachela I already hate her ! " 
 
 " Do not trust her. You need not hate her, 
 Isabel." 
 
 "Antonia, I know that I shall eternally 
 hate her ; for I am sure that our angels are at 
 variance." 
 
 In conversations like these the anxious girls 
 passed the long, and often very cold, nights. 
 The days were still worse, for as November 
 went slowly away the circumstances which sur- 
 rounded their lives appeared to constantly 
 gather a more decided and a bitterer tone. 
 December, that had always been such a month 
 of happiness, bright with Christmas expecta- 
 tions and Christmas joys, came in with a ter- 
 ribly severe, wet norther. The great log fires 
 only warmed the atmosphere immediately 
 surrounding them, and Isabel and Antonia sat 
 gloomily within it all day. It seemed to 
 Antonia as if her heart had come to the very 
 end of hope ; and that something must 
 happen. 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 151 
 
 The rain lashed the earth ; the wind roared 
 around the house, and filled it with unusual 
 noises. The cold was a torture that few found 
 themselves able to endure. But it brought a 
 compensation. Fray Ignatius did not leave 
 the Mission comforts ; and Rachela could not 
 bear to go prowling about the corridors and 
 passages. She established herself in the Se- 
 fiora's room, and remained there. And very 
 early in the evening she said " she had an out- 
 rageous headache," and went to her room. 
 
 Then Antonia and Isabel sat awhile by their 
 mother's bed. They talked in whispers of their 
 father and brothers, and when the Sefiora cried, 
 they kissed her sobs into silence and wiped 
 her tears away. In that hour, if Fray Ignatius 
 had known it, they undid, in a great measure, 
 the work to which he had given more than a 
 month of patient and deeply-reflective labor. 
 For with the girls, there was the wondrous 
 charm of love and nature ; but with the priest, 
 only a splendid ideal of a Church universal that 
 was to swallow up all the claims of love and all 
 the ties of nature. 
 
 It was nearly nine o'clock when Antonia and 
 Isabel returned to the parlor fire. Their hearts 
 
152 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY 
 
 were full of sorrow for their mother, and of fears 
 for their own future. For this confidence had 
 shown them how firmly the refuge of the con- 
 vent had been planted in the anxious ideas of 
 the Sefiora. Fortunately, the cold had driven 
 the servants either to the kitchen fire or to 
 their beds, and they could talk over the sub- 
 ject without fear of interference. 
 
 " Are you sleepy, queridita? "(little dear). 
 
 " I think I shall never go to sleep again, 
 Antonia. If I shut my eyes I shall find myself 
 in the convent ; and I do not want to go there 
 even in a dream. Do you know Mother Te- 
 resa? Well then, I could tell you things. 
 And she does not like me, I am sure of that ; 
 quite sure." 
 
 " My darling, I am going to make us a cup 
 of tea. It will do us good." 
 
 " If indeed it were chocolate ! " 
 
 " I cannot make chocolate now ; but you 
 shall have a great deal of sugar in your cup, 
 and something good to eat also. There, my 
 darling, put your chair close to the fire, and we 
 will sit here until we are quite sleepy." 
 
 With the words she went into the kitchen. 
 Molly was nodding over her beads, in the com- 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 153 
 
 fortable radius made by the blazing logs ; no 
 one else was present but a young peon. He 
 brought a small kettle to the parlor fire, and 
 lifted a table to the hearth, and then replenished 
 the pile of logs for burning during the night. 
 Isabel, cuddling in a large chair, watched 
 Antonia, as she went softly about putting 
 on the table such delicacies as she could find 
 at that hour. Tamales and cold duck, sweet 
 cake and the guava jelly that was Isabel's favor- 
 ite dainty. There was a little comfort in the 
 sight of these things ; and also, in the bright 
 silver teapot standing so cheerfully on the 
 hearth, and diffusing through the room a warm 
 perfume, at once soothing and exhilarating. 
 
 " I really think I shall like that American tea 
 to-night, Antonia, but you must half fill my 
 cup with those little blocks of sugar quite 
 half fill it, Antonia; and have you found cream, 
 my dear one? Then a great deal of cream." 
 
 Antonia stood still a moment and looked at 
 the drowsy little beauty. Her eyes were 
 closed, and her head nestled comfortably in a 
 corner of the padded chair. Then a hand 
 upon the door-handle arrested her attention, 
 and Antonia turned her eyes from Isabel and 
 
*54 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 watched it. Ortiz, the peon, put his head 
 within the room, and then disappeared ; but 
 oh, wonder and joy ! Don Luis entered swiftly 
 after him; and before any one could say a 
 word, he was kneeling by Isabel kissing her 
 hand and mingling his exclamations of rapture 
 with hers. 
 
 Antonia looked with amazement and delight 
 at this apparition. How had he come? She 
 put her hand upon his sleeve ; it was scarcely 
 wet. His dress was splendid ; if he had been 
 going to a tertullia of the highest class, he 
 could not have been more richly adorned. 
 And the storm was yet raging ! It was a 
 miracle. 
 
 ''Dear Luis, sit down ! Here is a chair close 
 to Iza ! Tell her your secrets a few minutes, 
 and I will go for mi madre. O yes ! She will 
 come ! You shall see, Iza ! And then, Luis, 
 we shall have some supper." 
 
 "You see that I am in heaven already, 
 Antonia; though, indeed, I am also hungry 
 and thirsty, my sister." 
 
 Antonia was not a minute in reaching her 
 mother's room. The unhappy lady was half- 
 lying among the large pillows of her gilded 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGItT. 155 
 
 bed, wide awake. Her black eyes were fixed 
 upon a crucifix at its foot, and she was slowly 
 murmuring prayers upon her rosary. 
 
 " Madre ! Madre ! Luis is here, Luis is 
 here ! Come quick, mi madre. Here are your 
 stockings and slippers, and your gown, and 
 your mantilla no, no, no, do not call Rachela. 
 Luis has news of my father, and of Jack ! Oh, 
 madre, he has a letter from Jack to you ! 
 Come dear, come, in a few minutes you will be 
 ready." 
 
 She was urging and kissing the trembling 
 woman, and dressing her in despite of her faint 
 effort to delay to call Rachela to bring Luis 
 to her room. In ten minutes she was ready. 
 She went down softly, like a frightened child, 
 Antonia cheering and encouraging her in 
 whispers. 
 
 When she entered the cheerful parlor the 
 shadow of a smile flitted over her wan face. 
 Luis ran to meet her. He drew the couch 
 close to the hearth ; he helped Antonia arrange 
 her comfortably upon it. He made her tea, 
 and kissed her hands when he put it into 
 them. And then Isabel made Luis a cup, and 
 cut his tamales, and waited upon him with such 
 
156 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 pretty service, that the happy lover thought 
 he was eating a meal in Paradise. 
 
 For a few minutes it had been only this 
 ordinary gladness of reunion ; but it was 
 impossible to ignore longer the anxiety in the 
 eyes that asked him so many questions. He 
 took two letters from his pockets and gave 
 them to the Sefiora. They were from her 
 husband and Jack. Her hands trembled ; she 
 kissed them fervently; and as she placed them 
 in her breast her tears dropped down upon 
 them. 
 
 Antonia opened the real conversation with 
 that never-failing wedge, the weather. " You 
 came through the storm, Luis ? Yet you are 
 not wet, scarcely? Now then, explain this 
 miracle." 
 
 " I went first to Lopez Navarro's. Do you 
 not know this festa dress? It is the one 
 Lopez bought for the feast of St. James. He 
 lent it to me, for I assure you that my own 
 clothing was like that of a beggar man. It 
 was impossible that I could see my angel on 
 earth in it," 
 
 " But in such weather? You can not hav$ 
 come far to-day ? " 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. I$7 
 
 " Sefiorita, there are things which are impos- 
 sible, quite impossible ! That is one of them. 
 Early this morning the north wind advanced 
 upon us, sword in hand. It will last fifty 
 hours, and we shall know something more 
 about it before they are over. Very well, but 
 it was also absolutely necessary that some one 
 should reach San Antonio to-night ; and I was 
 so happy as to persuade General Burleson to 
 send me. The Holy Lady has given me my 
 reward." 
 
 " Have you seen the Seflor Doctor lately, 
 Luis," asked the Sefiora. 
 
 " I left him at nightfall." 
 
 " At nightfall ! But that is impossible ! " 
 
 " It is true. The army of the Americans 
 is but a few miles from San Antonio." 
 
 " Grace of God ! Luis ! " 
 
 "As you say, Sefiora. It is the grace of 
 God. Did you not know?" 
 
 " We know nothing but what Fray Igna- 
 tius tells us that the Americans have been 
 everywhere pulling down churches, and grant- 
 ing martyrdom to the priests, and that every- 
 where miraculous retributions have pursued 
 them," 
 
158 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY 
 
 " Was Gonzales a retribution ? The Seftor 
 Doctor came to us while we were there. God 
 be blessed; -but he startled us like the rattle of 
 rifle-shots in the midnight ! ' Why were you 
 not at Goliad ? ' he cried. ' There were three 
 hundred stand of arms there, and cannon, and 
 plenty of provisions. Why were they not 
 yours ? ' You would have thought, Seftora, he 
 had been a soldier all his life. The men 
 canght fire when he came near them, and we 
 went to Goliad like eagles flying for their 
 prey. We took the town, and the garrison, 
 and all the arms and military stores. I will 
 tell you something that came to pass there. 
 At midnight, as I and Jack stood with the 
 Sefior Doctor by the camp-fire, a stranger rode 
 up to us. It was Colonel Milam. He was fly- 
 ing from a Mexican prison and had not heard 
 of the revolt of the Americans. He made the 
 camp ring with his shout of delight. He was 
 impatient for the morning. He was the first 
 man that entered the garrison. Bravissimo ! 
 What a soldier is he ! " 
 
 " I remember ! I remember ! " cried the 
 Senora. " Mi Roberto brought him here once. 
 So splendid a man I never saw before. So tall, 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 159 
 
 so handsome, so gallant, so like a hero. He is 
 an American from well, then, I have forgotten 
 the place." 
 
 " From Kentucky. He fought with the 
 Mexicans when they were fighting for their 
 liberty ; but when they wanted a king and a 
 dictator he resigned his commision and was 
 thrown into prison. He has a long bill against 
 Santa Anna." 
 
 " We must not forget, Luis," said the Senora 
 with a little flash of her old temper, " that 
 Santa Anna represents to good Catholics the 
 triumph of Holy Church." 
 
 Luis devoutly crossed himself. " I am 
 her dutiful son, I assure you, Senora always." 
 
 A warning glance from Antonia changed the 
 conversation. There was plenty to tell which 
 touched them mainly on the side of the family, 
 and the Seflora listened, with pride which she 
 could not conceal, to the exploits of her hus- 
 band and sons, though she did not permit her- 
 self to confess the feeling. And her heart 
 softened to her children. Without acknowl- 
 edging the tie between Isabel and Luis, she 
 permitted or was oblivious to the favors it 
 allowed. 
 
160 WOVEN 02? LOVE AND GLORY. ^ 
 
 Certainly many little formalities could be dis- 
 pensed with, in a meeting so unexpected and 
 so eventful. When the pleasant impromptu 
 meal was over, even the Seriora had eaten and 
 drunk with enjoyment. Then Luis set the 
 table behind them, and they drew closer to the 
 fire, Luis holding Isabel's hand, and Antonia 
 her mother's. The Senora took a cigarette 
 from Luis, and Isabel sometimes put that of 
 Luis between her rosy lips. At the dark, cold 
 midnight they found an hour or two of sweet- 
 est consolation. It was indeed hard to weary 
 these three heart-starved women ; they asked 
 question after question, and when any brought 
 out the comical side of camp life they forget 
 their pleasure was almost a clandestine one, 
 and laughed outright. 
 
 In the very midst of such a laugh, Rachela 
 entered the room. She stood in speechless 
 amazement, gazing with a dark, malicious face 
 upon the happy group. " Sefiorita Isabel ! " 
 she screamed ; " but this is abominable ! At 
 the midnight also! Who could have believed 
 in such wickedness ? Grace of Mary, it is 
 inconceivable ! " 
 
 She laid her hand roughly on Isabel's shoul- 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT. 161 
 
 der, and Luis removed it with as little courtesy. 
 " You were not called," he said, with the 
 haughty insolence of a Mexican noble to a 
 servant" Depart." 
 
 " My Seftora ! Listen ! You yourself also 
 you will die. You that are really weak so 
 broken-hearted " 
 
 Then a miracle occurred. The Seflora 
 threw off the nightmare of selfish sorrow and 
 spiritual sentimentality which had held her in 
 bondage. She took the cigarito from her lips 
 with a scornful air, and repeated the words of 
 Luis : 
 
 14 You were not called. Depart." 
 
 "The Seftorita Isabel?" 
 
 " Is in my care. Her mother's care ! do you 
 understand?" 
 
 " My Seftora, Fray Ignatius" 
 
 " Saints in heaven ! But this is intolera- 
 ble ! Go." 
 
 Then Rachela closed the door with a clang 
 which echoed through the house. And say as 
 we will, the malice of the wicked is never quite 
 futile. It was impossible after this interrup- 
 tion to recall the happy spirit dismissed by it ; 
 and Rachela had the consolation, as she mut- 
 
 11 
 
1 62 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 tered beside the fire in the Sefiora's room, 
 this conviction. So that when she heard 
 the party breaking up half an hour after- 
 wards, she complimented herself upon her 
 influence. 
 
 " Will Jack come and see me soon, and the 
 Sefior Doctor ? " questioned the Seftora, anx- 
 iously, as she held the hand of Luis in parting. 
 
 " Jack is on a secret message to General 
 Houston. His return advices will find us, I 
 trust, in San Antonio. But until we have 
 taken the city, no American can safely enter 
 it. For this reason, when it was necessary to 
 give Lopez Navarro certain instructions, I 
 volunteered to bring them. By the Virgin of 
 Guadalupe ! I have had my reward," he said, 
 lifting the Sefiora's hand and kissing it. 
 
 " But, then, even you are in danger." 
 
 "Si! If I am discovered; but, blessed be 
 the hand of God ! Luis Alveda knows where 
 he is going, and how to get there." 
 
 " I have heard," said the Senora in a hushed 
 voice, " that there are to be no prisoners. 
 That is Santa Anna's order." 
 
 " I heard it twenty days ago, and am still 
 suffocating over it." 
 
A MEETING AT MIDNIGHT^ 163' 
 
 "Ah, Luis, you do not know the man yet ! I 
 heard Fray Ignatius say that." 
 
 " We know him well ; and also what he is 
 capable of "; and Luis plucked his mustache 
 fiercely, as he bowed a silent farewell to the 
 ladies. 
 
 " Holy Maria ! How brave he is ! " said 
 Isabel, with a flash of pride that conquered her 
 desire to weep. " How brave he is ! Certainly, 
 if he meets Santa Anna, he will kill him." 
 
 They went very quietly up-stairs. The Sefiora 
 was anticipating the interview she expected 
 with Rachela, and, perhaps wisely, she isolated 
 herself in an atmosphere of sullen and haughty 
 silence. She would accept nothing from her, 
 not even sympathy or flattery ; and, in a curt 
 dismission, managed to make her feel the im- 
 measurable distance between a high-born lady 
 of the house of Flores, and a poor manola 
 that she had taken from the streets of Madrid. 
 Rachela knew the Sefiora was thinking of this 
 circumstance ; the thought was in her voice, 
 and it cowed and snubbed the woman, her 
 nature being essentially as low as her birth. 
 
 As for the Sefiora, the experience did her a 
 world of good. She waited upon herself as a 
 princess might condescend to minister to her 
 
164 IVOf EN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 own wants loftily, with a smile at her own 
 complaisance. The very knowledge that her 
 husband was near at hand inspired her with 
 courage. She went to sleep assuring herself 
 " that not even Fray Ignatius should again 
 speak evil of her beloved, who never thought 
 of her except with a loyal affection." For in 
 married life, the wife can sin against love as 
 well as fidelity ; and she thought with a sob of 
 the cowardice which had permitted Fray 
 Ignatius to call her dear one "rebel and 
 heretic/' 
 
 " Santa Dios ! " she said in a passionate 
 whisper ; " it is not a mortal sin to think differ- 
 ently from Santa Anna " and then more 
 tenderly " those who love each other are of 
 the same faith." 
 
 And if Fray Ignatius had seen at that 
 moment the savage whiteness of her small 
 teeth behind the petulant pout of her parted 
 lips, he might have understood that this 
 woman of small intelligence had also the un- 
 reasoning partisanship and the implacable 
 sense of anger which generally accompanies 
 small intelligence, and which indicates a nature 
 governed by feeling, and utterly irresponsive 
 to reasoning which feeling does not endorse. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MOTHER AND PRIEST. 
 
 " witness, 
 
 When the dark-stoled priestly crew, 
 Came swift trooping where the trumpet 
 Of foul Santa Anna blew." 
 
 ****** 
 " Rouse thee, Wrath, and be a giant ; 
 People's Will, that hath been pliant, 
 
 Long, too long; 
 
 Up, and snap the rusty chaining, 
 Brittle bond for thy restraining, 
 Know the hour, the weak are reigning 
 
 Thou art strong. 
 
 ****** 
 " Rise and right the wrongs of ages ; 
 Balance Time's unequal pages 
 
 With the sword. " 
 
 IT was nearly two o'clock when Don Luis 
 mounted his horse and left the Worth 
 residencia. The storm still raged, the night 
 was dark, the cold intense, but the home of 
 Lopez Navarro was scarce a quarter of a mile 
 away; and he found him waiting his return. 
 
 "You have still an hour, Luis. Come in 
 and sit with me," 
 
166 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " As you say ; and I wish to show you that 
 I am capable of a great thing. You do not 
 believe me ? Well, then give me again my own 
 clothes. I will resign these." 
 
 " You are most welcome to them, Luis." 
 
 " But no ; I am in earnest. The fight is at 
 hand they are too fine." 
 
 " Yes, but I will tell you I can say anything 
 to you there is to be a grand day for free- 
 dom ; well, then, for a festa one puts on the 
 best that is to be got. I will even lend you 
 my Cross of Saint James, if you wish, A 
 young hero should be dressed like a hero. 
 Honor my poor clothes so far as to wear them 
 in the fight." 
 
 " Thank you, Lopez. I will not disgrace 
 them "; and he bent forward and looked into 
 his friend's eyes. His glance prolonged his 
 words went further than speech went where 
 speech could not reach. 
 
 " Listen to me, Luis. As a matter of pre- 
 cision, where now arc the Americans ? " 
 
 "At the mission of Espada." 
 
 "La Espada? the sword the name is 
 ominous." 
 
 " Of success, Lopez." 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 167 
 
 " Is Houston, then, with you ?" 
 
 " Until a fc\v days ago. He and General 
 Austin have gone to San Felipe." 
 
 " For what ? Is not San Antonio the most 
 important point?" 
 
 " It was decided by the vote of the army to 
 send them there to frame a provisional gov- 
 ernment. There are plenty of fighters with us, 
 but not one statesman but Houston. And 
 now it is necessary that we should have legal 
 authority to obtain loans, maintain the army in 
 the field, and many other such things vital to 
 our cause. Austin is to go to the United 
 States. He will bring back men and money. 
 Houston must draw up our declaration and 
 manifestoes ; direct the civil government ; for- 
 ward troops ; and, in fact, set a new government 
 in motion." 
 
 " He is the loadstone in the bosom ! ' I 
 wonder that the Americans permittee! that lie 
 should leave them." 
 
 " He, and he only, was the man to go. Ere 
 he left, he said some strange words. I shall 
 not, as a Mexican, forget them. In the midst 
 
 * The loadstone in the bosom is a charm against evil ; 
 the b ringer of food fortune. 
 
168 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 of the men he stood like a god, with his great 
 stature, and his bright, strong face. One can- 
 not think of him as of a common mortal. In- 
 deed, I will confess that I could only compare 
 him with the Efreet in the Arabian talc, 
 ' whose nostrils were like trumpets, his eyes 
 'like lamps, and who had dishevelled, dust- 
 colored hair ' " 
 
 " But, to proceed ; what were the strange 
 words?" 
 
 "Thus he spoke, and his voice rang out like 
 a clarion : 
 
 " ' You will fight as men fight for their homes, 
 and their wives, and their children, but also 
 remember this the idea of Texas is in the 
 American heart ! Two generations they have 
 carried it there ! It is your destiny to make 
 the idea a fac^ ! As far back as eighteen nine- 
 tee^ Adams wanted Texas. When Adams 
 became president, he told Poinsett to offer 
 Mexico a million of dollars for Texas. Clay 
 would have voted three millions. Van Buren, 
 in eighteen twenty-nine, told Poinsett to offer 
 five millions for Texas. I went to Washing- 
 ton that year, and proposed to revolutionize 
 Texas. I declare to you that ttie highest 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST, i6p 
 
 men in the land were of my mind. Only 
 last July President Jackson offered an addi- 
 tional half million dollars for the Rio Grande 
 boundary ; and Mr. Secretary Forsyth said, 
 justly or unjustly, by hook, or by crook, Texas 
 must become part of our country. We have 
 been longing for it for fifty years ! Now, then, 
 brothers-in-arms ! ' he cried, ' You are here 
 for your homes and your freedom ; but, more 
 than that, you are here for your country! 
 Remember the thousands of Americans who 
 have slipped out of history and out of memory, 
 who have bought this land with their blood ! 
 We have held a grip on Texas for fifty years. 
 By the soul of every American who has per- 
 ished here, I charge you, No Surrender!' 
 
 " You should have heard the shout that an- 
 swered the charge. Jesti, Maria ! It made my 
 heart leap to my bosom. And ever since, the 
 two words have filled the air. You could see 
 men catching them on their lips. They are in 
 their eyes, and their walk. Their hands say 
 them. The up-toss of their heads says them. 
 When they go into battle they will see Houston 
 in front of them, and hear him call back ' No 
 surrender ! ' Mexico cannot hold Texas against 
 
170 IV OVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 such a determined purpose, carried out by such 
 determined men." 
 
 Lopez did not answer. He was a melan- 
 choly, well-read man, who had travelled, and 
 to whom the idea of liberty was a passion. But 
 the feeling of race was also strong in him, and 
 he could not help regretting that liberty 
 must come to Texas through an alien people 
 " heretics, too " he muttered, carrying the 
 thought out aloud. It brought others equally 
 living to him, and he asked, " Where, then, is 
 Doctor Worth?" 
 
 " At Espada. The army wished him to go to 
 San Felipe with Houston, but he declined. And 
 we want him most of all, both as a fighter and a 
 physician. His son Thomas went in his place." 
 
 " I know not Thomas." 
 
 " Indeed, very few know him. He is one 
 that seldom speaks. But his rifle has its word 
 always ready." 
 
 "And Jack?" 
 
 " Jack also went to San Felipe. He is to 
 bring back the first despatches. Jack is the 
 darling of the camp. Ah, what a happy soul 
 he has! One would think that it had just come 
 from heaven, or was just going there." 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 171 
 
 " Did you see Sefiorita Antonia to-night ? " 
 " Si ! She is a blessing to the eyesight. So 
 brave a young girl, so sweet, so wise ; she is a 
 miracle ! If I loved not Isabel with my whole 
 soul, I would kneel at Antonia's feet." 
 " That is where I also would kneel." 
 " Hark ! how the wind roars, and how the 
 rain thrashes the house ! But our men have 
 the shelter of one of the Panchos. You should 
 have heard the padre threaten them with the 
 anger of heaven and hell and General Cos. 
 Good-bye, Lopez. I have stayed my last mo- 
 ment now." 
 
 " Your horse has been well fed. Listen, he 
 is neighing for you ; to Doctor Worth give my 
 honorable regards. Is Seiior Parades with you ? 
 and Perez Mexia ? Say to them I keep the 
 vow I made in their behalf. Farewell, Luis!" 
 and Luis, who had been mounting as his friend 
 talked, stooped from his saddle and kissed 
 him. 
 
 It was just dawn when he reached camp, and 
 he found Doctor Worth waiting his arrival. 
 Fortunately there was nothing but good news 
 for the doctor. Luis had seen everything 
 through the medium of his own happiness, and 
 
17* WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 he described the midnight meal and the Se- 
 ftora's amiability with the utmost freedom from 
 anything unpleasant. Rachela's interference 
 he treated with scornful indifference ; and yet 
 it affected Worth's mind unpleasantly. For it 
 went straight to the source of offence. " She 
 must have had Fray Ignatius behind her. And 
 my poor Maria, she will be as dough for them 
 to knead as they desire to ! " 
 
 And, in fact, as he was thus thinking, the 
 Sefiora was lying awake in her bed, anticipating 
 her confessor's next visit. She was almost glad 
 the norther was still blowing. It would give 
 her another day's respite ; and " so many things 
 happen as the clock goes round," she reflected. 
 Perhaps even her Roberto might arrive ; it 
 would not be more wonderful than the visit of 
 Luis Alveda. 
 
 But very early in the day she saw the father 
 hurrying up the oleander avenue. The wind 
 tossed his go\vn, and blew his hat backward 
 and sideways, and compelled him to make un- 
 dignified haste. And such little things affect 
 the mental poise and mood ! The Sefiora 
 smiled at the funny figure he made ; and with 
 the smile carpe a feeling of resistance to his 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 173 
 
 tyranny, and a stubborn determination to de- 
 fend her own conduct. 
 
 He came into her room with a doleful coun- 
 tenance, saying, as he crossed himself, " God be 
 here ! " 
 
 "And with you, father," answered the 
 Sefiora, cheerfully a mood she had assumed 
 at the last moment, by a kind of instinct. 
 
 " There is evil news on every hand my 
 daughter. The heretics are swarming like 
 wolves around the Missions. Several of our 
 holy brothers have endured the last extremity. 
 These wolves will even enter the city, and you 
 will be in danger. I have come to take^you to 
 the convent. There, Holy Mary will be your 
 safety." 
 
 " But these wolves might attack the convent, 
 father!" 
 
 " Our Blessed Lady is stronger than they. 
 She has always kept her own." 
 
 " Blessed be the hand of God and Mary ! I 
 will trust in them. Ah, Antonia! Listen to 
 Fray Ignatius ! He says we must go to the 
 convent the heretics are coming. They have 
 even slain some priests at the Mission." 
 
 " Fray Ignatius has been misinformed, dear 
 
174 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 mother. When a man wears a gown and has 
 no arms Americans do not molest him. That 
 is certain. As for the convent it is impossible. 
 My father forbade it. If the Americans enter 
 the city, he is with them. He will protect us, 
 if we should need it, which is not likely.'* 
 
 " Disobedient one ! " 
 
 " Pardon. I wish only to obey the com- 
 mands of my father." 
 
 " I absolve you from them." 
 
 " They are between God and my soul. There 
 is no absolution from duty." 
 
 "Grace of God ! Hear you, Seflora! Hear 
 you the rebellious and disobedient one ! She 
 has defied me to my face ! She is near to 
 being anathema ! She is not your daughter ! 
 She is bewitched. Some evil spirit has posses- 
 sion of her. Let no one touch her or speak to 
 her; it shall be a mortal sin." 
 
 Antonia fell at her mother's knee. " Mi 
 madre ! I am your daughter, your Antonia, 
 that you carried in your breast, and that loves 
 you better than life. Permit me not to be ac- 
 cused of sin to be called a devil. Mother, 
 speak for me." 
 
 At this moment Isabel entered. Seeing the 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 175 
 
 distress of her mother and sister she hastened 
 to them ; but Fray Ignatius stepped between, 
 and extending his arms forbade her nearer 
 approach. 
 
 " I forbid you to speak to your sister. I for- 
 bid you to touch her, to give her food, or 
 water, or sympathy, until she has humbled her- 
 self, and obtained the forgiveness of her sin." 
 
 Then mother love stood up triumphant over 
 superstition. " I and my daughter are the 
 same," said the Sefiora, and she gave her hand 
 to Antonia. " If she has sinned, we will bear 
 the penance together ; she and I together." 
 
 " I command you to stand apart. For the 
 good of Antonia's sinful soul, I command you 
 to withdraw yourself from her." 
 
 " She is my daughter, father. I will bear 
 the sin and the punishment with her. The 
 Holy Mother will understand me. To her I 
 will go." 
 
 The door of her room was at hand ; she 
 stepped swiftly to it, and putting her daughters 
 before her, passed in and turned the key. 
 
 The movement took the priest by surprise, 
 and yet he was secretly satisfied with it. He 
 had permitted himself to act with an irnpru- 
 
1 76 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 dence most unusual. He had allowed the 
 Seflora to find out her own moral strength, 
 and made a situation for her in which she had 
 acted not only without his support, but against 
 his authority. 
 
 "And yet," he muttered, "so much depends 
 upon my persuading her into the convent ; how- 
 ever, nothing now is to be done to-day, except to 
 see Rachela. Saint Joseph ! if these American 
 heretics were only in my power! What a long 
 joy I would make of them! I would cut a 
 throat just one throat everyday of my life." 
 
 The hatred which could contemplate a ven- 
 geance so long drawn out was on his dark 
 face ; yet, it is but justice to say, that he sin- 
 cerely believed it to be a holy hatred. The 
 foes of the church, he regarded as the foes of 
 God ; and his anger as a just zeal for the honor 
 of the Lord of Hosts. Beside which, it in- 
 cluded a far more tangible cause. 
 
 The accumulated treasures of the Missions ; 
 their gold and gems, their costly vestments 
 and holy vessels, had been removed to the 
 convent for safety. " These infidels of Ameri- 
 cans give to women the honor they should 
 give to God and Holy Church," he said to his 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 177 
 
 brethren. " They will not suffer the Sisters to 
 be molested ; and our wealth will be safe 
 wherever they are." 
 
 But this wealth was really so immense, that 
 he believed it might be well to secure it still 
 further, and knowing the position Dr. Worth 
 held among his countrymen, he resolved to 
 induce his wife and daughters to seek refuge 
 within the convent. They were, in fact, to be 
 held as hostages, for the protection of the 
 property of the Church. 
 
 That he should fail in his plan was intoler- 
 able to him. He had been so confident of suc- 
 cess. He imagined the smile on the face of 
 Fray Sarapiam, and the warning against self- 
 confidence he would receive from his superior; 
 and he vowed by Saint Joseph that he would 
 not suffer himself to be so mortified by three 
 women. 
 
 , Had he seen the Seftora after the first ex- 
 citement of her rebellion was over, he would 
 have been satisfied of the validity of his au- 
 thority, at least as regarded her. She flung 
 herself at the foot of her altar, weeping and 
 beating her breast in a passion of self-accusa- 
 tion and contrition. Certainly, she had stood 
 
 12 
 
178 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 by her daughter in the presence of the priest ; 
 but in her room she withdrew herself from the 
 poor girl as if she were a spiritual leper. 
 
 Antonia at a distance watched the self-abase- 
 ment of her mother. She could not weep, but 
 she was white as clay, and her heart was swol- 
 len with a sense of wrong and injustice, until 
 breathing was almost suffocation. She looked 
 with a piteous entreaty at Isabel. Her little 
 sister had taken a seat at the extremity of the 
 room away from her. She watched Antonia 
 with eyes full of terror. But there was no 
 sympathy in her face, only an uncertainty 
 which seemed to speak to her to touch her 
 and her mother was broken-hearted with shame 
 and grief. 
 
 The anxiety was also a dumb one. Until 
 the Sefiora rose from her knees, there was not 
 a movement made, not a word uttered. The 
 girls waited shivering with cold, sick with fear, 
 until she spoke. Even then her words were 
 cold as the wind outside : 
 
 " Go to your room, Antonia. You have not 
 only sinned ; you have made me sin also. 
 Alas! Alas! Miserable mother! Holy Maria! 
 pray for me," 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 179 
 
 " Mi madre, I am innocent of wrong. I have 
 committed no sin. Is it a sin to obey my 
 father ? Isabel, darling, speak for me." 
 
 " But, then, what have you done, Antonia?" 
 
 " Fray Ignatius wants us to go to the con- 
 vent. I refused. My father made me promise 
 to do so. Is not our first duty to our father? 
 Mother, is it not ? 
 
 " No, no ; to God and to Fray Ignatius, as 
 the priest of God. He says we ought to go to 
 the convent. He knows best. We have been 
 disobedient and wicked." 
 
 " Isabel, speak, my dear one. Tell mi madrc 
 if you think we should go." 
 
 There was a moment's wavering, and then 
 Isabel went to her mother and caressed her as 
 only Isabel could caress her, and with the 
 kisses, she said boldly : " Mi madre, we will not 
 go to the convent. Not any of us. It is a 
 1 dreadful place, even for a happy child. Oh, 
 how cold and still are the Sisters ! They are 
 like stone figures that move about." 
 
 " Hush, child ! I cannot listen to you ! Go 
 away ! I must be alone. I must think. I 
 must pray. Only the Mother of Sorrows can 
 help me." 
 
l8o WOVEN <r^ LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 It was a miserable sequence to the happy 
 night, and Antonia was really terrified at the 
 position in which she found herself. If the 
 Americans should fall, nothing but flight, or 
 uncompromising submission to Fray Ignatius, 
 remained for her. She knew only too well 
 how miserable her life could be made ; what 
 moral torture could be inflicted ; what spiritual 
 servitude exacted. In a moment of time she had 
 comprehended her danger, and her heart sank 
 and sickened with a genuine physical terror. 
 
 The cold was still severe, and no one an- 
 swered her call for wood. Isabel crouched, 
 white and shivering, over the dying embers, 
 and it was she who first uttered the fear 
 Antonia had refused to admit to herself 
 " Suppose the servants are forbidden to wait 
 upon us ! " 
 
 ; " I will bring wood myself, dearest." She 
 was greatly comforted by the word " us." She 
 could almost have wept for joy of the sym- 
 pathy it included. For thought is rapid in such 
 crucial moments, and she had decided that 
 even flight with her would be a kinder fate 
 for Isabel, than the cruel tender mercies of the 
 Sisters and the convent, 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST. 181 
 
 They could not talk much. The thought of 
 their mother's anguish, and of the separation 
 put between them and their household, shocked 
 and terrified them. Vainly they called for 
 fuel. At dinner time no table was laid, and 
 no preparations made for the meal. Then 
 Antonia went into the kitchen. She took 
 with her food, and cooked it. She brought 
 wood into the parlor, and made up the fire. 
 Fortunately, her northern education had given 
 her plenty of resources for such emergencies. 
 Two or three savory dishes were soon ready, and 
 the small table set upon a warm, bright hearth. 
 
 The Sefiora had evidently not been included 
 in the ban, for Rachela attended with ostenta- 
 tious care to her comfort; but Isabel had 
 rolled herself up in a wadded silk coverlet and 
 gone to sleep. Antonia awakened her with a 
 kiss. " Come, queridita, and get your dinner." 
 
 " But is it possible ? I thought Fray Ignatius 
 had forbidden it." 
 
 " He cannot forbid me to wait upon you, 
 my darling one. And he cannot turn the flour 
 into dust, and the meat into stone. There is 
 a good dinner ready ; and you are hungry, n<j 
 doubt/' 
 
1 82 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 . " For three hours I have been faint. Ah ! 
 you have made me a custard also ! You are a 
 very comforter." 
 
 But the girl was still and sad, and Antonia 
 was hard pressed to find any real comfort for 
 her. For she knew that their only hope lay in 
 the immediate attack of the American force, 
 and its success ; and she did not think it wise 
 to hide from her sister the alternatives that 
 lay before them if the Americans failed. 
 
 "I am afraid," said Isabel; "and so un- 
 happy. A very sad business is life. I cannot 
 think how any one can care to live." 
 
 " Remember Luis, and our father, and Jack, 
 and Thomas, and our dear mother, who this 
 morning stood between us and Fray Ignatius. 
 Will you let this priest turn the sky black 
 above you ? " 
 
 "And also, men will fight. What for? Who 
 can tell? The Americans want so much of 
 everything. Naturally they do not get all 
 they want. What do they do ? Fight, and 
 get killed. Then they go into the next world, 
 and complain of people. As for Luis, I do not 
 expect to see him again." 
 
 Fortunately, the norther moderated at 
 
MOTHER AND PRIEST, 183 
 
 sunset. Life then seemed so much more 
 possible. Adverse elements intensify adverse 
 fortune, and the physical suffering from the 
 cold had also benumbed Antonia's spirits, and 
 made her less hopeful and less clear-visioned. 
 But when she awoke at the gray dawn of the 
 next day, she awoke with a different spirit. 
 She had regained herself. She rose quietly, 
 and looked out towards the city. The black 
 flag from the Alamo and the Missions hung 
 above it. She looked at the ominous standards, 
 and then the tears sprang to her eyes ; she 
 lifted her face and her hands to heaven, and a 
 few words, swifter than light, sprang from her 
 soul into the ear of the Eternal Father of Spirits. 
 
 The answer came with the petition came 
 with the crack of rifle-shots ; precise, regular, 
 unceasing. 
 
 "Oh God! I thank Thee! Lord of Hosts, 
 Thou art a great multitude ! Isabel ! Isabel ! 
 The Americans are attacking the city ! Our 
 father will fight his way back to his home ! 
 Fray Ignatius can not come to-day. Oh, I am 
 so happy ! So happy ! Listen ! How the 
 Mexicans are shouting ! They are cheering 
 on the men ! What a turmoil ! *' 
 
184 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 "Jesu, Maria, have mercy!" cried Isabel, 
 clasping her crucifix and falling upon her 
 knees. 
 
 " Oh, Isabel, pray for our father, that his 
 angel may overshadow him with strong wings." 
 
 "And Luis?" 
 
 "And Luis, and Thomas, and Jack, and 
 Dare. There are prayers for them all, and 
 love enough to make them. Hark ! there are 
 the drums, and the trumpets, and the gallop 
 of the cavalry. Come, dearest, let us go to our 
 mother. To-day, no one will remember Fray 
 Ignatius." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 
 
 " Now, hearts, 
 
 Be ribbed with iron for this one attempt : 
 Set ope' your sluices, send the vigorous blood 
 Through every active limb for our relief." 
 
 " Now they begin the tragic play, 
 And with their smoky cannon banish day." 
 
 " Endure and conquer. God will soon dispose 
 To future good our past and present woes : 
 Resume your courage, and dismiss your care ; 
 An hour will come with pleasure to relate 
 Your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate." 
 
 THE Senora was already dressed. She 
 turned with a face full of fear and anger 
 to her daughters as they entered her room 
 
 " These American diablos ! They are at- 
 tacking the city. They will take it that is to 
 be expected who can fight diablos ? And 
 what is to become of us? Oh, Antonia ! Why 
 did you prevent Fray Ignatius? We might 
 now have been safe in the convent ", and 
 
1 86 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Rachela nodded her head in assent, with an 
 insufferable air of reproof and toleration. 
 
 Antonia saw that the time had not yet come 
 for pleading her own cause. She left Isabel 
 with her mother. The Sefiora's breakfast was 
 waiting, and she offered to share it with her 
 youngest daughter. Antonia went downstairs 
 to prepare for herself some coffee. She was 
 surprised and pleased to find it made. For a 
 certain thought had come to Molly in the 
 night and she had acted upon it 
 
 " The praist is a strange praist, and almost 
 as black as a nagur ; and I'd be a poor body, I 
 think, to let him be meddling wid my work. 
 Shure, I never heard of the like of such inter- 
 fering in Ireland, nor in the States at all ! " 
 Then turning to the Mexican cook, Manuel 
 " You may lave the fire alone till I bees done 
 wid it." 
 
 " Fray Ignatius will not give you absolution 
 if you disobey him." 
 
 " He can be kaping the same then. There 
 is an Irish praist at San Patricio, and I'll be 
 going there for my absolution ; and I'll be get- 
 ting none any nearer that an Irish soul will be 
 a pin the better for. I'll say that, standing in 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 187 
 
 the church, to the saints themselves ; and so 
 be aff wid you and let the fire alone till I bees 
 done wid it." 
 
 But it was not Molly's place to serve the 
 food she cooked, and she did not trouble her- 
 self about the serving. When she had asserted 
 her right to control her own work, and do it or 
 neglect it as it seemed good to herself alone, 
 she was satisfied. Over Antonia who was at 
 least half a Mexican she acknowledged a 
 Mexican priest to have authority ; and she had 
 no intention of interfering between Fray Igna- 
 tins and his la\vful flock. She was smoking her 
 pipe by the fire when Antonia entered the 
 kitchen, and she neither lifted her eyes nor 
 spoke to her. 
 
 Against such unreasonable isolation Anto- 
 nia could not help a feeling of anger ; and she 
 * heard with satisfaction the regular crack of the 
 .rifles. Her thought was " They will make 
 .these people find their tongues also, very soon." 
 She was exceedingly anxious for information ; 
 and, as she ate her roll and drank her coffee, 
 she was considering how they could gain it. 
 For even if Fray Ignatius were able to visit 
 them, his report would be colored by his prej- 
 
1 88 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 udices and his desires, and could not be relied 
 on. 
 
 Her heart fluttered and sank ; she was hot 
 and cold, sanguine and fearful. She could 
 not endure the idea of a suspense unrelieved 
 by any reliable word. For the siege might be 
 a long one. San Antonio was strongly walled 
 and defended. The Alamo fortress stood in 
 its centre. It had forty-eight cannon, and a 
 garrison of a thousand men. Before it could 
 be reached, the city had to be taken ; and the 
 inhabitants would in the main fight desperately 
 for their homes. 
 
 As soon as she was alone with her mother, 
 she pointed out these facts to her. " Let me 
 write to Lopez Navarro, mi madre. He is a 
 friend." 
 
 " Of the Americans ! Si." 
 
 " Of freedom. He will send us word." 
 
 "Are you forgetful of what is moral and 
 respectable, Antonia ? That a young lady 
 should write to Lopez Navarro a man that 
 is unmarried is such a thing as never before 
 happened ! He would think the world had 
 come to an end, or worse." 
 
 " Dear mother! In a time of r .trouble like 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 189 
 
 this, who would think wrong of us? Surely 
 you might write." 
 
 "As you say, Antonia. Tell me, then, who 
 will take the letter." 
 
 "The peon Ortiz will take it. This morn- 
 ing he brought in wood and kindled the fire, 
 and I saw in his face the kindness of his 
 heart." 
 
 After some further persuasion, the Sefiora 
 agreed to write ; and Ortiz undertook the com- 
 mission, with a nod of understanding. Then 
 there remained nothing to be done but to 
 listen and to watch. Fortunately, however, 
 Rachela found the centre of interest among 
 the servants in the kitchen ; and the Sefiora ai*4 
 her daughter could converse without espionage. 
 
 Just after sunset a letter arrived from Nav- 
 arro. Rachela lingered in the room to learn its 
 contents. But the Sefiora, having read themt 
 passed the letter to Antonia and Isabel ; and 
 Rachela saw with anger that Antonia, having 
 carefully considered it, threw it into the 
 fire. And yet the news it brought was not 
 unfavorable: 
 
 " SESORA MARIA FLORES WORTH : 
 " I send this on December the fifth, in the 
 
JQO WOVEN' OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 year of our Blessed Lord and Lady 1835. It 
 is my honor and pleasure to tell you that the 
 Americans, having performed miracles of valor, 
 reached the Plaza this afternoon. Here the 
 main body of the Mexican troops received 
 them, and there has been severe fighting. At 
 sunset, the Mexicans retreated within the 
 Alamo. The Texans have taken possession of 
 the Veramendi House, and the portion of the 
 city surrounding it. There has been a great 
 slaughter of our poor countrymen. I charge 
 myself whenever I pass the Plaza, to say a pater- 
 noster for the souls who fell there. Seflora Ma- 
 ria Flores Worth, I kiss your hands. I kiss also 
 the hands of the Senorita Antonia, and the 
 hands of the Seftorita Isabel, and I make haste 
 to sign myself, 
 
 "Your servant, 
 
 " LOPEZ NAVARRO." 
 
 This little confidence between mother and 
 daughters restored the tone of feeling between 
 them. They had something to talk of, per. 
 sonal and exclusive. In the fear and uncer. 
 tainty, they forgot priestly interdiction and 
 clung to each other with that affection which 
 is the strength of danger and the comforter of 
 sorrow. 
 
 On the following day the depression deep- 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 191 
 
 ened. The sounds of battle were closer at 
 hand. The Mexican servants had an air of 
 insolence and triumph. Antonia feared for 
 the evening's report if indeed Navarro should 
 be able to send one. She feared more when 
 she saw the messenger early in the afternoon. 
 " Too early is often worse than too late." The 
 proverb shivered upon her trembling lips as 
 she took the letter from him. The three 
 women read it together, with sinking hearts : 
 
 " SESJORA MARIA FLORES WORTH : 
 
 " This on the sixth of December, in the year 
 of our Blessed Lord and Lady 1835. The 
 brave, the illustrious Colonel Milam is dead. 
 I watched him three hours in to-day's fight. A 
 man so calm was inconceivable. He was smil- 
 ing when the ball struck him when he fell. 
 The Texans, after his loss, retired to their 
 quarters. This was at the hour of eleven. 
 At the hour of one, 'the Mexicans made 
 another sortie from the Alamo. The Texans 
 rushed to meet them with an incredible ven- 
 geance. Their leader was General Burleson. 
 He showed himself to General Cos in a sheet of 
 flame. Such men are not to be fought. Gen- 
 eral Cos was compelled to retire to the Alamo. 
 The battle is over for to-day. On this earth 
 the soul has but a mortal sword. The water in 
 
I9 2 WOVEN 1 OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 the river is red with blood. The Plaza is cov- 
 ered with the dead and the dying. I have the 
 honor to tell you that these * miserables ' are 
 being attended to by the noble, the charitable 
 Sefior Doctor Worth. As I write, he is kneel- 
 ing among them. My soul adores his human- 
 ity. I humbly kiss your hands, Sefiora, and 
 the hands of your exalted daughters. 
 
 " LOPEZ NAVARRO." 
 
 Until midnight this letter furnished the anx- 
 sous, loving women with an unceasing topic of 
 interest. The allusion to her husband made 
 the Sefiora weep. She retired to her oratory 
 and poured out her love and her fears in holy 
 salutations, in thanksgivings and entreaties. 
 
 The next morning there was an ominous lull 
 in the atmosphere. As men run backward to 
 take a longer leap forward, so both armies 
 were taking breath for a fiercer struggle. In 
 the Worth residencia the suspense was becom- 
 ing hourly harder to endure. The Sefiora and 
 her daughters were hardly conscious of the 
 home life around them. In that wonderful 
 folk-speech which so often touches foundation 
 truths, they were not all there. Their nobler 
 part had projected itself beyond its limitations. 
 It was really in the struggle. It mattered 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 193 
 
 little to them now whether food was cooked or 
 not. They were neither hungry nor sleepy. 
 Existence was prayer and expectation. 
 
 Just before sunset Antonia saw Don Lopez 
 coming through the garden. The Seftora, ac- 
 companied by her daughters, went to meet 
 him. His face was perplexed and troubled : 
 
 " General Cos has been joined by Ugarte- 
 chea with three hundred men," he said. "You 
 will see now that the fight will be still more 
 determined." 
 
 And before daylight broke on the morning 
 of the 8th, the Americans attacked the Alamo. 
 The black flag waved above them ; the city 
 itself had the stillness of death; but for hours 
 the dull roar' and the clamorous tumult went 
 on without cessation. The Sefiora lay upon 
 her bed motionless, with hands tightly locked. 
 She had exhausted feeling, and was passive. 
 Antonia and Isabel wandered from window to 
 window, hoping to see some token which 
 would indicate the course of events. 
 
 Nothing was visible but the ferocious flag 
 flying out above the desperate men fighting 
 below it. So black ! So cruel and defiant it 
 
 looked! It seemed to darken and fill the 
 
 73 
 
194 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 whole atmosphere around it. And though the 
 poor women had not dared to whisper to each 
 other what it said to them, they knew in their 
 own hearts that it meant, if the Americans 
 failed, the instant and brutal massacre of every 
 prisoner. 
 
 The husband and father were under its in- 
 human shadow. So most probably were Da- 
 rius Grant and Luis Alveda. It was even like- 
 ly that Jack might have returned ere the 
 fight, and was with the besiegers. Every time 
 they went to the window, it filled their hearts 
 with horror. 
 
 In the middle of the afternoon it suddenly 
 disappeared. Antonia watched it breathlessly. 
 Several times before, it had been dropped by 
 some American rifle ; but this time it was not 
 as speedily replaced. In a few minutes she 
 uttered a shrill cry. It was in a voice so 
 strained, so piercing, so unlike her own, that 
 the Seftora leaped from her bed. Antonia 
 turned to meet her mother with white, parted 
 lips. She was speechless with excess of feel- 
 ing, but she pointed to the Alamo. The black 
 flag was no longer there ! A white one was 
 flying in its place. 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 195 
 
 " // is a surrender ! " gasped Antonia. " It 
 is a surrender ! " and, as if in response to her 
 words, a mighty shout and a simultaneous sa- 
 lute of rifles hailed the emblem of victory. 
 
 An hour afterwards a little Mexican boy 
 came running with all his speed. He brought 
 a few lines from Don Lopez. They had evi- 
 dently been written in a great hurry, and on a 
 piece of paper torn from his pocket-book, but 
 oh ! how welcome they were. The very lack 
 of formality gave to them a certain hurry of 
 good fortune : 
 
 " May you and yours be God's care for many 
 years to come, Sefiora ! The Mexicans have 
 surrendered the Alamo, and asked for quarter. 
 These noble-minded Americans have given it. 
 The Sefior Doctor will bring you good news. 
 I rejoice with you. 
 
 " LOPEZ NAVARRO." 
 
 Death and captivity had been turned away 
 from their home, and the first impulse of these 
 pious, simple-hearted women was a prayer of 
 thanksgiving. Then Antonia remembered 
 the uncomfortable state of the household, 
 and the probable necessities of the men corn- 
 
196 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ing back from mortal strife and the shadow 
 of death. 
 
 She found that the news had already 
 changed the domestic atmosphere. Every 
 servant was attending to his duty. Every one 
 professed a great joy in the expected arrival 
 of the Seftor. And what a happy impetus the 
 hope gave to her own hands ! How delightful 
 it was to be once more arranging the evening 
 meal, and brightening the rooms with fire and 
 light ! 
 
 Soon after dark they heard the swing of 
 the garden gate, the tramp of rapid footsteps, 
 and the high-pitched voices of excited men. 
 The door was flung wide. The Sefiora forgot 
 that it was cold. She went with outstretched 
 arms to meet her husband. Dare and Luis 
 were with him. They were black with the 
 smoke of battle. Their clothing was torn and 
 bloodstained; the awful light of the fierce 
 struggle was still upon their faces. But they 
 walked like heroes, and the glory of the deeds 
 they had done crowned with its humanity, 
 made them appear to the women that loved 
 them but a little lower than the angels. 
 
 Doctor Worth held his wife close to his 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 197 
 
 heart and kissed her tears of joy away, and 
 murmured upon her lips the tenderest words 
 a woman ever hears the words a man never 
 perfectly learns till he has loved his wife 
 through a quarter of a century of change, and 
 sorrow, and anxiety. And what could Anto- 
 nia give Dare but the embrace, the kiss, the 
 sweet whispers of love and pride, which were 
 the spontaneous outcome of both hearts ? 
 
 There was a moment's hesitation on the part 
 of Luis and Isabel. The traditions of caste 
 and country, the social bonds of centuries, 
 held them. But Isabel snapped them asunder. 
 She looked at Luis. His eyes were alight 
 with love for her, his handsome face was trans- 
 figured with the nobility of the emotions that 
 possessed him. In spite of his disordered 
 dress, he was incomparably handsome. When 
 he said, " Angel mio ! " and bent to kiss her 
 hand, she lifted her lovely face to his, she put 
 her arms around his neck, she cried softly on 
 his breast, whispering sweet little diminutives 
 of affection and pride. Such hours as fol- 
 lowed are very rare in this life ; and they are 
 nearly always bought with a great price paid 
 for in advance with sorrow and anxiety, or 
 
198 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 earned by such faithful watching and patient 
 waiting as touches the very citadel of life. 
 
 The men were hungry ; they had eaten noth- 
 ing all day. How delicious was their meal ! 
 How happy and merry it made the Senora, 
 and Antonia, and Isabel, to see them empty 
 dish after dish ; to see their unaffected enjoy- 
 ment of the warm room, and bright fire, of 
 their after-dinner coffee and tobacco. There 
 was only one drawback to the joy of the re- 
 union the absence of Jack. 
 
 " His disappointment will be greater than 
 ours," said Jack's father. " To be present at 
 the freeing of his native city, and to bring his 
 first laurels to his mother, was the brightest 
 dream Jack had. But Jack is a fine rider, and 
 is not a very fine marksman ; so it was decided 
 to send him with Houston to the Convention. 
 We expected him back before the attack on 
 the city began. Indeed, we were waiting for 
 orders from the Convention to undertake it." 
 
 "Then you fought without orders, father?" 
 
 " Well, yes, Antonia in a way. Delays in 
 war are as dangerous as in love. We were 
 surrounded by dragoons, who scoured the 
 country in every direction to prevent our for- 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 199 
 
 aging. San Antonio had to be taken. Soon 
 done was well done. On the third of December 
 Colonel Milam stepped in front of the ranks, 
 and asked if two hundred of the men would go 
 with him and storm the city. The whole elev- 
 en hundred stepped forward, and gave him their 
 hands and their word. From them two hun- 
 dred of the finest marksmen were selected." 
 
 " I have to say that was a great scene, mi 
 Roberto." 
 
 41 The greater for its calmnesa, I think. 
 There was no shouting, no hurrahing, no obvi- 
 ous enthusiasm. It was the simple assertion 
 of serious men determined to carry out their 
 object." 
 
 " And you stormed San Antonio with two 
 hundred men, father ? " 
 
 " But every man was a picked man. A Mex- 
 ican could not show his head above the ram- 
 parts and live. We had no powder and ball 
 to waste ; and I doubt if a single ball missed 
 its aim." 
 
 " A Mexican is like a Highland Scot in one 
 respect," said Dare ; " he fights best with 
 steel. They are good cavalry soldiers." 
 
 "There are no finer cavalry in the world 
 
200 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 than the horsemen from Santa F, Dare. But 
 with powder and ball Mexicans trust entirely 
 to luck; and luck is nowhere against Ken- 
 tucky sharpshooters. Their balls very seldom 
 reached us, though we were close to the ram- 
 parts ; and we gathered them up by thou- 
 sands, and sent them back with our double- 
 Dupont powder. Then they did damage 
 enough. In fact, we have taken the Alamo 
 with Mexican balls." 
 
 " Under what flag did you fight, Roberto ? " 
 " Under the Mexican republican flag of 
 eighteen twenty-four ; but indeed, Maria, I do 
 not think we had one in the camp. We were 
 destitute of all the trappings of war we had 
 no uniforms, no music, no flags, no positive 
 military discipline. But we had one heart and 
 mind, and one object in view ; and this four 
 days' fight has shown what men can do, who 
 are moved by a single, grand idea." 
 
 The Sefiora lay upon a sofa ; the doctor sat 
 by her side. Gradually their conversation be- 
 came more low and confidential. They talked 
 of their sons, and their probable whereabouts ; 
 of all that the Sefiora and her daughters had 
 suffered from the disaffection of the servants ; 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 201 
 
 and the attitude taken by Fray Ignatius. And 
 the doctor noticed, without much surprise, 
 that his wife's political sympathies were still 
 in a state of transition and uncertainty. She 
 could not avoid prophesying the speedy and 
 frightful vengeance of Mexico. She treated 
 the success at San Antonio as one of the acci- 
 dents of war. She looked forward to an early 
 renewal of hostilities. 
 
 " My countrymen are known to me, Rob- 
 erto," she said, with a touch that was almost 
 a hope of vengeance. " They have an insur- 
 mountable honor ; they will revenge this insult 
 to it in some terrible way. If the gracious 
 Maria holds not the hands of Santa Anna, he 
 will utterly destroy the Americans ! He will 
 be like a tiger that has become mad." 
 
 " I am not so much afraid of Santa Anna as 
 of Fray Ignatius. Promise me, my dear Maria, 
 that you will not suffer yourself or your chil- 
 dren to be decoyed by him into a convent. I 
 should never see you again." 
 
 The discussion on this subject was long and 
 eager. Antonia, talking with Dare a little 
 apart, could not help hearing it and feeling 
 great interest in her father's entreaties, even 
 
202 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 though she was discussing with Dare the plans 
 for their future. For Dare had much to tell 
 his betrothed. During the siege, the doctor 
 had discovered that his intended son-in-law 
 was a fine surgeon. Dare had, with great 
 delicacy, been quite reticent on this subject, 
 until circumstances made his assistance a 
 matter of life and death ; and the doctor 
 understood and appreciated the young man's 
 silence. 
 
 " He thinks I might have a touch of pro- 
 fessional jealousy he thinks I might suspect 
 him of wanting a partnership as well as a wife ; 
 he wishes to take his full share of the dangers 
 of war, without getting behind the shield of 
 his profession " ; these feelings the doctor 
 understood, and he passed from Fray Ignatius 
 to this pleasanter topic, gladly. 
 
 He told the Sefiora what a noble son they 
 were going to have ; he said, " when the war 
 is over, Maria, my dear, he shall marry An- 
 tonia." 
 
 " And what do you say, Roberto, if I should 
 give them the fine house on the Plaza that my 
 brother Perfecto left me ? " 
 
 " If you do that you will be the best mother 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 203 
 
 in the world, Maria. I then will take Dare 
 into partnership. He is good and clever ; and 
 I am a little weary of work. I shall enjoy 
 coming home earlier to you. We will go 
 riding and walking, and our courting days will 
 begin again." 
 
 " Maria Santissima ! How delightful that 
 will be, Roberto ! And as for our Isabel, shall 
 we not make her happy also? Luis should 
 have done as his own family have done ; a 
 young man to go against his mother and his 
 uncles, that is very wicked ! but, if we forgive 
 that fault, well, then, Luis is as good as good 
 bread." 
 
 " I think so. He began the study of the 
 law. He must finish it. He must learn the 
 American laws also. I am not a poor man, 
 Maria. I will give Isabel the fortune worthy 
 of a Yturbide or a Flores a fortune that will 
 make her very welcome to the Alvedas." 
 
 The Seftora clasped her husband's hand with 
 a smile. They were sweetening their own 
 happiness with making the happiness of their 
 children. They looked first at Antonia. She 
 sat with Dare, earnestly talking to him in a low 
 voice. Dare clasped in his own the dear little 
 
204 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 hand that had been promised to him. Antonia 
 bent toward her lover; her fair head rested 
 against his shoulder. Isabel sat in a large 
 chair, and Luis leaned on the back of it, stoop- 
 ing his bright face to the lovely one which was 
 sometimes dropped to hide her blushes, and 
 sometimes lifted with flashing eyes to answer 
 his tender words. 
 
 " My happiness is so great, Roberto, I am 
 even tired of- being happy. Call Rachela. I 
 must go to sleep. To-night I cannot even say 
 an ave." 
 
 " God hears the unspoken prayer in your 
 heart, Maria ; and to-night let me help you up- 
 stairs. My arm is stronger than Rachela's." 
 
 She rose with a little affectation of greater 
 weakness and lassitude than she really felt. 
 But she wished to be weak, so that her Ro- 
 berto might be strong to be quite dependent 
 on his care and tenderness And she let her 
 daughters embrace her so prettily, and then 
 offered her hand to Dare and Luis with so 
 much grace and true kindness that both 
 young men were enchanted. 
 
 " It is to be seen that they are gentlemen," 
 she said, as she went slowly upstairs on her 
 
THE STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 205 
 
 husband's arm " and hark ! that is the sing- 
 ing of Luis. What is it he says?" They 
 stood still to listen. Clear and sweet were the 
 chords of the mandolin, and melodiously to 
 them Luis was protesting 
 
 " Freedom shall have our shining blades ! 
 Our hearts are yours, fair Texan maids 1 " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 
 
 I tell thee, priest, if the world were wise 
 They would not wag one ringer in your quarrels : 
 Your heaven you promise, but our earth you covet ; 
 The Phaetons of mankind, who fire the world 
 Which you were sent by preaching but to warm." 
 
 Your Saviour came not with a gaudy show, 
 Nor was His kingdom of the world below : 
 The crown He wore was of the pointed thorn ; 
 In purple He was crucified, not born. 
 They who contend for place and high degree 
 Are not His sons, but those of Zebedee. " 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 THE exalted state of mind which the 
 victorious men had brought home with 
 them did not vanish with sleep. The same 
 heroic atmosphere was in the house in the 
 morning. Antonia's face had a brightness 
 upon it that never yet was the result of mere 
 flesh and blood. When she came into the 
 usual sitting-room, Dare was already there; 
 indeed, he had risen purposely for this hour. 
 Their smiles and glances met each other with 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 207 
 
 an instantaneous understanding. It was the 
 old Greek greeting " Rejoice ! " without the 
 audible expression. 
 
 Never again, perhaps, in all their lives would 
 moments so full of sweetness and splendor come 
 to them. They were all the sweeter because 
 blended with the homely duties that fell to 
 Antonia's hands. As she went about ordering 
 the breakfast, and giving to the table a festal 
 air, Dare thought of the old Homeric heroes, 
 and the daughters of the kings who ministered 
 to their wants. The bravest of them had 
 done no greater deeds of personal valor than 
 had been done by the little band of American 
 pioneers and hunters with whom he had 
 fought the last four days. The princes among 
 them had been welcomed by no sweeter and 
 fairer women than had welcomed his com- 
 panions and himself. 
 
 And, though his clothing was black with the 
 smoke of the battle and torn with the fray, 
 never had Dare himself looked so handsome. 
 There was an unspeakable radiance in his 
 fair face. The close, brown curls of his hair ; 
 his tall figure, supple and strong ; his air 
 of youth, and valor, and victory ; the love-light 
 
208 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 in his eyes ; the hopes in his heart, made him 
 for the time really more than a mere mortal 
 man. He walked like the demi-gods he was 
 thinking of. The most glorious ideal of life, 
 the brightest dream of love that he had ever 
 had, found in this hour their complete real- 
 ization. 
 
 The Sefiora did not come down ; but Isabel 
 and Luis and the doctor joined the breakfast 
 party. Luis had evidently been to see Lopez 
 Navarro before he did so ; for he wore a new 
 suit of dark blue velvet and silver, a sash of 
 crimson silk, the neatest of patent leather 
 shoes, and the most beautifully embroidered 
 linen. Dare gave him a little smile and nod of 
 approbation. He had not thought of fine 
 clothing for himself ; but then for the hand- 
 some, elegant, Mexican youth it seemed 
 precisely the right thing. And Isabel, in her 
 scarlet satin petticoat, and white embroideries 
 and satin slippers, looked his proper mate. 
 Dare and Antonia, and even the doctor, 
 watched their almost childlike devotion to 
 each other with sympathetic delight. 
 
 Oh, if such moments could only last ! 
 No, no ; as a rule they last long enough. Joy 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 209 
 
 wearies as well as sorrow. An abiding rapture 
 would make itself a sorrow out of our very 
 weakness to bear it. We should become ex- 
 hausted an.d exacting, and be irritated by the 
 limitations of our nature, and our inability to 
 create and to endure an increasing rapture. It 
 is because joy is fugitive that it leaves us a 
 delightsome memory. It is far better, then, 
 not to hold the rose until it withers in our 
 fevered hand. 
 
 The three women watched their heroes go 
 back to the city. The doctor looked very little 
 older than his companions. He sat his horse 
 superbly, and he lifted his hat to the proud 
 Sefiora with a loving grace which neither of 
 the young men could excel. In that far back 
 year, when he had wooed her with the sweet 
 words she taught him, he had not looked more 
 manly and attractive. There is a perverse dis- 
 position in women to love personal prowess, 
 and to adore the heroes of the battle-field ; and 
 never had the Sefiora loved her husband as 
 she did at that hour. 
 
 In his capacity of physician he had done 
 unnoticed deeds of far greater bravery gone 
 into a Comanche camp that was being devas- 
 
*to WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 tated by smallpox or galloped fifty miles 
 alone in the night, through woods haunted by 
 savage men and beasts, to succor some little 
 child struggling with croup, or some fron- 
 tiersman pierced with an arrow. The Seftora 
 had always fretted and scolded a little when he 
 thus exposed his life. But the storming of 
 the Alamo ! That was a bravery she could 
 understand. Her Roberto was indeed a hero ! 
 Though she could not bring herself to approve 
 the cause for which he fought, she was as 
 sensitive as men and women always are to vic- 
 torious valor and a successful cause. 
 
 Rachela was in a state of rebellion. Noth- 
 ing but the express orders of Fray Ignatius, to 
 remain where she was, prevented her leaving 
 the Worths ; for the freedom so suddenly 
 given to Isabel had filled her with indignation. 
 She was longing to be in some house where 
 she could give adequate expression to the 
 diabolical temper she felt it right to indulge. 
 
 In the afternoon it was some relief to see 
 the confessor coming up the garden. He had 
 resumed his usual deliberate pace. His hands 
 were folded upon his breast. He looked as 
 the mournful Jeremiah may have looked, when 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 21 1 
 
 he had the burden of a heavy prophecy to 
 deliver. 
 
 The Sefiora sat down with a doggedly sullen 
 air, which Antonia understood very well. It 
 meant, " I am not to be forced to take anyway 
 but my own, to-day "; and the wise priest 
 understood her mood as soon as he entered 
 the room. He put behind him the reproof 
 he had been meditating. He stimulated her 
 curiosity ; he asked her sympathy. No man 
 knew better than Fray Ignatius, when to 
 assume sacerdotal authority and when to lay 
 it aside. 
 
 And the Sefiora was never proof against the 
 compliment of his personal friendship. The 
 fight, as it affected himself and his brother- 
 hood and the convent, was full of interest to 
 her. She smiled at Brother Servando's child- 
 ish alarm ; she was angry at an insult offered 
 'to the venerable abbot ; she condoled with the 
 Sisters, wept at the danger that the famous 
 statue of the Virgin de Los Remedias had 
 been exposed to ; and was altogether as sym- 
 pathetic as he could desire, until her own 
 affairs were mentioned. 
 
 " And you also, my daughter ? The sword 
 
212 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 has pierced your heart too, I am sure! To 
 know that your husband and sons were fight- 
 ing against your God and your country! 
 Holy Mother ! How great must have been 
 your grief. But, for your comfort, I tell you 
 that the saints who have suffered a fiery mar- 
 tyrdom stand at the feet of those who, like 
 you, endure the continual crucifixion of their 
 affections." 
 
 The Seftora was silent, but not displeased ; 
 and the priest then ventured a little fur- 
 ther: 
 
 " But there is an end to all trials, daughter ; 
 and I now absolve you from the further strug- 
 gle. Decide this day for your God and your 
 country. Make an offering to Almighty God 
 and the Holy Mother of your earthly love. 
 Give yourself and your daughters and all that 
 you have to the benign and merciful Church. 
 Show these rebels and heretics these ungrate- 
 ful recipients of Mexican bounty what a true 
 Catholic is capable of. His Divine Majesty 
 and the Holy Mary demand this supreme 
 sacrifice from you." 
 
 " Father, I have my husband, and my sons ; 
 to them, also, I owe some duties." 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 213 
 
 11 The Church will absolve you from them." 
 
 a It would break my heart." 
 
 " Listen then : If it is your right hand, or 
 your right eye that is, if it is your husband, 
 or your child you are commanded to give 
 them up ; or it is God's word there is only 
 hell fire." 
 
 " Mother of Sorrows, pity me ! What shall 
 I do?" 
 
 She looked with the terror of a child into 
 the dark, cruel face of the priest. It was as 
 immovably stern as if carved out of stone. 
 Then her eyes sought those of Antonia, who 
 sat at a distant window with her embroidery 
 in her hand. She let it fall when her mother's 
 pitiful, uncertain glance asked from her 
 strength and counsel. She rose and went to 
 her. Never had the tall, fair girl looked so 
 noble. A sorrowful majesty, that had some- 
 thing in it of pity and something of anger, 
 gave to her countenance, her movements, and 
 even her speech, a kind of authority. 
 
 " Dear mother, do as the beloved and kind- 
 hearted Ruth did. Like you, she married one 
 not of her race and not of her religion. Even 
 when God had taken him from her, she chose 
 
214 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 to remain with his people to leave her own 
 people and abide with his mother. For this 
 act God blessed her, and all nations in all ages 
 have honored her." 
 
 " Ruth ! Ruth ! Ruth ! What has Ruth to do 
 with the question ? Presumptuous one ! Ruth 
 was a heathen woman a Moabite a race ten 
 times accursed." 
 
 " Pardon, father. Ruth was the ancestres* 
 of our blessed Saviour, and of the Virgin 
 Mary." 
 
 " Believe not the wicked one, Seflora ? She 
 is blinded with false knowledge. She is a 
 heretic. I have long suspected it. She has 
 not been to confession for nine months." 
 
 " You wrong me, father. Every day, twice 
 a day, I confess my sins humbly." 
 
 " Chito ! You are in outrageous sin. But, 
 then, what else ? I hear, indeed, that you read 
 wicked books even upon your knees you read 
 them." 
 
 "I read my Bible, father." 
 
 " Bring it to me. How could a child like 
 you read the Bible? It is a book for bishops 
 and archbishops, and the Immaculate Father 
 himself. What an arrogance ? What an in- 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 215 
 
 science of self-conceit must possess so young a 
 heart ? Saints of God ! It confounds me." 
 
 The girl stood with burning cheeks gazing at 
 the proud, passionate man, but she did not obey 
 his order. 
 
 " Seftora, my daughter ! See you with your 
 own eyes the fruit of your sin. Will you dare 
 to become a partner in such wickedness ? " 
 
 " Antonia ! Antonia ! Go at once and bring 
 here this wicked book. Oh, how can you make 
 so miserable a mother who loves you so much ?" 
 
 In a few moments Antonia returned with the 
 objectionable book. " My dear grandmother 
 gave it to me," she said. " Look, mi madre, 
 here is my name in her writing. Is it conceiv- 
 able that she would give to your Antonia a 
 book that she ought not to read ? " 
 
 The Sefiora took it in her hands and turned 
 the leaves very much as a child might turn 
 those of a book in an unknown tongue, in which 
 there were no illustrations nor anything that 
 looked the least interesting. It was a pretty 
 volume of moderate size, bound in purple 
 morocco, and fastened with gilt clasps. 
 
 " I see the word God in it very often, Fray 
 Ignatius. Perhaps, indeed, it is not bad." 
 
2l6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 11 It is a heretic Bible, I am sure. Could any- 
 thing be more sinful, more disrespectful to God, 
 more dangerous for a young girl?" and as he 
 said the words he took it from the Sefiora's list- 
 less hands, glanced at the obnoxious title-page, 
 and then, stepping hastily to the hearth, flung 
 the book upon the burning logs. 
 
 With a cry of horror, pain, amazement, all 
 blended, Antonia sprang towards the fire, but 
 Fray Ignatius stood with outstretched arms 
 before it. 
 
 " Stand back ! " he cried. " To save your soul 
 from eternal fires, I burn the book that has 
 misled you ! " 
 
 " Oh, my Bible ! Oh, my Bible! Oh, mother! 
 mother ! " and sobbing and crying out in her 
 fear and anger, she fled down stairs and called 
 the peon Ortiz. 
 
 " Do you know where to find the Seflor 
 Doctor? If you do, Ortiz, take the swiftest 
 horse and bring him here." 
 
 The man looked with anger into the girl's 
 troubled face. For a moment he was some- 
 thing unlike himself. " I can find him ; I will 
 bring him in fifteen minutes. Corpus Christi ! 
 it is here he should be." 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 2*7 
 
 The saddled horse in the stable was mounted 
 as he muttered one adjuration and oath after 
 another, and Antonia sat down at the window 
 to watch for the result of her message. For- 
 tunately, Rachela had been so interested in the 
 proceedings, and so determined to know all 
 about them, that she seized the opportunity of 
 the outcry to fly to " her poor Senora," and 
 thus was ignorant of the most unusual step 
 taken by Antonia. 
 
 Indeed, no one was aware of it but herself 
 and Ortiz ; and the servants in the kitchen 
 looked with a curious interest at the doctor 
 riding into the stable yard as if his life de- 
 pended upon his speed. Perhaps it did. All 
 of them stopped their work to speculate upon 
 the circumstance. 
 
 They saw him fling himself from the saddle ; 
 they saw Antonia run to meet him ; they 
 heard her voice full of distress they knew it 
 was the voice of complaint. They were aware 
 it was answered by a stamp on the flagged hall 
 of the doctor's iron-heeled boot which rang 
 through the whole house, and which was but 
 the accompaniment of the fierce exclamation 
 that went with it. 
 
2lS WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 They heard them mount the stairs together, 
 and then they were left to their imaginations. 
 As for Antonia, she was almost terrified at the 
 storm she had raised. Never had she seen an- 
 ger so terrible. Yet, though he had not said a 
 word directly to her, she was aware of his full 
 sympathy. He grasped her hand, and entered 
 the Sefiora's room with her. His first order 
 was to Rachela 
 
 " Leave the house in five minutes ; no, in 
 three minutes. I will tell Ortiz to send your 
 clothes after you. Go ! " 
 
 " My Senora ! Fray Ig " 
 
 " Go / " he thundered. " Out of my house! 
 Fly! I will not endure you another mo- 
 ment." 
 
 The impetus of his words was like a great 
 wind. They drove the woman before him, and 
 he shut the door behind her with a terrifying 
 and amazing rage. Then he turned to the 
 priest 
 
 " Fray Ignatius, you have abused my hos- 
 pitality, and my patience. You shall do so no 
 longer. For twenty-six years I have suffered 
 your interference 
 
 "TheSefior is a prudent man. The wise 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 219 
 
 bear what they cannot resist "; and with a gen- 
 tle smile and lifted eyebrows Fray Ignatius 
 crossed himself. 
 
 " I have respected your faith, though it was 
 the faith of a bigot ; and your opinions, though 
 they were false and cruel, because you be- 
 lieved honestly in them. But you shall not 
 again interfere with my wife, or my children, 
 or my servants, or my house." 
 
 "The Senor Doctor is not prince, or pope. 
 ' Shall 7 and 'shall not,' no one but my own 
 ecclesiastical superiors can say to me." 
 
 " I say, you shall not again terrify my wife 
 and insult my daughter, and disorganize my 
 whole household ! And, as the God of my 
 mother hears me, you shall not again burn up 
 His Holy Word under my roof. Never, while 
 I dwell beneath it, enter my gates, or cross my 
 threshold, or address yourself to any that bear 
 my name, or eat my bread." With the words, 
 he walked to the door and held it open. It 
 was impossible to mistake the unspoken order, 
 and there was something in the concentrated 
 yet controlled passion of Robert Worth which 
 even the haughty priest did not Ccire to irritate 
 beyond its bounds. 
 
220 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 He gathered his robe together, and with 
 lifted eyes muttered an ejaculatory prayer. 
 Then he said in slow, cold, precise tones : 
 
 " For the present, I go. Very good. I shall 
 come back again. The saints will take care of 
 that. Seftora, I give you my blessing. Senor, 
 you may yet find the curse of a poor priest an 
 inconvenience." 
 
 He crossed himself at the door, and cast a 
 last look at the Seftora, who had thrown her- 
 self upon her knees, and was crying out to 
 Mary and the saints in a passion of excuses 
 and reproaches. She was deaf to all her hus- 
 band said. She would not suffer Antonia to 
 approach her. She felt that now was the hour 
 of her supreme trial. She had tolerated the 
 rebellion of her husband, and her sons, and her 
 daughter, and now she was justly punished. 
 They had driven away from her the confessor, 
 and the maid who had been her counsellor and 
 her reliance from her girlhood. 
 
 Her grief and terror were genuine, and there- 
 fore pitiful ; and, in spite of his annoyance, the 
 doctor recognized the fact. In a moment, as 
 soon as they were alone, he put aside his anger. 
 He knelt beside her, he soothed her with ten- 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 221 
 
 der words, he pleaded the justice of his indig- 
 nation. And ere long she began to listen to 
 his excuses, and to complain to him : 
 
 He had been born a heretic, and therefore 
 might be excused a little, even by Almighty 
 God. ButAntonia! Her sin was beyond en- 
 durance. She herself, and the good Sisters, 
 and Fray Ignatius, had all taught her in her 
 infancy the true religion. And her Roberto 
 must see that this was a holy war a war for 
 the Holy Catholic Church. No wonder Fray 
 Ignatius was angry. 
 
 " My dear Maria, every church thinks itself 
 right ; and all other churches wrong. God 
 looks at the heart. If it is right, it makes all 
 worship true. But when the Americans have 
 won Texas, they will give to every one free- 
 dom to worship God as they wish." 
 
 " Saints in heaven, Roberto ! That day 
 comes not. One victory ! Bah ! That is an 
 accident. The Mexicans are a very brave 
 people, the bravest in the world. Did they 
 not drive the Spaniards out of their country ; 
 and it is not to be contradicted that the Span- 
 iards have conquered all other nations. That 
 I saw in a book. The insult the Americans 
 
2 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 have given to Mexico will be revenged. Her 
 honor has been compromised before the world. 
 Very well, it will be made bright again ; yes, 
 Fray Ignatius says with blood and fire it will 
 be made bright." 
 
 "And in the mean time, Maria, we have 
 taken from them the city they love best of all. 
 An hour ago I saw General Cos, with eleven 
 hundred Mexican soldiers, pass before a little 
 band of less than two hundred Americans and 
 lay down their arms. These defenders of the 
 Alamo had all been blessed by the priests. 
 Their banners had been anointed with holy oil 
 and holy water. They had all received absolu- 
 tion every day before the fight began ; they had 
 been promised a free passage through purga- 
 tory and a triumphant entry into heaven.'* 
 
 " Well, I will tell you something ; Fray Igna- 
 tius showed it to me it was a paper printed. 
 The rebels and their wives and children are to 
 be sent from this earth you may know where 
 they will all go, Roberto Congress says so. 
 The States will give their treasures. The arch- 
 bishops will give the episcopal treasures. The 
 convents will give their gems and gold orna- 
 ments. Ten thousand men had left for San 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE PRIEST. 223 
 
 Antonio, and ten thousand more are to follow; 
 the whole under our great President Santa 
 Anna. Oh, yes ! The rebels in Washington 
 are to be punished also. It is well known that 
 they sent soldiers to Nacogdoches. Mexicans 
 are not blind moles, and they have their intel- 
 ligence, you know. All the States who have 
 helped these outrageous ingrates are to be 
 devastated, and you will see that your famous 
 Washington will be turned into a heap of 
 stones. I have seen these words in print, 
 Roberto. I assure you, that it is not just a 
 little breath what one or another says it is 
 the printed orders of the Mexican government. 
 That is something these Americans will have 
 to pay attention to." 
 
 The doctor sighed, and answered the sorrow- 
 ful, credulous woman with a kiss. What was 
 the use of reasoning with simplicity so igno- 
 rant and so confident ? He turned the conver- 
 sation to a subject that always roused her best 
 and kindest feelings her son Jack. 
 
 " I have just seen young Dewees, Maria. He 
 and Jack left San Felipe together. Dewees 
 brought instructions to General Burleson ; and 
 Jack carried others to Fannin, at Goliad." 
 
224 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 She took her husband's hands and kissed 
 them. " That indeed ! Oh, Roberto ! If I 
 could only see my Jack once more ! I have 
 had a constant accusation to bear about him. 
 Till I kiss my boy again, the world will be all 
 dark before my face. If Our Lady will grant 
 me this miraculous favor, I will always after- 
 wards be exceedingly religious. I will give all 
 my desires to the other world." 
 
 " Dearest Maria, God did not put us in this 
 world to be always desiring another. There is 
 no need, mi queridita, to give up this life as a 
 bad affair. We shall be very happy again, 
 soon." 
 
 " As you say. If I could only see Jack ! For 
 that, I would promise God Almighty and you 
 Roberto to be happy. I would forgive the 
 rebels and the heretics for they are well 
 acquainted with hell road, and will guide each 
 other there without my wish." 
 
 " I am sure if Jack has one day he will come 
 to you. And when he hears of the surrender 
 of General Cos " 
 
 " Well now, it was God's will that General 
 Cos should surrender. What more can be 
 said ? It is sufficient." 
 
THE DOCTOR AND THE P PIE ST. 225 
 
 " Let me call Antonia. She is miserable at 
 your displeasure ; and it is not Antonia's 
 fault." 
 
 " Pardon me, Roberto. I have seen Antonia. 
 She is not agreeable and obedient to Fray 
 Ignatius." 
 
 " She has been very wickedly used by him ; 
 and I fear he intends to do her evil." 
 
 " It is not convenient to discuss the subject 
 now. I will see Isabel ; she is a good child 
 my only comfort. Paciencia ! there is Luis 
 Alveda singing; Isabel will now be deaf to all 
 else "; and she rose with a sigh and walked 
 towards the casement looking into the garden. 
 
 Luis was coming up the oleander walk. 
 The pretty trees were thinner now, and had 
 only a pink blossom here and there. But the 
 bright winter sun shone through them, and fell 
 upon Luis and Isabel. For she had also seen 
 him coming, and had gone to meet him, with a 
 little rainbow-tinted shawl over her head. She 
 looked so piquant and so happy. She seemed 
 such a proper mate for the handsome youth at 
 her side that a word of dissent was not pos- 
 sible. The doctor said only, " She is so like 
 
 you, Maria. I remember when you were still 
 
 15 
 
226 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 more lovely, and when from your balcony you 
 made me with a smile the happiest man in the 
 world." 
 
 Such words were never lost ones ; for the 
 Seftora had a true and great love for her hus- 
 band. She gave him again a smile, she put her 
 hand in his, and then there were no further con- 
 ciliations required. They stood in the sun- 
 shine of their own hearts, and listened a mo- 
 ment to the gay youth, singing, how at 
 
 The strong old Alamo 
 Two hundred men, with rifles true, 
 Shot down a thousand of the foe, 
 And broke the triple ramparts through ; 
 And dropped the flag as black as night, 
 For Freedom's green and red and white.* 
 
 * The flag of the Mexican Republic of 1824 was green, 
 red and white in color. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 A HAPPY TRUCE. 
 
 ** Well, honor is the subject of my story ; 
 I cannot tell what you and other men 
 Think of this life ; but for my single self, 
 I had as lief not be, as live to be 
 In awe of such a thing as I myself." 
 
 " Two truths are told 
 As happy prologues to the swelling act, 
 Of the imperial theme." 
 
 " This is the eve of Christmas, 
 No sleep from night to morn ; 
 The Virgin is in travail, 
 At twelve will the Child be born." 
 
 CITIES have not only a certain physiog- 
 nomy ; they have also a decided mental 
 and moral character, and a definite political 
 tendency. There are good and bad cities, ar- 
 tistic and commercial cities, scholarly and man- 
 ufacturing cities, aristocratic and radical cities. 
 San Antonio, in its political and social charac- 
 ter, was a thoroughly radical city. Its popula- 
 tion, composed in a large measure of adventur- 
 
228 WQVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ous units from various nationalities, had that 
 fluid rather than fixed character, which is sus- 
 ceptible to new ideas. For they were generally 
 men who had found the restraints of the centu- 
 ries behind them to be intolerable men to 
 whom freedom was the grand ideal of life. 
 
 It may be easily undertood that this element 
 in the population of San Antonio was a power- 
 ful one, and that a little of such leaven would 
 stir into activity a people who, beneath the crust 
 of their formal piety, had still something left of 
 that pride and adventurous spirit which distin- 
 guished the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabel. 
 
 In fact, no city on the American continent 
 has such a bloody record as San Antonio. 
 From its settlement by the warlike monks of 
 1692, to its final capture by the Americans in 
 1836, it was well named " the city of the 
 sword." The Comanche and the white man 
 fought around its walls their forty years' battle 
 for supremacy. From 1 8 10 to 1821 its streets 
 were constantly bloody with the fight between 
 the royalists and republicans, and the city 
 and the citadel passed from one party to the 
 other continually. And when it came to the 
 question of freedom and American domina- 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 229 
 
 tion, San Antonio was, as it had ever been, the 
 great Texan battle-field. 
 
 Its citizens then were well used to the for- 
 tunes and changes of war. Men were living 
 who had seen the horrors of the auto da fe and 
 the splendors of viceregal authority. Insurgent 
 nobles, fighting priests, revolutionizing Ameri- 
 cans, all sorts and conditions of men, all 
 chances and changes of religious and military 
 power, had ruled it with a temporary absolut- 
 ism during their generation. 
 
 In the main there was a favorable feeling 
 regarding its occupation by the Americans. 
 The most lawless of them were law-abiding in 
 comparison with any kind of victorious Mexi- 
 cans. Americans protected private property, 
 they honored women, they observed the sanc- 
 tity of every man's home ; " and, as for being 
 heretics, that was an affair for the saints and 
 the priests; the comfortable benefits of the 
 Holy Catholic Church, had not been vouch- 
 safed to all nations." 
 
 Political changes are favorable to religious 
 tolerance, and the priests themselves had been 
 sensible of a great decrease in their influence 
 during the pending struggle. Prominent Mexi- 
 
23 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 cans had given aid and comfort to the Ameri- 
 cans in spite of their spiritual orders, and there 
 were many men who, like Lopez Navarro, did 
 not dare to go to confession, because they 
 would have been compelled to acknowledge 
 themselves rebels. 
 
 When the doctor and Dare and Luis reached 
 the Plaza, the morning after the surrender, they 
 found the city already astir. Thousands of 
 women were in the churches saying masses for 
 the dead ; the men stood at their store doors or 
 sat smoking on their balconies, chatting with 
 the passers-by or watching the movements of 
 the victorious army and the evacuation of the 
 conquered one. 
 
 Nearly all of the brave two hundred occu- 
 pied the Plaza. They were still greatly excited 
 by the miraculous ecstacy of victory. But 
 when soldiers in the death-pang rejoice under 
 its influence, what wonder that the living feel 
 its intoxicating rapture? They talked and 
 walked as if they already walked the streets of 
 Mexico. All things seemed possible to them. 
 The royalty of their carriage, the authority in 
 their faces, gave dignity even to their deer- 
 skin clothing. Its primitive character was its 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 231 
 
 distinction, and the wearers looked like the 
 demi-gods of the heroic stage of history. 
 
 Lopez Navarro touched the doctor and 
 directed his attention to them. " Does the 
 world, Seflor, contain the stuff to make their 
 counterparts ? " 
 
 " They are Americans, Navarro. And 
 though there are a variety of Americans, they 
 have only one opinion about submitting to 
 tyrants they wont do it! " 
 
 This was the conversation interrupted by 
 Ortiz and the message he brought, and the 
 doctor was thoroughly sobered by the events 
 following. He was not inclined to believe, as 
 the majority of the troops did, that Mexico 
 was conquered. He expected that the Seftora's 
 prediction would be verified. And the per- 
 sonal enmity which the priesthood felt to him 
 induced a depressing sense of personal disaster. 
 
 Nothing in the house or the city seemed in- 
 clined to settle. It took a few days to draw 
 up the articles of capitulation and clear the 
 town of General Cos and the Mexican troops. 
 And he had no faith in their agreement to 
 "retire from Texas, and never again carry arms 
 against the Americans." He knew that they 
 
232 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 did not consider it any sin to make " a mental 
 reservation " against a heretic. He was quite 
 sure that if Cos met reinforcements, he would 
 have to be fought over again immediately. 
 
 And amid these public cares and considera- 
 tions, he had serious private ones. The Se- 
 ftora was still under the control of Fray Igna- 
 tius. It required all the influence of his own 
 personal presence and affection to break the 
 spiritual captivity in which he held her. He 
 knew that the priest had long been his enemy. 
 
 He saw that Antonia was hated by him. He 
 was in the shadow of a terror worse than death 
 that of a long, hopeless captivity. A dun- 
 geon and a convent might become to them a 
 living grave, in which cruelty and despair would 
 slowly gnaw life away. 
 
 And yet, for a day or two he resolved not 
 to speak of his terror. The Sefiora was so 
 happy in his presence, and she had such kind 
 confidences to give him about her plans for 
 her children's future, that he could not bear to 
 alarm her. And the children also were so full 
 of youth's enthusiasms and love's sweet dreams. 
 Till the last moment why should he awaken 
 them ? And as the strongest mental element 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE: 233 
 
 in a home gives the tone to it, so Dare and 
 Antonia, with the doctor behind them, gave to 
 the Mexican household almost an American 
 freedom of intercourse and community of 
 pleasure. 
 
 The Seftora came to the parlor far more fre- 
 quently, and in her own apartments her chil- 
 dren visited her with but slight ceremony. 
 They discussed all together their future plans. 
 They talked over a wonderful journey which 
 they were to take in company to New Orleans, 
 and Washington, and New York, and perhaps 
 even to London and Paris " who could tell, if 
 the Seftora would be so good as to enjoy her- 
 self?" They ate more together. They got 
 into the habit of congregating about the same 
 hearthstone. It was the Seftora's first real ex- 
 perience of domestic life. 
 
 In about six days the Mexican forces left the 
 city. The terms of surrender granted Gen- 
 eral Cos struck the Mexicans with a kind of 
 wonder. They had fought with the express 
 declaration that they would take no American 
 prisoner. Yet the Americans not only per- 
 mitted Cos and his troops to leave under pa* 
 role of honor, but gave them their arms and 
 
234 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 sufficient ammunition to protect themselves 
 from the Indians on their journey home. They 
 allowed them also all their private property. 
 They furnished them with the provisions 
 necessary to reach the Rio Grande. They 
 took charge of their sick and wounded. They 
 set all the Mexican prisoners at liberty in 
 short, so great was their generosity and cour- 
 tesy that the Mexicans were unable to compre- 
 hend their motives. 
 
 Even Lopez was troubled at it. " I assure 
 you/' he said to Dr. Worth, " they will despise 
 such civility ; they will not believe in its sin- 
 cerity. At this very blessed hour of God, they 
 are accusing the Americans of being afraid to 
 press their advantage. Simply, you will have 
 the fight to make over again. I say this, be- 
 cause I know Santa Anna." 
 
 " Santa Anna is but a man, Lopez." 
 " Me perdonas ! He is however a man who 
 knows a trick more than the devil. One must 
 be careful of a bull in front, of a mule behind, 
 and of a monk and Santa Anna on all sides. 
 At the word monk, Lopez glanced significantly 
 at a passing priest, and Doctor Worth saw 
 that it was Fray Ignatius. 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 235 
 
 " He sprinkled the Mexican troops with 
 holy water, and blessed them as they left the 
 city this morning. He has the ear of General 
 Cos. He is not a man to offend, I assure 
 you, Doctor." 
 
 The doctor walked thoughtfully away. San 
 Antonio was full of his friends, yet never had 
 he felt himself a*nd his family to be in so much 
 danger. And the words of Lopez had struck a 
 responding chord in his own consciousness. 
 The careless bravery, the splendid generosity 
 of his countrymen was at least premature. He 
 went through the city with observing eyes, and 
 saw much to trouble him. 
 
 The gates of Alamo were open. Crockett 
 lounged upon his rifle in the Plaza. A little 
 crowd was around him, and the big Tennes- 
 seean hunter was talking to them. Shouts of 
 laughter, bravas of enthusiasm, answered the 
 homely wit and stirring periods that had over 
 and over " made room for Colonel Crockett," 
 both in the Tennessee Legislature and the 
 United States Congress. His rifle seemed a 
 part of him a kind of third arm. His con- 
 fident manner, his manliness and bravery, 
 turned his wit into wisdom. The young 
 
236 ^ WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 fellows around found in him their typical 
 leader. 
 
 The elegant James Bowie was sitting on the 
 verandah of the Veramendi House, calmly 
 smoking. His fair, handsome face, clear blue 
 eyes and mild manners, gave no indication of 
 the gigantic physical strength and tremendous 
 coolness and courage of the man who never 
 tolerated an enemy in his presence. Burleson 
 and Travis were talking under the shade of a 
 China tree, and there were little groups of 
 American soldiers on every street; this was 
 what he saw, and yet a terrible sense of inse- 
 curity oppressed him. 
 
 The city, moreover, was not settling to its 
 usual business, though there were many prep- 
 arations for public and private entertainments. 
 After passing Colonel Bowie, he met David 
 Burnett. The shrewd statesman from New Jer- 
 sey had a shadow upon his face. He stopped 
 Doctor Worth and spoke frankly to him. " We 
 are in greater danger now than when we were 
 under fire," he said. " Santa Anna will come 
 on us like a lion from the swellings of Jordan. 
 I wish Houston knew our position as it really 
 is. We must either have more men to defend 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 237 
 
 this city or we must blow up the Alamo and 
 be ready to leave it at a moment's notice." 
 
 " Why were such favorable terms given to 
 General Cos and his troops ? I cannot under- 
 stand it." 
 
 " I will tell you an amazing fact. When 
 Cos ran up that white flag on the Alamo, we 
 had not a single round of ammunition left ; 
 complaisance was necessary until Cos made 
 over to us the Mexican arms, ammunition, 
 property and money." 
 
 Worth turned and looked at the fort. A 
 great red flag on which was the word 
 T-E-X-A-S floated from its battlements, and 
 there were two men standing on its roof, with 
 their faces westward. 
 
 "They are the lookouts," said Burnett, 
 " and we have scouts through the surrounding 
 country ; but Santa Anna will come, when he 
 comes, with tens of thousands." 
 
 " And there is a line where even the coolest 
 courage and the most brilliant bravery suc- 
 cumbs to mere numbers Eh ! " 
 
 " That is what I mean, Doctor." 
 
 " Where is Houston ? " 
 
 " On the Brazos, at the small town of Wash- 
 
238 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ington. The council have established head- 
 quarters there." 
 
 Their conversation was interrupted by the 
 ringing of a little bell, and the doleful suppli- 
 cations of a priest followed by a crowd of idle 
 men and women. He was begging, " for the 
 sake of the Holy Virgin," alms to say masses 
 for the soul of an unfortunate, who had not 
 left a peso for his burial. He droned on, and 
 no one noticed him until James Bowie 
 stretched his tall figure, sauntered up to the 
 monk, and dropped a gold piece into his cap. 
 He did not stay to hear the exclamations and 
 the gracias, but with steps that rang like metal 
 upon metal took his way to the Alamo. 
 
 However, dangers postponed make the most 
 timorous indifferent to them ; and when Gen- 
 eral Cos did not return, and nothing was heard 
 of Santa Anna, every one began to take up their 
 ordinary life again. The temper of the Amer- 
 icans also encouraged this disposition. They 
 were discovered neither to be bloodthirsty nor 
 cannibals. It was even seen that they enjoyed 
 the fandango and the mont tables, and that a 
 proposition for a bull-fight at Christmas was 
 not opposed by them. 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 239 
 
 And in spite of all anxieties, there were many 
 sweet and unusual pleasures in the Worth 
 home. The discipline of the troops was so 
 lenient that Dare and Luis one or both were 
 generally there in the evenings. Their turns 
 as scouts or watchman at the Alamo only 
 made more delightful the hours when they were 
 exempted from these duties. As for the doctor, 
 he had been released from all obligations but 
 those pertaining to his profession, and Antonia 
 noticed that he spent every hour he could 
 spare with the Sefiora. For some reason, he 
 appeared determined to strengthen his influ- 
 ence over her. 
 
 On Christmas Eve the old city was very 
 gay. The churches were decorated, and 
 splendidly dressed men and women passed in 
 and out with smiles and congratulations. The 
 fandangoes and the gambling houses were all 
 open. From the huertas around, great num- 
 bers of families had come to receive absolution 
 and keep the Nativity. Their rich clothing 
 and air of idleness gave a holiday feeling to 
 the streets noisy with the buzzing of the 
 guitar, the metallic throb of the cithara, the 
 murmurs of voices, and the cries of the hawkers, 
 
240 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Priests, Mexicans, Indians and Americans 
 touched each other on the narrow thorough- 
 fares, but that indescribable feeling of good 
 will which comes with Christmas pervaded the 
 atmosphere, and gave, even in the midst of 
 war and danger, a sense of anticipated 
 pleasure. 
 
 At the Worth residence there was a house- 
 hold feast. The Seflora and her daughters 
 were in full dress. They were waiting for 
 the dear ones who had promised to join them 
 at the Angelus. One by one the houses 
 around were illuminated. Parties of simple 
 musicians began to pass each other continu- 
 ally they were going to serenade the blessed 
 Mary all night long. As Antonia closed the 
 balcony window, half a dozen of these young 
 boys passed the garden hedge singing to the 
 clacking of their castanets 
 
 " This is the eve of Christmas, 
 No sleep from night to morn, 
 The Virgin is in travail, 
 At twelve will the Child be born." 
 
 Luis appeared at the same moment. He 
 caught up the wild melody and came up the 
 garden path singing it. Dare and the doctor 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 241 
 
 followed him. It struck Antonia that they 
 were talking of a change, or of something 
 important. But there was no time for obser- 
 vation. Isabel, radiant in crimson satin, with 
 her white mantilla over her head, darted for- 
 ward to meet Luis, and turned his song to the 
 Virgin into a little adulation for herself. Dare 
 and the doctor took Antonia's hands, and there 
 was something in the silent clasp of each 
 which made her heart tremble. 
 
 But she was not one of those foolish women 
 who enquire after misfortune. She could wait 
 and let the evil news find her, and by so doing 
 she won many a bright hour from the advanc- 
 ing shadows. The Sefiora was in unusual 
 spirits. She had obtained a new confessor. "A 
 man of the most seraphic mind, and, moreover, 
 so fortunate as to be connected with the house 
 of Flores." He had been gentle to her in the 
 matter of penances, and not set her religious 
 obligations above her capacities. Consequently, 
 the Sefiora had laid aside her penitential gar- 
 ments. She was in full Castilian costume, 
 and looked very handsome. But Antonia, 
 who had been in New York during those years 
 when she would otherwise have been learning 
 
242 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 how to wear a mantilla and use a fan, did not 
 attempt such difficulties of the toilet. She 
 knew that she would look unnatural in them, 
 and she adhered to the American fashions of 
 her day. But in a plain frock of dark satin 
 trimmed with minever bands, she looked 
 exceedingly noble and lovely. 
 
 The meal was a very merry one, and after it 
 Lopez Navarro joined the party and they had 
 music and dancing, and finally gathered around 
 the fire to hear the singing of Luis. He knew 
 a great many of the serenades, and as he sang 
 of the Virgin and the Babe, a sweeter peace, 
 a more solemn joy, came to each heart. It 
 was like bringing something of the bliss of 
 heaven into the bliss of earth. The Seftora's 
 eyes were full of tears ; she slipped her hand 
 into her husband's and looked at him with a 
 face which asked, " Do you not also feel the 
 eternity of a true love ? " 
 
 " How sweet and wild are these serenades, 
 Luis ! " said Antonia. " I wonder who wrote 
 them ? " 
 
 " But, then, they were never written, my 
 sister. Out of the hearts of lonely shepherds 
 they came ; or of women spinning in their 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 243 
 
 quiet houses ; yes, even of soldiers in the 
 strong places keeping their watch." 
 
 "That is the truth, Luis," answered Isabel. 
 " And every Christmas, when I was in the 
 convent, the Sisters made a serenade to the 
 Virgin, or a seguidilla to our blessed Lord. 
 Very still are the Sisters, but when it comes to 
 singing, I can assure you the angels might 
 listen!" 
 
 " There is a seguidilla I hear everywhere," 
 said the doctor ; " and I never hear it without 
 feeling the better for listening. It begins 
 'So noble a Lord.' " 
 
 " That, indeed ! " cried Luis. " Who knows 
 it not? It is the seguidilla to our blessed 
 Lord, written by the daughter of Lope de 
 Vega the holy Marcela Carpio. You know 
 it, Sefiora?" 
 
 " As I know my Credo, Luis." 
 
 " And you, Isabel ?" 
 
 "Since I was a little one, as high as my 
 father's knee. Rachela taught it to me." 
 
 "And you, Lopez ? " 
 
 " That is sure, Luis." 
 
 " And I, too ! " said Antonia, smiling. " Here 
 is your mandolin. Strike the chords, and we 
 
244 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 will all sing with you. My father will remem- 
 ber also." And the doctor smiled an assent, 
 as the young man resigned Isabel's hand with 
 a kiss, and swept the strings in that sweetness 
 and power which flows invisibly, but none the 
 less surely, from the heart to the instrument. 
 
 " It is to my blessed Lord and Redeemer, I 
 sing," he said, bowing his head. Then he 
 stood up and looked at his companions, and 
 struck the key-note, when every one joined 
 their voices with his in the wonderful little 
 hymn: 
 
 So noble a Lord 
 
 None serves in vain ; 
 For the pay of my love 
 
 Is my love's sweet pain. 
 
 In the place of caresses 
 
 Thou givest me woes ; 
 I kiss Thy hands, 
 
 When I feel their blows. 
 
 For in Thy chastening, 
 Is joy and peace ; 
 
 Master and Lord ! 
 
 Let thy blows not cease. 
 
 1 die with longing 
 
 Thy face to see ; 
 And sweet is the anguish 
 Of death to me, 
 

 A HAPPY TRUCE. 245 
 
 For, because Thou lovest me. 
 
 Lover of mine ! 
 Death can but make me 
 
 Utterly Thine ! 
 
 The doctor was the first to speak after the 
 sweet triumph of the notes had died away. 
 " Many a soul I have seen pass whispering 
 those verses," he said ; " men and women, and 
 little children." 
 
 " The good Marcela in heaven has that for 
 her joy/' answered Luis. 
 
 Lopez rose while the holy influence still 
 /lingered. He kissed the hands of every one, 
 r.nc held the doctor's in has own until they 
 reached the threshold. A more than usual 
 farewell took place there, though there were 
 only a few whispered words. 
 
 " Farewell, Lopez ! I can trust you ? " 
 
 " Unto death." 
 
 " If we never meet again ? " 
 
 "Still it will be farewell. Thou art i 
 God's care." 
 
 Very slowly the doctor sauntered back to 
 the parlor, like a man who has a heavy duty to 
 do and hardly knows how to begin it. " But 
 I will tell Maria first," he whispered ; and then 
 
*46 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 he opened the door, and saw the Sefiora bid- 
 ding her children good-night. 
 
 " What a happy time we have had ! " she 
 was saying. " I shall never forget it. Indeed, 
 my dears, you see how satisfactory it is to be 
 religious. When we talk of the saints and 
 angels, they come round us to listen to what 
 we say; accordingly, we are full of peace and 
 pleasure. I know that because I heard Fray 
 I heard a very good man say so." 
 
 She smiled happily at her husband, as she 
 took his arm, and twice, as they went slowly 
 upstairs together, she lifted her face for his 
 kiss. Her gentleness and affection made it 
 hard for him to speak ; but there were words 
 to be said that could be no longer delayed ; 
 and when he had closed the room door, he 
 took her hands in his, and looked into her face 
 with eyes that told her all. 
 
 "You are going away, Roberto," she 
 v/hispered. 
 
 " My love ! Yes ! To-night this very hour 
 I must go! Luis and Dare also. Do not weep, 
 I entreat you ! My heart is heavy, and your 
 tears I cannot bear." 
 
 Then she answered, with a noble composure : 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 247 
 
 * I will give you smiles and kisses. My good 
 Roberto, so true and kind ! I will try to be 
 worthy of you. Nay, but you must not weep 
 Roberto ! " 
 
 It was true. Quite unconsciously the troub- 
 led husband and father was weeping. " I fear 
 to leave you, dear Maria. All is so uncertain, 
 I can only ask you two favors ; if you will 
 grant them, you will do all that can be done 
 to send me away with hope. Will you promise 
 me to have nothing to do whatever with Fray 
 Ignatius ; and to resist every attempt he may 
 make to induce you to go into a religious 
 house of any kind ? " 
 
 " I promise you, Roberto. By my mother's 
 cross, I promise you ! " 
 
 " Again, dear Maria, if you should be in any 
 danger, promise me that you will do as Antonia 
 and Lopez Navarro think it wisest and best." 
 
 " Go with God, my husband. Go with God, 
 in a good hour. All you wish, I will do." 
 
 He held her to his heart and kissed her, and 
 she whispered amid her tender farewells to 
 himself, messages to her sons but especially 
 to Juan. " Will you see Juan ? If you do, tell 
 him I repent. I send him a thousand bless- 
 
248 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ings ! Ah, the dear one ! Kiss him for me, 
 Roberto ! Tell him how much I love him, 
 Roberto ! How I sorrow because I was cross 
 to him! My precious one? My good son, 
 who always loved me so dearly ! " 
 
 At length Isabel came in to weep in her 
 mother's arms. "Luis is going away," she 
 cried. The father felt a momentary keen 
 pang of jealousy. " I am going also, queridita," 
 he said mournfully. Then she threw her arms 
 around his neck and bewailed her bad fortune. 
 " If I were the Almighty God, I would not 
 give love and then take it away," she mur- 
 mured. " I would give orders that the good 
 people should always be happy. I would not 
 let men like Santa Anna live. He is a measure- 
 less monster, and ought to go to the d to 
 purgatory, at the very least." 
 
 While the Senora soothed her complaining, 
 the doctor left. One troubled glance of a 
 great love he cast backward from the door ere 
 he closed it behind him ; and then his coun- 
 tenance suddenly changed. Stern and strong 
 it grew, with a glow of anger in the steel-blue 
 eyes that gave an entirely new character to it. 
 
 He called Antonia into his study, and talked 
 
' 
 
 A HAPPY TRUCE. 249 
 
 with her of the crisis which was approaching, 
 and of the conduct of their affairs in it. He 
 showed her the places in which his gold coin 
 was hidden. He told her on whom to rely in 
 any emergency. 
 
 "We have sure information that General 
 Urrea, with the vanguard of a large Mexican 
 army, will be here next month. Santa Anna 
 will follow him quickly. You see that the 
 city must either be defended or our men must 
 retreat. I am going to Houston with this 
 dilemma. Luis and Dare will join Fannin at 
 Goliad. Now, my dear child, you have my 
 place to fill. If Santa Anna takes possession 
 of San Antonio, what will you do ? " 
 
 " If we are not disturbed in any way, I will 
 keep very quiet within my own home." 
 
 " If Fray Ignatius attempts to interfere with 
 
 ;ou what then ? " 
 " I will fly from him, and take Isabel and 
 mi madre with me." 
 
 " That is your only safety. I shall hear if 
 the Americans desert the city; then I will send 
 your brother Thomas, if by any possibility it 
 can be done, to guard you to the eastern set- 
 tlements. But I may not be able to do this 
 
250 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 there may be no time it cannot be depended 
 upon Lopez Navarro will help you all he can, 
 and Ortiz. You may always rely on Ortiz." 
 
 " My father, I cannot trust Ortiz. Every 
 man is a master to a peon. He would mean to 
 do kindly, but his cowardice might make him 
 false." 
 
 " Ortiz is no peon. He is a Mexican officer 
 of high rank, whom Santa Anna ordered to be 
 shot. I saved his life. He wears the clothes 
 of a peon that is necessary ; but he has the 
 honor and gratitude of a gentleman beneath 
 them. If necessary, trust Ortiz fully. One 
 thing above all others remember Flight before 
 a convent." 
 
 " Flight ! Yes, death before it ! I promise 
 you, father. When we meet again, you shall 
 say, well done, Antonia.' 
 
 It was now about midnight. They v/ent 
 back to the parlor. Luis and Dare sat by the 
 dying fire. They were bent forward, close to- 
 gether over it, talking in a low voice. They 
 rose when the doctor spoke, and silently kissed 
 Antonia. 
 
 " It will be a hard ride, now," said the doctor, 
 and Dare answered, mechanically, " but we 
 
A HAPPY TRUCE. 251 
 
 shall manage it." He held Antonia's hand, 
 and she went with them to the rear of the 
 house. Their horses were standing ready sad- 
 dled. Silently the men mounted. In a 
 moment they had passed the gate, and the beat 
 of their horses' hoofs gradually died away. 
 
 But all through the clear spaces of the sky 
 the Christmas bells were ringing, and the 
 serenaders were musically telling each other, 
 
 " At twelve will the Child be born ! " 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DANGER AND HELP. 
 
 14 A curious creed they weave, 
 
 And, for the Church commands it, 
 All men must needs believe, 
 
 Though no man understands it. 
 God loves his few pet lambs, 
 
 And saves his one pet nation ; 
 The rest he largely damns, 
 
 With swinging reprobation." 
 
 "The Church may loose and bind ; 
 But Mind, immortal Mind, 
 As free as wave or wind, 
 Came forth, God, from Thee." 
 
 BLACKIE, 
 
 DR. WORTH had set his daughter a task of 
 no light magnitude. It was true, that 
 Rachela and Fray Ignatius could no longer dis- 
 turb the household by their actual presence, 
 but their power to cause unhappiness was not 
 destroyed. Among the Mexican families loyal 
 to Santa Anna the dismission of the priest and 
 the duenna had been a source of much indig- 
 nant gossip ; for Rachela was one of those 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 253 
 
 women who cry out when they are hurt, and 
 compel others to share their trouble. The 
 priest had not therefore found it necessary to 
 explain why the Sefiora had called upon a new 
 confessor. He could be silent, and possess his 
 dignity in uncomplaining patience, for Rachela 
 paraded his wrongs as a kind of set-off to 
 her own. 
 
 Such piety ! Such virtues ! And the out- 
 rageous conduct of the Seflor Doctor ! To be 
 sure there was cause for anger at the Seftorita 
 Antonia. Oh, yes ! She could crow her mind 
 abroad ! There were books Oh, infamous 
 books ! Books not proper to be read, and 
 the Sefiorita had them ! Well then, if the 
 father burned them, that was a good deed 
 done. And he had almost been reviled for 
 it sent out of the house yes, it was quite 
 possible that he had been struck ! Anything 
 was possible from those American heretics. 
 As for her own treatment, after twenty years 
 service, it had been cruel, abominable, more 
 than that iniquitous ; but about these things 
 she had spoken, and the day of atonement 
 would come. Justice was informing itself on 
 the whole matter, 
 
254 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Such conversations continually diversified, 
 extended, repeated on all hands, quickly 
 aroused a prejudice against the doctor's fam- 
 ily. Besides which, the Sefiora Alveda re- 
 sented bitterly the visits of her son Luis to 
 Isabel. None of the customs of a Mexican be- 
 trothal had taken place, and Rachela did not 
 spare her imagination in describing the scanda- 
 lous American familiarity that had been per- 
 mitted. That this familiarity had taken place 
 under the eyes of the doctor and the Sefiora 
 only intensified the insult. She might have 
 forgiven clandestine meetings ; but that the 
 formalities due to the Church and herself 
 should have been neglected was indeed un- 
 pardonable. 
 
 It soon became evident to the Seftora that 
 she had lost the good-will of her old friends, 
 and the respect that had always been given to 
 her social position. It was difficult for her to 
 believe this, and she only accepted the humil- 
 iating fact after a variety of those small insults 
 which women reserve for their own sex. 
 
 She was fond of visiting ; she valued the 
 good opinion of her caste, and in the very 
 chill of the gravest calamities she worried her 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 255 
 
 strength away over little grievances lying out- 
 side the walls of her home and the real af- 
 fections of her life. And perhaps with per- 
 fect truth she asserted that she had done 
 nothing to deserve this social ostracism. 
 Others had made her miserable, but she 
 could thank the saints none could make her 
 guilty. 
 
 The defeat of Cos had been taken by the 
 loyal inhabitants as a mere preliminary to the 
 real fight. They were very little disturbed by 
 it. It was the overt act which was necessary 
 to convince Mexico that her clemency to 
 Americans was a mistake, and that the un- 
 grateful and impious race must be wiped out 
 of existence. The newspapers not only re- 
 iterated this necessity, but proclaimed its 
 certainty. They heralded the coming of Santa 
 Anna, the victorious avenger, with passionate 
 gasconading. It was a mere question of a few 
 days or weeks, and in the meantime the people 
 of San Antonio were " making a little profit 
 and pleasure to themselves out of the extrava- 
 gant reprobates." There was not a day in 
 which they did not anticipate their revenge 
 in local military displays, in dances and illumi- 
 
256 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 nations, in bull-fights, and in splendid religious 
 processions. 
 
 And Antonia found it impossible to combat 
 this influence. It was in the house as certain 
 flavors were in certain foods, or as heat was in 
 fire. She saw it in the faces of her servants, 
 and felt it in their indifference to their duty. 
 Every hour she watched more anxiously for 
 some messenger from her father. And as day 
 after day went by in a hopeless sameness of 
 grief, she grew more restless under the con- 
 tinual small trials that encompassed her. 
 
 Towards the end of January, General Urrea, 
 at the head of the vanguard of the Mexican 
 army, entered Texas. His destination was 
 La Bahia or Goliad, a strong fortress gar- 
 risoned by Americans under Colonel Fanning. 
 Santa Anna was to leave in eight days after 
 him. With an army of twenty thousand 
 men he was coming to the relief of San 
 Antonio. 
 
 The news filled the city with the wildest re- 
 joicing. The little bells of the processions, 
 the big bells of the churches, the firing of 
 cannon, the hurrahs of the tumultuous people, 
 made an uproar which reached the three 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 257 
 
 lonely women through the closed windows of 
 their rooms. 
 
 " If only Lopez Navarro would come ! If 
 he would send us some little message ! Holy 
 Mary, even he has forgotten us!" cried the 
 Seftora in a paroxysm of upbraiding sorrow. 
 
 At that moment the door opened, and Fray 
 Ignatius passed the threshold with lifted hands 
 and a muttered blessing. He approached the 
 Senora, and she fell on her knees and kissed 
 the hand with which he crossed her. 
 
 " Holy father ! " she cried, " the angels sent 
 you to a despairing woman." 
 
 " My daughter, I have guided you since 
 your first communion ; how then could I for- 
 get you ? Your husband has deserted you 
 you, the helpless, tender lamb, whom he swore 
 to cherish ; but the blessed fold of your church 
 stands open. Come, poor weary one, to its 
 shelter." 
 
 " My father" 
 
 " Listen to me ! The Mexican troops are 
 soon to arrive. Vengeance without mercy is 
 to be dealt out. You are the wife of an 
 American rebel ; I cannot promise you your 
 life, or your honor, if you remain here. When 
 
258 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 soldiers are drunk with blood, and women fall 
 in their way, God have mercy upon them ! I 
 would shield even your rebellious daughter 
 Antonia from such a fate. I open the doors 
 of the convent to you all. There you will find 
 safety and peace." 
 
 Isabel sat with white, parted lips and clasped 
 hands, listening. Antonia had not moved or 
 spoken. But with the last words the priest 
 half-turned to her, and she came swiftly to her 
 mother's side, and kissing her, whispered : 
 
 " Remember your promise to my father ! 
 Oh, mi madre, do not leave Isabel and me 
 alone ! " 
 
 "You, too, dear ones! We will all go to- 
 gether, till these dreadful days are past." 
 
 " No, no, no ! Isabel and I will not go. We 
 will die rather." 
 
 "The Senorita talks like a foolish one. 
 Listen again ! When Santa Anna comes for 
 judgment, it will be swift and terrible. This 
 house and estate will be forfeited. The faith- 
 ful Church may hope righteously to obtain it. 
 The sisters have long needed a good home. 
 The convent will then come to you. You will 
 have no shelter but the Church. Come to her 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 259 
 
 arms ere her entreaties are turned to com- 
 mands." 
 
 " My husband told me " 
 
 " Saints of God ! you have no husband. He 
 has forfeited every right to advise you. Con- 
 sider that, daughter ; and if you trust not my 
 advice, there is yet living your honorable uncle, 
 the Marquis de Gonzaga." 
 
 Antonia caught eagerly at this suggestion. 
 It at least offered some delay, in which the 
 Sefiora might be strengthened to resist the 
 coercion of Fray Ignatius. 
 
 " Mother, it is a good thought. My great- 
 uncle will tell you what to do ; and my father 
 will not blame you for following his advice. 
 Perhaps even he may offer his home. You are 
 the child of his sister." 
 
 Fray Ignatius walked towards the fire-place 
 and stood rubbing slowly his long, thin hands 
 before the blaze, while the Sefiora and her 
 daughters discussed this proposal. The half- 
 frantic mother was little inclined to make any 
 further effort to resist the determined will of 
 her old confessor ; but the tears of Isabel won 
 from her a promise to see her uncle. 
 
 " Then, my daughter, lose no time. I cannot 
 
260 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 promise you many days in which choice will 
 be left you. Go this afternoon, and to-morrow 
 I will call for your decision." 
 
 It was not a visit that the Sefiora liked to 
 make. She had deeply offended her uncle by 
 her marriage, and their intercourse had since 
 been of the most ceremonious and infrequent 
 kind. But surely, at this hour, when she was 
 left without any one to advise her steps, he 
 would remember the tie of blood between 
 them. 
 
 He received her with more kindness than 
 she had anticipated. His eyes glittered in 
 their deep sockets when she related her ex- 
 tremity and the priest's proposal, and his small 
 shrunken body quivered with excitement as he 
 answered : 
 
 " Saints and angels ! Fray Ignatius is right 
 about Santa Anna. We shall see that he will 
 make caps for his soldiers out of the skins of 
 these infidel ingrates. But as for going into 
 the convent, I know not. A miserable mar- 
 riage you made for yourself, Maria. Pardon, 
 if I say so much ! I let the word slip always. 
 I was never one to bite my tongue. I am an 
 old man very well, come here, you and your 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 261 
 
 daughters, till the days of blood are over. 
 There is room in the house, and a few comforts 
 in it also. I have some power with Santa 
 Anna. He is a great man a great man ! In 
 all his wars, good fortune flies before him." 
 
 He kissed her hands as he opened the door, 
 and then went back to the fire, and bent, mut- 
 tering, over it : " Giver of good ! a true Ytur- 
 bide ; a gentle woman ; she is like my sister 
 Mercedes very like her. These poor women 
 who trust me, as I am a sinner before God, I 
 am unhappy to deceive them." 
 
 Fray Ignatius might have divined his 
 thoughts, for he entered at the moment, and 
 said as he approached him : 
 
 "You have done right. The soul must be 
 saved, if all is lost. This is not a time for the 
 friends of the Church and of Mexico to waver. 
 The Church is insulted every day by these for- 
 eign heretics " 
 
 " But you are mistaken, father ; the Church 
 holds up her head, whatever happens. Even 
 the vice-regal crown is not lost the Church 
 has cleft it into mitres." 
 
 Fray Ignatius smiled, but there was a curi- 
 ous and crafty look of inquiry on his face. 
 
263 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " The city is turbulent, Marquis, and there is 
 undoubtedly a great number of Mexicans op- 
 posed to Santa Anna." 
 
 " Do you not know Mexicans yet? They 
 would be opposed to God Almighty, rather 
 than confess they were well governed. Bah ! 
 the genius of Mexico is mutiny. They scarcely 
 want a leader to move their madness. They 
 rebel on any weak pretence. They bluster 
 when they are courted ; they crouch when they 
 are oppressed. They are fools to all the world 
 but themselves. I beg the Almighty to con- 
 sider in my favor, that some over-hasty angel 
 misplaced my lot. I should have been born 
 in New York." 
 
 The priest knew that he was talking for irri- 
 tation, but he was too politic to favor the 
 mood. He stood on the hearth with his hands 
 folded behind him, and with a delightful suav- 
 ity turned the conversation upon the country 
 rather than the people. It was a glorious day 
 in the dawn of spring. The tenderest greens, 
 the softest blues, the freshest scents, the clear- 
 est air, the most delightful sunshine were 
 everywhere. The white old town, with its 
 picturesque crowds, its murmur of voices and 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 263 
 
 laughter, its echoes of fife and drum, its loves 
 and its hatreds, was at his feet ; and, far off, 
 the hazy glory of the mountains, the greenness 
 and freshness of Paradise, the peace and free- 
 dom of the vast, unplanted places. The old 
 marquis was insensibly led to contemplate the 
 whole; and, in so doing, to put uppermost that 
 pride of country which was the base of every 
 feeling susceptible to the priest's influence. 
 
 " Such a pleasant city, Marquis ! Spanish 
 monks founded it. Spanish and Mexican sol- 
 diers have defended it. Look at its fine 
 churches and missions ; its lovely homes, and 
 blooming gardens." 
 
 " It is also all our own, father. It was but 
 yesterday I said to one of those insolent Amer- 
 icans who was condescending to admire it : 
 ' Very good, Seflor ; and, if you deign to believe 
 me, it was not brought from New York. Such 
 as you see it, it was made by ourselves here at 
 San Antonio.' Saints in heaven 1 the fellow 
 laughed in my face. We were mutually con- 
 vinced of each other's stupidity." 
 
 " Ah, how they envy us the country ! And 
 you, Marquis, who have traveled over the 
 world, you can imagine the reason ? " 
 
f , 
 
 264 WO VEN OF LOVE AND GLOR Y. 
 
 " Father, I will tell you the reason ; it is the 
 craving in the heart to find again the lost 
 Eden. The Almighty made Texas with full 
 hands. When He sets his heart on a man, he 
 is permitted to live there." 
 
 " Grace of God ! You speak the truth. 
 Shall we then give up the gift of His hand to 
 heretics and infidels ? " 
 
 " I cannot imagine it." 
 
 *_? 
 
 " Then every one must do the work he can 
 do. Some are to slay the unbelievers; others 
 are to preserve the children of the Church. 
 Your niece and her two daughters will be lost 
 to the faith, unless you interfere for their sal- 
 vation. Of you will their souls be required." 
 
 " By Saint Joseph, it is a duty not in agree- 
 ment with my desire ! I, who have carefully 
 abstained from the charge of a wife and daugh- 
 ters of my own." 
 
 " It is but for a day or two, Marquis, until 
 the matter is arranged. The convent is the 
 best of all refuges for women so desolate." 
 
 The marquis did not answer. He lifted a 
 book and began to read ; and Fray Ignatius 
 watched him furtively. 
 
 In the mean time the Sefiora had reached her 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 265 
 
 home. She was pleased with the result of her 
 visit. A little kindness easily imposed upon 
 this childlike woman> and she trusted in any 
 one who was pleasant to her. 
 
 " You may believe me, Antonia," she said ; ' 
 " my uncle was in a temper most unusual. He ' 
 kissed my hands. He offered me his protec- 
 tion. That is a great thing, I assure you. 
 And your father cannot object to our removal 
 there." 
 
 Antonia knew not what answer to make. 
 Her heart misgave her. Why had Fray Ig- 
 natius made the proposal? She was sure it 
 was part of an arrangement, and not a sponta- 
 neous suggestion of the moment. And she was 
 equally sure that any preconcerted plan, hav- 
 ing Fray Ignatius for its author, must be inimi- 
 cal to them. 
 
 Her mother's entry had not awakened Isabel, 
 who lay asleep upon a sofa. The Seftora was a 
 little nettled at the circumstance. "She is a 
 very child! A visit of such importance ! And 
 she is off to the land of dreams while I am fatigu- 
 ing myself ! I wish indeed that she had more 
 consideration ! " Then Antonia brought her 
 chocolate, and, as she drank it and smoked her 
 
266 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 cigarito, she chatted in an almost eager way 
 about the persons she had seen. 
 
 " Going towards the Plaza, I met Judge Val- 
 dez. I stopped the carriage, and sent my affec- 
 tions to the Seftora. Would you believe it? 
 He answered me as if his mouth were full of 
 snow. His disagreeable behavior was exactly 
 copied by the Seftora Silvestre and her daugh- 
 ter Esperanza. Dona Julia and Pilar de Calval 
 did not even perceive me. Santa Maria ! there 
 are none so blind as Chose who won't see ! Oh, 
 indeed ! I found the journey like the way of 
 salvation full of humiliations. I would have 
 stopped at the store of the Jew L^venburg, 
 and ordered many things, but he turned in 
 when he saw me coming. Once, indeed, he 
 would have put his hat on the pavement for me 
 to tread upon. But he has heard that your 
 father has made a rebel of himself, and v/hat 
 can be expected? He knows when Santa 
 Anna has done with the rebels not one of 
 them will have anything left for God to rain 
 upon. And there was a rjrcat crowd and a 
 great tumult. I think the whole city had a 
 brain fever/ 5 
 
 At this moment Isabel began to moan in her 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 267 
 
 sleep as if her soul was in some intolerable 
 terror or grief; and ere Antonia could 
 reach her she sprang into the middle of the 
 room with a shriek that rang through the 
 house. 
 
 It was some minutes before the child could 
 be soothed. She lay in her mother's arms, 
 sobbing in speechless distress ; but at length 
 she was able to articulate her fright : 
 
 " Listen, mi madre, and may the Holy Lady 
 make you believe me ! I have had a dream. 
 God be blessed that it is not yet true ! I will 
 tell you. It was about Fray Ignatius and our 
 uncle the Marquis de Gonzaga. My good 
 angel gave it to me ; for myself and you all she 
 gave it ; and, as my blessed Lord lives ! I will 
 not go to them! Si! I will cut my white 
 throat first ! " and she drew her small hand 
 with a passionate gesture across it. She had 
 stood up as she began to speak, and the action, 
 added to her unmistakable terror, her stricken 
 face and air of determination, was very im- 
 pressive. 
 
 "You have had a dream, my darling?" 
 
 "Yes, an awful dream, Antonia! Mary! 
 Mary! Tender Mary, pity us ! " 
 
268 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " And you think we should not go to the 
 house of the marquis ? " 
 
 "Oh, Antonia! I have seen the way. It is 
 black and cold, and full of fear and pain. No 
 one shall make me take it. I have the stiletto 
 of my grandmother Flores. I will ask Holy 
 Mary to pardon me, and then in a moment 
 I would be among the people of the other 
 world. That would be far better than Fray 
 Ignatius and the house of Gonzaga." 
 
 The Seftora was quite angry at this fresh 
 complication. It was really incredible what 
 she had to endure. And would Antonia please 
 to tell her where else they were to go ? They 
 had not a friend left in San Antonio they did 
 not deserve to have one and was it to be sup- 
 posed that a lady, born noble, could follow the 
 Americans in an ox-wagon? Antonia might 
 think it preferable to the comfortable house of 
 her relation; but blessed be the hand of God, 
 which had opened the door of a respectable 
 shelter to her. 
 
 " I will go in the ox-wagon," said Isabel, 
 with a sullen determination ; " but I will not 
 go into my uncle's house. By the saint of my 
 birth I swear it." 
 
" DANGER AND HELP. 269 
 
 "Mother, listen to Antonia. When one 
 door shuts, God opens another door. Our 
 own home is yet undisturbed. Do you believe 
 what Fray Ignatius says of the coming of Santa 
 Anna ? I do not. Until he arrives we are safe 
 in our own home; and when the hour for going 
 away comes, even a little bird can show us the 
 way to take. And I am certain that my father 
 is planning for our safety. If Santa Anna was 
 in this city, and behaving with the brutality 
 which is natural to him, I would not go away 
 until my father sent the order. Do you think 
 he forgets us ? Be not afraid of such a thing. 
 It cannot take place." 
 
 Towards dusk Seflor Navarro called, and 
 the Seflora brought him into her private 
 parlor and confided to him the strait they 
 were in. He looked with sympathy into the 
 troubled, tear-stained faces of these three 
 helpless women ; and listened with many ex- 
 pressive gestures to the proposal of the priest 
 and the offer of the old marquis. 
 
 " Most excellent ladies," he answered ; " it 
 is a plot. I assure you that it is a plot. Cer- 
 tainly it was not without reason I was so 
 unhappy about you this afternoon. Even 
 
270 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 while I was at the bull-fight, I think our angels 
 were in a consultation about your affairs. 
 Your name was in my ears above all other 
 sounds." 
 
 " You say it is a plot, Seftor. Explain to us 
 what you mean ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will tell you. Do you know that 
 Fray Ignatius is the confessor of the mar- 
 quis?" 
 
 " We had not thought of such a thing." 
 
 " It is the truth. For many years they have 
 been close as the skin and the flesh. Without 
 Fray Ignatius the marquis says neither yes or 
 no. Also the will of the marquis has been 
 lately made. I have seen a copy of it. Every- 
 thing he has is left to the brotherhoods of the 
 Church. Without doubt, Fray Ignatius was 
 the lawyer who wrote it." 
 
 , " Sefior, I always believed that would hap- 
 jpen. At my marriage my uncle made the 
 determination. Indeed, we have never ex- 
 pected a piastre no, not even a tlaco. And 
 to-day he was kind to me, and offered me his 
 home. Oh, Holy Mother, how wretched I am ! 
 Can I not trust in the good words of those who 
 are of my own family ? " 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 271 
 
 " The tie of race will come before the tie of 
 the family. The tie of religion is strongest of 
 all, Seftora. Let me tell you what will take 
 place. When you and your children are in 
 the house of the marquis, he will go before 
 the Alcalde. He will declare that you have 
 gone voluntarily to his care, and that he is 
 your nearest and most natural guardian. Very 
 well. But further, he will declare, on account 
 of his great age, and the troubled state of the 
 time, he is unable to protect you, and ask for 
 the authority to place you in the religious care 
 of the holy sisterhood of Saint Maria. And he 
 will obtain all he wants." 
 
 " But, simply, what is to be gained by such 
 treachery ? He said to-day that I was like his 
 sister Mercedes, and he spoke very gently 
 to me." 
 
 " He would not think such a proceeding really 
 unkind. He would assure himself that it was 
 good for your eternal salvation. As to the 
 reason, that is to be looked for in the purse, 
 where all reasons come from. This house, 
 which the good doctor built, is the best in the 
 city. It has even two full stories. It is very 
 suitable for a religious house. It is not far 
 
*7* WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 from the Plaza, yet secluded in its beautiful 
 garden. Fray Ignatius has long desired it. 
 When he has removed you, possession will be 
 taken, and Santa Anna will confirm the pos- 
 session." 
 
 "God succor our poor souls! What shall 
 we do then, Seflor ? The Mexican army has 
 entered Texas, it will soon be here." 
 
 " Quien sabe ? Between the Rio Grande and 
 the San Antonio are many difficulties. Urrea 
 has five thousand men with him, horses and 
 artillery. The horses must graze, the men 
 must rest and eat. We shall have heavy rains. 
 I am sure that it will be twenty days ere he 
 reaches the settlements ; and even then his 
 destination is not San Antonio, it is Goliad. 
 Santa Anna will be at least ten days after him. 
 I suppose, then, that for a whole month you 
 are quite safe in your own home. That is 
 what I believe now. If I saw a reason to be- 
 lieve what is different, I would inform you. 
 The good doctor, to whom I owe my life 
 many times, has my promise. Lopez Navarro 
 never broke his word to any man. The infamy 
 would be a thing impossible, where the safety 
 of three ladies is concerned." 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 273 
 
 " And in a month, mi madre, what great 
 things may happen ! Thirty days of possibili- 
 ties! Come, now, let us be a little happy, and 
 listen to what the Seftor has to tell us. I am 
 sure this house has been as stupid as a con- 
 vent "; and Isabel lifted the cigarette case of 
 the Senora, and with kisses persuaded her to 
 accept its tranquilizing consolation. 
 
 It was an elegant little golden trifle studded 
 with gems. Her husband had given it to her 
 on the anniversary of their twenty-fifth wed- 
 ding day ; and it recalled vividly to her the 
 few sweet moments. She was swayed as easily 
 as a child by the nearest or strongest influence, 
 and, after all, it did seem the best to take 
 Isabel's advice, and be a little happy while she 
 could. 
 
 Lopez was delighted to humor this mood. 
 He told them all the news of their own social 
 set ; and in such vivid times something hap- 
 pened every day. There had been betrothals 
 and marriages, quarrels and entertainments; 
 and Lopez, as a fashionable young man of 
 wealth and nobility, had taken his share in 
 what had transpired. 
 
 Antonia felt unspeakably grateful to him. 
 
 18 
 
274 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 After the fretful terror and anxiety of the day 
 after the cruel visit of Fray Ignatius it was 
 indeed a comfort to hear the pleasant voice of 
 Navarro in all kinds of cheerful modulations. 
 By and by there was a slow rippling laugh from 
 Isabel, and the Senora's face lost its air of 
 dismal distraction. 
 
 At length Navarro had brought his narrative 
 of small events down to the afternoon of that 
 day. There had been a bull-fight, and Isabel 
 was making him describe to her the chulos, in 
 their pale satin breeches and silk waist-scarfs ; 
 the toreros in their scarlet mantles, and the 
 picadores on their horses. 
 
 " And I assure you," he said, " the company 
 of ladies was very great and splendid. They 
 were in full dress, and the golden-pinned 
 mantillas and the sea of waving fans were a 
 sight indeed. Oh, the fans alone ! So many 
 colors; great crescents, growing and waning 
 with far more enchantments than the moons. 
 Their rustle and movement has a wonderful 
 charm, Sefiorita Isabel ; no one can imagine it. 
 
 " Oh, I assure you, Seftor, I can see and feel 
 it. But to be there! That, indeed, would 
 make me perfectly happy." 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 275 
 
 " Had you been there to-day you would 
 have admired, above all things, the feat of the 
 matadore Jarocho. It was upon the great 
 bull Sandoval a very monster, I assure you. 
 He came bellowing at Jarocho, as if he meant 
 his instant death. His eyeballs were living 
 fire ; his nostrils steamed with fury ; well, then, 
 at the precise moment, Jarocho put his 
 slippered feet between his horns, and vaulted, 
 light as a bird flies, over his back. Then 
 Sandoval turned to him again. Well, he 
 calmly waited for his approach, and his long 
 sword met him between the horns. As lightly 
 as a lady touches her cavalier, he seemed to 
 touch Sandoval ; but the brute fell like a stone 
 at his feet. What a storm of vivas! What 
 clapping of hands and shouts of 'valiente!' 
 And the ladies flung their flowers, and the men 
 flung their hats into the arena, and Jarocho 
 stepped proudly enough on them, I can tell 
 you, though he was watching the door for the 
 next bull." 
 
 " Ah, Senor, why will men fight each other, 
 when it is so much more grand and interesting 
 to fight bulls?" 
 
 " Senorita Isabel, if you could only convince 
 
27 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 them of that ! But then, it is not always 
 interesting to the matadore ; for instance, it is 
 only by the mercy of God and the skill of an 
 Americano that Jarocho is at this moment out 
 of purgatory." 
 
 The Seftora raised herself from among the 
 satin pillows of her sofa, and asked, excitedly ; 
 " Was there then some accident, Seflor ? Is 
 Jarocho wounded ? Poor Jarocho ! " 
 
 " Not a hair of his head is hurt, Seftora. I will 
 tell you. Saint Jago, who followed Sandoval, 
 was a little devil. He was light and quick, and 
 had intelligence. You could see by the gleam 
 in his eyes that he took in the whole scene, 
 and considered not only the people in the ring, 
 but the people in the amphitheatre also, to be 
 his tormentors. Perhaps in that reflection 
 he was not mistaken. He meant mischief 
 from the beginning; and he pressed Jarocho 
 so close that he leaped the barrier for safety. 
 As he leaped, Saint Jago leaped also. Imagine 
 now the terror of the spectators ! The screams ! 
 The rush ! The lowered horns within an inch 
 of Jarocho, and Fray Joseph Maria running 
 with the consecrated wafer to the doomed 
 man ! At that precise moment there was a 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 277 
 
 rifle-shot, and the bellowing brute rolled back- 
 ward into the arena dead." 
 
 " Oh, Maria Purissima ! How grand ! In 
 such moments one really lives, Seflor. And 
 but for this absurd rebellion I and my 
 daughters could have had the emotion. It is 
 indeed cruel." 
 
 " You said the shot was fired by an Amer- 
 ican ? " 
 
 " Seflorita Antonia, it was, indeed. I saw 
 him. He was in the last row. He had stood up 
 when Saint Jago came in, and he was watching 
 the man and the animal with his soul in his 
 eyes. He had a face, fine and thin as a 
 woman's a very gentle face, also. But at 
 one instant it became stern and fierce, the lips 
 hard set, the eyes half shut, then the rifle at 
 the shoulder like a flash of light, and the bull 
 was dead between the beginning and the end 
 of the leap ! The sight was wonderful, and the 
 ladies turned to him with smiles and cries of 
 thankfulness, and the better part of the men 
 bowed to him ; for the Mexican gentleman is 
 always just to a great deed. But he went 
 away as if he had done something that dis- 
 pleased himself, and when I overtook him at 
 
278 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 the gates of the Alamo, he did not look as if 
 he wished to talk about it. 
 
 " However, I could not refrain myself, and I 
 said : ' Permit me, Colonel Crockett, to honor 
 you. The great feat of to-day's fight was 
 yours. San Antonio owes you for her favorite 
 Jarocho.' 
 
 " ' I saved a life, young man,' he answered ; 
 ' and I took a life ; and I'll be blamed if I 
 know whether I did right or wrong.' ' Jarocho 
 would have been killed but for your shot.* 
 ' That's so ; and I killed the bull ; but you can 
 take my hat if I don't think I killed the tallest 
 brute of the two. Adjourn the subject, sir '; 
 and with that he walked off into the fort, and 
 I did myself the pleasure of coming to see you, 
 Seftora." 
 
 He rose and bowed to the ladies, and, as the 
 Seftora was making some polite answer, the 
 door of the room opened quickly, and a man 
 entered and advanced towards her. Every eye 
 was turned on him, but ere a word could be 
 uttered he was kneeling at the Sefiora's side, 
 and had taken her face in his hands, and was 
 kissing it. In the dim light she knew him at 
 once, and she cried out : " My Thomas ! My 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 279 
 
 Thomas ! My dear son ! For three years I 
 have not seen you." 
 
 He brought into the room with him an 
 atmosphere of comfort and strength. Sud- 
 denly all fear and anxiety was lifted, and in 
 Antonia's heart the reaction was so great that 
 she sank into a chair and began to cry like a 
 child. Her brother held her in his arms and 
 soothed her with the promise of his presence 
 and help. Then he said, cheerfully : 
 
 " Let me have some supper, Antonia. I am 
 as hungry as a lobos wolf ; and run away, 
 Isabel, and help your sister, for I declare 
 to you girls I shall eat everything in the 
 house." 
 
 The homely duty was precisely what was 
 needed to bring every one's feelings to their 
 normal condition ; and Thomas Worth sat 
 chatting with his mother and Lopez of his 
 father, and Jack, and Dare, and Luis, and the 
 superficial events of the time, with that pleas- 
 ant, matter-of-course manner which is by far 
 the most effectual soother of troubled and un- 
 usual conditions. 
 
 In less than half an hour Antonia called her 
 brother, and he and Lopez entered the dining- 
 
280 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 room together. They came in as brothers 
 might come, face answering face with sympa- 
 thetic change and swiftness ; but Antonia 
 could not but notice the difference in the two 
 men. Lopez was dressed in a suit of black vel- 
 vet, trimmed with many small silver buttons. 
 His sash was of crimson silk. His linen was 
 richly embroidered ; and his wide hat was 
 almost covered with black velvet, and adorned 
 with silver tags. It was a dress that set off 
 admirably his dark, intelligent face. 
 
 Thomas Worth wore the usual frontier cos- 
 tume ; a dark flannel shirt, a wide leather belt, 
 buck-skin breeches, and leather boots covering 
 his knees. He was very like his father in fig- 
 ure and face darker, perhaps, and less hand- 
 some. But the gentleness and strength of his 
 personal appearance attracted every one first, 
 and invested all traits with their own distinc- 
 tive charm. 
 
 And, oh ! What a change was there in the 
 the Seftora's room. The poor lady cried a lit- 
 tle for joy, and then went to sleep like a wea- 
 ried child. Isabel and Antonia were too happy 
 to sleep. They sat half through the night, 
 talking softly of the danger they had been in. 
 
DANGER AND HELP. 281 
 
 Now that Thomas had come, they could say 
 had. For he was a very Great-heart to them, 
 and they could even contemplate the expected 
 visit of Fray Ignatius without fear ; yes, indeed, 
 with something very like satisfaction. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 
 
 " What thing thou doest, bravely do ; 
 
 When Heaven's clear call hath found thee, 
 Follow with fervid wheels pursue, 
 Though thousands bray around thee." 
 
 " Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed, 
 Which his aspiring rider seemed to know ; 
 With slow but stately pace kept on his course ; 
 You would have thought the very windows spoke, 
 So many greedy looks of young and old, 
 Through casements darted their desiring eyes 
 Upon his visage." 
 
 EFT to themselves, the two men threw off 
 like a mask the aspect of cheerfulness 
 they had worn in the -presence of the Seftora. 
 Thomas Worth ate heartily, for he had been 
 without food since morning; but Navarro did 
 not attempt to join his meal. He sat patiently 
 waiting, his sombre eyes fixed upon the men- 
 tal visions which circled in the enchanted in- 
 cense of his cigarette. 
 
 Presently Thomas Worth turned toward the 
 hearth, pushed the cedar logs on it to a focus, 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 283 
 
 and at their leaping blaze lighted the pipe 
 which he took from his pocket. " Lopez," he 
 said, " it strikes me that I am just in time to 
 prevent some infamous plan of Fray Ignatius 
 and my uncle Gonzaga." 
 
 " I should not have lost sight of the Sefiora 
 and your sisters. I have watched them faith- 
 fully, though for many good reasons it has 
 been best to appear indifferent. Will you now 
 remain in San Antonio?" 
 
 " I have come with orders to Travis to blow 
 up the Alamo, and fall back upon Houston, 
 who is at Gonzales. But I do not think the 
 men will permit him to do so." 
 
 " You have too many leaders. Also, they 
 undervalue the Mexican soldiers. I assure you 
 they do. They fought Spain for ten years ; 
 they do not want, then, the persistence of true 
 valor. The Americans may die in the Alamo, 
 but they cannot hold it against the thousands 
 Santa Anna will bring with him." 
 
 " They will die, then. They have no thought 
 of retreat, nor of any deed that argues fear. 
 Every man relies on himself, as if in his hand 
 the moment of victory lay." 
 
 " Every man will perish." 
 
284 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 "They will not perish in vain. Defeat is 
 only a spur to the American soldier. Every 
 one makes him a better fighter. If Santa Anna 
 massacres the men in the Alamo, he seals the 
 freedom of Texas." 
 , " Houston should have come himself." 
 
 " Houston is biding his time. He is doing 
 at present the hardest duty a great man can 
 do : setting an example of obedience to a 
 divided and incompetent government. Lopez, 
 you said rightly that we had too many leaders. 
 When those appointed for sacrifice have been 
 offered up when we are in the extremity of 
 danger and ruin, then Houston will hear the 
 word he is waiting for." 
 
 "And he will lead you on to victory. In- 
 deed, I know it. I have seen him. He has the 
 line the fortunate line on the forehead. He 
 is the loadstone in the breast of your cause ; 
 the magnet who can draw good fortune to it. 
 If fate be against you, he will force fate to 
 change her mind. If fate weave you a com- 
 mon thread, he will change it into purple. Vic- 
 tory, which she gives to others reluctantly, 
 he will take like a master from her hand ! 
 HOUSTON! What essence! What exist- 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 285 
 
 ence! What honor! What hope there 
 is in those seven letters. Consider this: 
 He will find a way or make a way for free- 
 dom." 
 
 Subsequent events proved the opinion of 
 Thomas Worth correct with regard to the gar- 
 rison in the Alamo. David Crockett ! James 
 Bowie ! Barret Travis ! The names were a 
 host in themselves ; one and all refused to 
 couple them with retreat. 
 
 " Military defeats may be moral victories, 
 young man," said Crockett to Thomas Worth ; 
 " and moral victories make national greatness. 
 The Roman that filled the gulf with his own 
 body the men who died at Thermopylae 
 they live to-day, and they have been talking 
 with us." 
 
 " But if you join Houston you will save 
 many lives." 
 
 "That isn't always the point, sir. Jim 
 Bowie was saying there was once a lover who 
 used to swim two miles every night to see a 
 young woman called Hero. Now, he might 
 have waited for a boat and gone dry-shod to 
 his sweetheart ; but if he had, who would have 
 cared whether he lived or died ? The Alamo 
 
285 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 is our Hero. If we can't keep her, we can die 
 for her." 
 
 The same spirit moved every soul at Goliad. 
 Fanning was there with nearly nine hundred 
 men, and he had named the place Fort De- 
 fiance, and asserted his determination to hold 
 it. In the mean time, Houston was using his 
 great personal influence to collect troops, to 
 make treaties with the Indians, and to keep 
 together some semblance of a provisional 
 government. 
 
 But it had become evident to all the lead- 
 ing spirits of the revolution that no half-way 
 measures would now do. They only produced 
 half-way enthusiasm. For this end, Houston 
 spoke out with his accustomed boldness : 
 
 " Gentlemen, we must declare the indepen- 
 dence of Texas, and like our fore-elders, sink 
 or swim by that declaration. Nothing else, 
 nothing less, can save us. The planters of 
 Texas must feel that they are fighting for their 
 own constitution, and not for Mexican prom- 
 ises made to them twelve years ago and never 
 yet kept." 
 
 The simple proposition roused a new en- 
 thusiasm; for while Urrea was hastening to- 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 287 
 
 wards Goliad, and Santa Anna towards San 
 Antonio, and Filisola to Washington, the di- 
 vided people were becoming more and more 
 embittered. The American soldiers, who had 
 hitherto gone in and out among the citizens of 
 San Antonio during the day, and only slept in 
 the Alamo, were conscious of an ominous 
 change in the temper of the city. They gath- 
 ered their recruits together and shut them- 
 selves in the fortress. 
 
 Again Thomas Worth urged them to fall 
 back either upon the line of Houston at 
 Gonzales, or Fanning at Goliad; but in the in- 
 decision and uncertainty of all official orders, 
 Crockett thought it best to make the first 
 stand at the Mexican city. 
 
 " We can, at least, " he said, " keep Santa 
 Anna busy long enough to give the women 
 and children of our own settlements time to 
 escape, and the men time to draw together 
 with a certain purpose/' 
 
 " The cry of Santa Anna has been like the 
 cry of wolf ! wolf ! " said Bowie, " I hear that 
 great numbers that were under arms have gone 
 home to plant their corn and cotton. Do you 
 want Santa Anna to murder them piecemeal 
 
288 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 house by house, family by family? Great 
 George ! Which of us would accommodate him 
 with a prolonged pleasure like that ? No ! he 
 shall have a square fight for every life he gets "; 
 and the calm, gentlemanly Bowie was sudden- 
 ly transformed into a flashing, vehement, fu- 
 rious avenger. He laid his knife and pistols on 
 the table, his steel-blue eyes scintillated as if 
 they were lightning ; his handsome mouth, his 
 long, white hands, his whole person radiated 
 wrath and expressed the utmost lengths of in- 
 vincible courage and insatiable hatred. 
 
 " Gentlemen," answered Travis, " I go with 
 Crockett and Bowie. If we hold the Alamo, 
 it is a deed well done. If we fall with it, it is 
 still a deed well done. We shall have given to 
 Houston and Fanning time to interpose them- 
 selves between Santa Anna and the settle- 
 ments." 
 
 " We have none of us lived very well," said 
 Bowie, " but we can die well. I say as an 
 American, that Texas is ours by right of 
 natural locality, and by right of treaty ; and, 
 as I live, I will do my best to make it Ameri- 
 can by right of conquest ! Comrades, I do not 
 want a prettier quarrel to die in " and looking 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 289 
 
 with a brave, unflinching gaze around the 
 grim fortress " I do not want a better monu- 
 ment than the Alamo ! " 
 
 The speech was not answered with any 
 noisy hurrahing; but the men around the bare, 
 long table clasped hands across it, and from 
 that last interview with the doomed men 
 Thomas Worth came away with the knowl- 
 edge that he had seen the battle begun. He 
 felt now that there was no time to delay longer 
 his plans for the safety of his mother and 
 sisters. These were, indeed, of the simplest 
 and most uncertain character ; for the con- 
 dition of the country and its few resources 
 were such as to make flight the only way that 
 promised safety. And yet flight was environed 
 with dangers of every kind hunger, thirst, 
 exhaustion, savage beasts, Indians, and the 
 triple armies of Mexico. 
 
 The day after his arrival he had begun to 
 prepare, as far as possible, for this last emer- 
 gency, but the Sefiora's unconquerable aversion 
 to leave her native city had constantly ham- 
 pered him. Until Santa Anna really appeared 
 she would not believe in the necessity of such 
 
 a movement. The proposal of Fray Ignatius, 
 
 13 
 
2QO WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 even if it did end in a convent, did not seem 
 so terrible as to be a wanderer without a roof 
 to cover her. She felt aggrieved and injured 
 by Antonia's and Isabel's positive refusal to 
 accept sanctuary from the priest, and with the 
 underhand cunning of a weak woman she had 
 contrived to let Fray Ignatius know that she 
 was not to blame for the refusal. 
 
 All the same the priest hated her in conjunc- 
 tion with her children. On the morning after 
 her interview with her uncle, he went to receive 
 her submission ; for the marquis had informed 
 him of all that had passed, and he felt the three 
 women and the valuable Worth property 
 already under his hard hand. He opened the 
 gate with the air of a proprietor. He looked 
 down the lovely alleys of the garden, and up 
 at the latticed stories of the handsome house, 
 with that solid satisfaction which is the reward 
 of what is acquired by personal effort or 
 wisdom. 
 
 When he entered the door and was con- 
 fronted by Thomas Worth, he was for the 
 moment nonplussed. But he did not permit 
 his confusion and disappointment to appear. 
 He had not seen Thomas for a long time. He 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 291 
 
 addressed him with suavity and regrets, and 
 yet, " was sure he would be glad to hear that, 
 in the present dangerous crisis, the Marquis de 
 Gonzaga had remembered the blood-tie and 
 offered his protection to a family so desolate." 
 
 Thomas Worth leaned upon the balusters, as 
 if guarding the approach to the Seftora's apart- 
 ments. He answered : " The protection of the 
 marquis is unnecessary. Three ladies are too 
 great a charge for one so aged. We will not 
 impose it." The face of the young man was 
 calm and stern, but he spoke without visible 
 temper, until the priest prepared to pass him. 
 Then he stretched out his arm as a barrier. 
 
 "Fray Ignatius, you have already passed 
 beyond the threshold ; permit me to remind 
 you of Dr. Worth's words on that subject." 
 
 " I put my duty before any man's words." 
 
 " Sir, for my mother's sake, I would not be 
 disrespectful ; but I assure you, also, that I will 
 not permit any man, while I live, to disregard 
 my father's orders regarding his own house- 
 hold." 
 
 " I must see the Seftoia." 
 
 "That, I reply, is impossible." 
 
 " Presume not dare not to interfere with a 
 
2 9 2 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 priest in the duty of his office. It is a mortal 
 sin. The curse of the Church will rest upon 
 you." 
 
 " The curse of the Church will not trouble 
 me. But to treat my father's known wishes 
 with contempt that is an act of dishonor and 
 disobedience which I will not be guilty of." 
 
 " Santa Maria ! Suffer not my spirit to be 
 moved by this wicked one. Out of my path, 
 Satanas!" 
 
 The last word was not one which Thomas 
 Worth had expected. He flushed crimson at 
 its application, and with a few muttered sen- 
 tences, intelligible only to the priest, he took 
 him firmly by the shoulder, led him outside the 
 door, and closed and barred it. 
 
 The expulsion was not accomplished without 
 noisy opposition on the part of Fray Ignatius, 
 and it pained Thomas deeply to hear, in the 
 midst of the priest's anathemas, the shrill cries 
 of his mother's distress and disapproval. 
 
 The next domestic movement of Thomas 
 Worth was to rid the house of Molly and 
 Manuel, and the inferior servants. It was not 
 as easy a task as may be supposed. They had 
 been ordered by Fray Ignatius to remain, and 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 293 
 
 the order had not been countermanded. Even 
 if the Seftora and her daughters were going 
 east, and their services were not needed, they 
 had no objections to remain in the Worth 
 house. They understood that the Church 
 would take possession, and the housekeeping 
 of the Church was notoriously easy and 
 luxurious. 
 
 However, after exorbitant compensation had 
 been made, and Molly had given in return " a 
 bit of her mind," she left for the Irish colony 
 of San Patricio, and Manuel immediately 
 sought his favorite monte table. When he had 
 doubled his money, he intended to obey 
 Molly's emphatic orders, and go and tell the 
 priest all about it. 
 
 " I would rather face a battery of cannon 
 than Fray Ignatius and the servants again, 
 Antonia." Antonia looked at her brother ; he 
 was worried and weary, and his first action, when 
 he had finally cleared the house, was to walk 
 around it, and bolt every door and window. 
 Antonia followed him silently. She perceived 
 that the crisis had come, and she was doing as 
 good women in extremity do trying to find 
 in the darkness the hand always stretched out 
 
2 94 WO FEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 to guide and strengthen. As yet she had not 
 been able to grasp it. She followed her 
 brother like one in a troubled dream, whisper- 
 ing faintly, with white lips, " O God, where 
 art Thou ? Help and pity us ! " 
 
 Thomas led her finally to his father's office. 
 He went to a closet filled with drugs, removed 
 them, and then a certain pressure of his hand 
 caused the back of the closet to disappear in a 
 groove, and a receptacle full of coin and papers 
 was disclosed. 
 
 " We must take with us all the coin we can 
 carry. What you are not likely to require, is 
 to go to the men in the field. Then, hide in 
 its place the old silver, and the laces, and the 
 jewels, which came with the Flores from Cas- 
 tile; and any other papers and valuables, which 
 you received from our father. I think even 
 Fray Ignatius will not discover them here." 
 
 " Is there any special need to hurry to-day?" 
 
 " Santa Anna is within forty-eight hours of 
 San Antonio. He may force a march, and be 
 here earlier. Travis told me last night that 
 their advance scouts had come in with this 
 intelligence. To-day they will gather every 
 man they can, and prepare to defend them- 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 295 
 
 selves in the Alamo. As soon as Santa Anna 
 arrives, we are in danger. I must leave here 
 to-night. I must either take you with me or 
 remove you to a place of more safety.'* 
 
 " Let us go with you." 
 
 " If my mother is willing." 
 
 " If she is not, what then ? " 
 
 " Lopez has prepared for that emergency. 
 He has an empty house three miles west of 
 San Antonio. He has had it completely 
 victualled. I will take you there after dark in 
 the large green chariot. Ortiz will drive the 
 light Jersey wagon on the Gonzales road. When 
 inquiry is made, the Jersey wagon will have 
 attracted the attention of every Mexican, and 
 Fray Ignatius will receive positive assurances 
 that you were in it and are beyond his power. 
 And certainly, without definite intelligence, he 
 would never suspect you of being anywhere on 
 the highway to Mexico." 
 
 " Shall we be quite alone?" 
 
 " For two or three days you will be quite 
 alone. Ortiz will, however, return with the 
 wagon by a circuitous route ; for, sooner or 
 later, you are sure to need it. Fear not to trust 
 him. Only in one respect will you need to 
 
296 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 supplement his advice by your own intelli- 
 gence : he is so eager to fight Santa Anna, he 
 may persuade himself and you that it is neces- 
 sary to fly eastward when it is not. In all 
 other points you may be guided by him, and 
 his disguise as a peon is so perfect that it will 
 be easy for him to gather in the pulquerias all 
 the information requisite for your direction. I 
 have been out to the house, and I can assure 
 you that Lopez has considered everything for 
 your comfort." 
 
 " However, I would rather go with you, 
 Thomas." 
 
 " It must be as mother desires." 
 
 When the circumstances were explained to 
 the Seftora, she was at first very determined to 
 accept neither alternative. " She would re- 
 main where she was. She was a Flores and a 
 Gonzaga. Santa Anna knew better than to 
 molest her. She would rather trust to him 
 than to those dreadful Americans." Reminded 
 of Fray Ignatius, she shed a few tears over the 
 poor padrecito, and assured her children they 
 had made a mistake regarding him, which 
 neither oil nor ointment, nor wit nor wisdom, 
 could get over, 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 297 
 
 It was almost impossible to induce her to 
 come to a decision of any kind ; and only when 
 she saw Antonia and Isabel were dressed 
 for a journey, and that Thomas had locked 
 up all the rooms and was extinguishing \ 
 the fires, could she bring herself to believe F 
 that the trial so long anticipated had really ' 
 come. 
 
 " My dearest mother ! My own life and the 
 lives of many others may now hang upon a 
 few moments. I can remain here no longer. 
 Where shall I take you to ? " 
 
 " I will not leave my home." 
 
 " Santa Anna is almost here. As soon as 
 he arrives, Fray Ignatius and twelve of the 
 Bernardine monks are coming here. I was 
 told that yesterday." 
 
 " Then I will go to the convent. I and my 
 daughters." 
 
 " No, mother ; if you go to the convent, 
 Antonia and Isabel must go with me." 
 
 She prayed, and exclaimed, and appealed to 
 saints and angels, and to the holy Virgin, until 
 Isabel was hysterically weeping, Antonia at 
 a mental tension almost unendurable, and 
 Thomas on the verge of one of those terrifying 
 
298 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 passions that mark the extremity of habitually 
 gentle, patient men. 
 
 " My God, mother ! " he exclaimed with a 
 stamp of his spurred boot on the stone floor ; 
 " if you will go to the devil to the priests, I 
 mean you must go alone. Kiss your mother 
 farewell, girls. I have not another moment to 
 wait." 
 
 Then, in a passion of angry sobs and re- 
 proaches, she decided to go with her daugh- 
 ters, and no saint ever suffered with a more 
 firm conviction of their martyrdom to duty 
 than did this poor foolish, affectionate slave to 
 her emotions and her superstitions. But when 
 Thomas had gone, and nothing was to be 
 gained by a display of her sufferings, she per- 
 mitted herself to be interested in their hiding- 
 place, and after Antonia had given her a cup 
 of chocolate, and Isabel had petted and 
 soothed her, she began gradually to allow them 
 to explain their situation, and even to feel 
 some interest in its discussion. 
 
 They sat in the charmful, dusky glimmer of 
 starlight, for candles and fire were forbidden 
 luxuries. Fortunately, the weather was warm 
 and sunny, and for making chocolate and such 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA, 299 
 
 simple cookery, Lopez had provided a spirit 
 lamp. The Sefiora was as pleased as a child 
 with this arrangement. She had never seen 
 anything like it before. She even imagined 
 the food cooked upon it had some rare and 
 unusual flavor. She was quite proud when she 
 had learned its mysteries, and quite sure that 
 chocolate she made upon it was chocolate of 
 a most superior kind. 
 
 The house had been empty for two years, 
 and the great point was to preserve its air 
 of desolation. No outside arrangement was 
 touched ; the torn remnants of some balcony 
 hangings were left fluttering in the wind ; the 
 closed windows and the closed doors, the ab- 
 sence of smoke from the chimneys and of lights 
 from the windows, preserved the air of empti- 
 ness and loneliness that the passers-by had 
 been accustomed to see. And, as it was on 
 the highway into the city, there were great 
 numbers of passers : mule-trains going to Mex- 
 ico and Sonora ; cavaliers and pedestrians ; 
 splendidly-dressed nobles and officials, dusty 
 peons bringing in wood ; ranchmen, peddlers, 
 and the whole long list of a great city's pur- 
 veyors and servants. 
 
300 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 But though some of the blinds were half- 
 closed, much could be seen ; and Isabel also 
 often took cushions upon the flat roof, and ly- 
 ing down, watched, from between the pilasters 
 of the balustrade surrounding it, the moving 
 panorama. 
 
 On the morning of the third day of what the 
 Seftora called their imprisonment, they went 
 to the roof to sit in the clear sunshine and the 
 fresh wind. They were weary and depressed 
 with the loneliness and uncertainty of their 
 position, and were almost longing for some- 
 thing to happen that would push forward the 
 lagging wheels of destiny. 
 
 A long fanfare of trumpets, a roll of drums, 
 a stirring march of warlike melody, startled 
 them out of the lethargic tedium of exhausted 
 hopes and fears. " It is Santa Anna ! " said 
 Antonia ; and though they durst not stand up, 
 they drew closer to the balustrade and watched 
 for the approaching army. Is there any 
 woman who can resist that nameless emotion 
 which both fires and rends the heart in the 
 presence of great military movements ? An- 
 tonia was still and speechless, and white 
 as death. Isabel watched with gleaming 
 
THE ARRIVAL OF SANTA ANNA. 3 O1 
 
 eyes and set lips. The Sefiora's excitement 
 was unmistakably that of exultant national 
 pride. 
 
 Santa Anna and his staff-officers were in 
 front. They passed too rapidly for individual 
 notice, but it was a grand moving picture of 
 handsome men in scarlet and gold of grace- 
 ful mangas and waving plumes, and bright- 
 colored velvet capes ; of high-mettled horses, 
 and richly-adorned Mexican saddles, aqueras 
 of black fur, and silver stirrups ; of thousands 
 of common soldiers, in a fine uniform of red 
 and blue ; with antique brazen helmets gleam- 
 ing in the sun, and long lances, adorned with 
 tri-colored streamers. They went past like a 
 vivid, wonderful dream like the vision of an 
 army of mediaeval knights. 
 
 In a few minutes the tumult of the advanc- 
 ing army was increased tenfold by the clamor 
 of the city pouring out to meet it. The clash- 
 ing bells from the steeples, the shouting of the 
 populace, the blare of trumpets and roll of 
 drums, the lines of churchmen and officials in 
 their grandest dresses, of citizens of every age, 
 the indescribable human murmur alto- 
 gether it was a scene whose sensuous splendor 
 
302 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 obliterated for a time the capacity of impres- 
 sionable natures to judge rightly. 
 
 But Antonia saw beyond all this brave show 
 the ridges of red war, and a noble perversity of 
 soul made her turn her senses inward. Then 
 her eyes grew dim, and her heart rose in pity- 
 ing prayer for that small band of heroes stand- 
 ing together for life and liberty in the grim 
 Alamo. No pomp of war was theirs. They 
 were isolated from all their fellows. They 
 were surrounded by their enemies. No word 
 of sympathy could reach them. Yet she 
 knew they would stand like lions at bay ; that 
 they would give life to its last drop for liber- 
 ty ; and rather than be less than freemen, they 
 would prefer not to be at all. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 
 
 "The combat deepens. On, ye brave J 
 Who rush to glory or the grave." 
 
 * To all the sensual world proclaim : 
 One crowded hour of glorious life 
 Is worth an age without a name." 
 
 " Gashed with honorable scars, 
 Low in Glory's lap they lie ; 
 Though they fell, they fell like stars, 
 Streaming splendor through the sky." 
 
 THE passing-by of Santa Anna and the 
 Mexican army, though it had been 
 hourly expected for nearly three days, was an 
 event which threw the Senora and her daugh- 
 ters into various conditions of mental excite- 
 ment. They descended from the roof to the 
 Sefiora's room, where they could move about 
 and converse with more freedom. For the 
 poor lady was quite unable to control her 
 speech and actions, and was also much irri- 
 tated by Antonia's more composed manner. 
 She thought it was want of sympathy. 
 
304 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY*. 
 
 " How can you take things with such a 
 blessed calmness," she asked, angrily. " But it 
 is the way of the Americans, no doubt, who 
 must have everything for prudence. Sensible ! 
 Sensible ! Sensible ! that is the tune they are 
 forever playing, and you dance to it like a 
 miracle." 
 
 " My dear mother, can we do any good by 
 exclaiming and weeping ?" 
 
 " Holy Virgin ! Perhaps not ; but to have a 
 little human nature is more agreeable to those 
 who are yet on the earth side of purgatory." 
 
 "Mi madre," said Isabel, "Antonia is our 
 good angel. She thinks for us, and plans for 
 us, and even now has everything ready for us 
 to move at a moment's notice. Our good 
 angels have to be sensible and prudent, 
 madre." 
 
 " To move at a moment's notice ! Virgin 
 of Guadalupe ! where shall we go to ? Could 
 my blessed father and mother see me in this 
 prison, this very vault, I assure you they would 
 be unhappy even among the angels." 
 
 " Mother, there are hundreds of women to- 
 day in Texas who would think this house a 
 palace of comfort and safety." 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 305 
 
 " Saints and angels ! Is that my fault ? 
 Does it make my condition more endurable ? 
 Ah, my children, I have seen great armies 
 come into San Antonio, and always before I 
 have been able to make a little pleasure to 
 myself out of the event. For the Mexicans are 
 not blood-thirsty, though they are very war- 
 like. When Bravo was here, what balls, what 
 bull-fights, what visiting among the ladies ! 
 Indeed there was so much to tell, the tertulia 
 was as necessary as the dinner. To be sure, 
 the Mexicans are not barbarians ; they made 
 a war that had some refinement. But the 
 Americans ! They are savages. With them 
 it is fight, fight, fight, and if we try to be 
 agreeable, as we were to that outrageous Sam 
 Houston, they say thank you, madam, and go 
 on thinking their own cruel thoughts. I won- 
 der the gentle God permits that such men 
 live." 
 
 ' Dear mother, refinement in war is not pos- 
 sible. Nothing can make it otherwise than 
 "brutal and bloody." 
 
 "Antonia, allow that I, who am your 
 mother, should know what I have simply seen 
 
 with nv _eyes. Salcedo, Bravo, Martinez, 
 
 20 
 
306 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Urrea are they not great soldiers ? Very well, 
 then, I say they brought some pleasure with 
 their armies; and you will see that Santa Anna 
 will do the same. If we were only in our own 
 home ! It must have been the devil who 
 made us leave it." 
 
 " How truly splendid the officers looked, 
 mi madre. I dare say Senora Valdez will 
 entertain them." 
 
 " That is certain. And as for Dorette Val- 
 dez the coquette it will certainly be a great 
 happiness to her." 
 
 Isabel sighed, and the Sefiora felt a kind 
 of satisfaction in the sigh. It was unendur- 
 able to be alone in her regrets and her long- 
 ings. 
 
 "Yes," she continued, " every night Sefiora 
 Trespalacios will give a tertulia, and the officers 
 will have military balls the brave young men ; 
 they will be so gay, so charming, so devoted, 
 and in a few hours, perhaps, they will go 
 into the other world by the road of the battle- 
 field. Ah, how pitiful ! How interesting ! Can- 
 \ not you imagine it ? " 
 
 Isabel sighed again, but the sigh was for the 
 gay, the charming Luis Alveda. And when she 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 307 
 
 thought of him, she forgot in a moment to envy 
 Dorette Valdez, or the seftoritas of the noble 
 house of Trespalacios. And some sudden, 
 swift touch of sympathy, strong as it was oc- 
 cult, made the Seflora at the same moment re- 
 member her husband and her sons. A real 
 sorrow and a real anxiety drove out all smaller 
 annoyances. Then both her daughters wept 
 together, until their community of grief had 
 brought to each heart the solemn strength of a 
 divine hope and reliance. 
 
 " My children, I will go now and pray," said 
 the sorrowful wife and mother. "At the foot 
 of the cross I will wait for the hour of deliver- 
 ance "; and casting herself on her knees, with 
 her crucifix in her hand, she appeared in a 
 moment to have forgotten everything but her 
 anguish and her sins, and the Lamb of God 
 , upon whom, with childlike faith, she was en- 
 'deavoring to cast them. Her tears dropped 
 upon the ivory image of the Crucified, and 
 sympathetic tears sprung into Antonia's and 
 Isabel's eyes, as they listened to her implora- 
 tion. 
 
 That night, when all was dark and still, Ortiz 
 returned with the wagon. In the morning An- 
 
308 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 tonia went to speak to him. He looked worn- 
 out and sorrowful, and she feared to ask him 
 for news. " There is food in the house, and I 
 have made you chocolate," she said, as she 
 pitifully scanned the man's exhausted con- 
 dition. 
 
 " The Seftorita is kind as the angels. I will 
 eat and drink at her order. I am, indeed, faint 
 and hungry." 
 
 She brought him to the table, and when he 
 refused to sit in her presence, she said frankly, 
 " Captain Ortiz, you are our friend and not 
 our servant. Rest and refresh yourself." 
 
 He bent upon one knee and kissed the hand 
 she offered, and without further remonstrance 
 obeyed her desire. Isabel came in shortly, and 
 with the tact of true kindness she made no 
 remark, but simply took the chair beside Ortiz, 
 and said, in her usual voice and manner: 
 " Good morning, Captain. We are glad to see 
 you. Did you meet my brother Thomas 
 again?" 
 
 " Seftorita, God be with you ! I have not 
 seen him. I was at Goliad." 
 
 "Then you would see our brother Juan?" 
 
 " Si. The Seftor Juan is in good health and 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMOS 39 
 
 great happiness. He sent by my willing hands 
 a letter." 
 
 " Perhaps also you saw his friend, Seftor 
 Grant?" 
 
 " From him, also, I received a letter. Into 
 your gracious care, Sefiorita, I deliver them." 
 
 " I thank you for your kindness, Captain. 
 Tell us now of the fortress. Are the troops in 
 good spirits ? " 
 
 " Allow me to fear that they are in too good 
 assurance of success. The most of the men 
 are very young. They have not yet met our 
 Lady of Sorrows. They have promised to 
 themselves the independence of Texas. They 
 will also conquer Mexico. There are kingdoms 
 in the moon for them. I envy such exalt- 
 ations and regret them. Grace of God, Senor- 
 ita ! My heart ached to see the crowds of 
 bright young faces. With a Napoleon with a 
 Washington to lead them they would do 
 miracles." 
 
 "What say you to Houston?" 
 
 " I know him not. At Goliad they are all 
 Houstons. They believe each man in himself. 
 On the contrary, I wish that each man looked 
 to the same leader." 
 
310 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Do you know that Santa Anna is in San 
 Antonio ? " 
 
 " I felt it, though I had no certain news. I 
 came far around, and hid myself from all pass- 
 ers-by, for the sake of the wagon and the horses. 
 I have the happiness to say they are safe. The 
 wagon is within the enclosure, the horses are 
 on the prairie. They have been well trained, 
 and will come to my call. As for me, I will 
 now go into the city, for there will be much to 
 see and to hear that may be important to us. 
 Sefioritas, for all your desires, I am at your 
 service." 
 
 When Ortiz was gone, Isabel had a little fret 
 of disappointment. Luis might have found 
 some messenger to bring her a word of his love 
 and life. What was love worth that did not 
 annihilate impossibilities! However, it con- 
 soled her a little to carry Jack's letter to his 
 mother. The Senora had taken her morning 
 chocolate and fallen asleep. When Isabel 
 awakened her, she opened her eyes with a sigh, 
 and a look of hopeless misery. These pallid de- 
 pressions attacked her most cruelly in the morn- 
 ing, when the room, shabby and unfamiliar, 
 gave both her memory and anticipation a shock. 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 31 1 
 
 But the sight of the letter flushed her face 
 with expectation. She took it with smiles. 
 She covered it with kisses. When she opened 
 it, a curl from Jack's head fell on to her lap. 
 She pressed it to her heart, and then rose and 
 laid it at the feet of her Madonna. " She must 
 share my joy," she said with a pathetic child- 
 ishness ; "she will understand it." Then, with 
 her arm around Isabel, and the girl's head on 
 his shoulder, they read together Jack's loving 
 words : 
 
 " Mi madre, mi madre, you have Juan's 
 heart in your heart. Believe me, that in all 
 this trouble I sorrow only for you. When 
 victory is won I shall fly to you. Other young 
 men have other loves ; I have only you, sweet 
 mother. There is always the cry in my heart 
 for the kiss I missed when I left you. If I 
 could hold your hand to-night, if I could hear 
 your voice, if I could lay my head on your 
 breast, I would say that the Holy One had 
 given me the best blessings He had in heaven. 
 Send to me a letter, madre a letter full of 
 love and kisses. Forgive Juan ! Think of 
 this only : he is my boy / If I live, it is for 
 you, who are the loveliest and dearest of 
 
312 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 mothers. If I die, I shall die with your name 
 on my lips. I embrace you with my soul. I 
 kiss your hands, and remember how often they 
 have clasped mine. I kiss your eyes, your 
 cheeks, your dear lips. Mi madre, remember 
 me ! In your prayers, remember Juan ! " 
 
 With what tears and sobs was this loving 
 letter read by all the women ; and the Seflora 
 finally laid it where she had laid the precious 
 curl that had come with it. She wanted " the 
 Woman blessed among women " to share the 
 mother joy and the mother anguish in her 
 heart. Besides, she was a little nervous about 
 Jack's memento of himself. Her superstitious 
 lore taught her that severed hair is a token of 
 severed love. She wished he had not sent it, 
 and yet she could not bear to have it out of 
 her sight. 
 
 " Gracids d Dios ! " she kept ejaculating. " I 
 have one child that loves me, and me only. I 
 shall forgive Juan everything. I shall not 
 forgive Thomas many things. But Juan ! oh! 
 it is impossible not to love him entirely. There 
 is no one like him in the world. If the good 
 God will only give him back to me, I will say 
 a prayer of thanks every day of my life 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 3*3 
 
 long. Oh, Juan! Juan! my boy! my dear 
 one ! " 
 
 Thus she talked to herself and her daughters 
 continually. She wrote a letter full of motherly 
 affection and loving incoherencies ; and if Jack 
 had ever received it he would doubtless have 
 understood and kissed every word, and worn 
 the white messenger close to his heart. But 
 between writing letters and sending them, 
 there were in those days intervals full of im- 
 possibilities. Love then had to be taken on 
 trust. Rarely, indeed, could it send assurances 
 of fidelity and affection. 
 
 Jack's letter brightened the day, and formed 
 a new topic of conversation, until Ortiz re- 
 turned in the evening. His disguise had en- 
 abled him to linger about the Plaza and monte 
 table, and to hear and observe all that was 
 going on. 
 
 "The city is enjoying itself, and making 
 money," he said, in reply to question from the 
 Seftora. "Certainly the San Antonians ap- 
 prove of liberty, but what would you do ? In 
 Rome one does not quarrel with the Pope ; in 
 San Antonio one must approve of despotism, 
 when Santa Anna parades himself there^" 
 
314 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Has he made any preparations for attack- 
 ing the Alamo ? Will the Americans resist 
 him?" 
 
 " Seftorita Antonia, he is erecting a battery 
 on the river bank, three hundred yards from 
 the Alamo. This morning, ere the ground was 
 touched, he reviewed his men in the Plaza. 
 He stood on an elevation at the church door, 
 surrounded by his officers and the priests, and 
 unfurled the Mexican flag." 
 
 " That was about eleven o'clock, Captain ? " 
 " Si, Senorita. You are precisely exact." 
 " I heard at that hour a dull roar of human 
 voices a roar like nothing on earth but the 
 distant roar of the ocean." 
 
 " To be sure ; it was the shouting of the 
 people. When all was still, Fray Ignatius 
 blessed the flag, and sprinkled over it holy 
 water. Then Santa Anna raised it to his lips 
 and kissed it. Holy Maria ! another shout. 
 Then he crossed his sword upon the flag, and 
 cried out " Soldados ! you are here to defend 
 this banner, which is the emblem of your holy 
 faith and of your native land, against heretics, 
 infidels and ungrateful traitors. Do you swear 
 to do it ? And the whole army answered ' Si ! 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 31$ 
 
 si ! juramos ! ' (yes, we swear.) Again he kissed 
 the flag, and laid his sword across it, and, to be 
 sure, then another shout. It was a very clever 
 thing, I assure you, Seflora, and it sent every 
 soldier to the battery with a great heart." 
 
 The Sefiora's easily touched feelings were all 
 on fire at the description. " I wish I could have 
 seen the blessing of the banner," she said ; " it 
 is a ceremony to fill the soul. I have always 
 wept at it. Mark, Antonia ! This confirms 
 what I assured you of the Mexicans make war 
 with a religious, feeling and a true refinement. 
 And pray, Captain Ortiz, how will the Ameri- 
 cans oppose these magnificent soldiers, full of 
 piety and patriotism ? " 
 
 " They have the Alamo, and one hundred 
 and eighty-three men in it." 
 
 " And four thousand men against them ? " 
 
 " Si. May the Virgin de los Remedios * be 
 their help ! An urgent appeal for assistance 
 was sent to Fanning at Goliad. Seflor Navarro 
 took it on a horse fleet as the wind. You will 
 see that on the third day he will be smoking 
 in his balcony, in the way which is usual to 
 him." 
 
 * The Virgin appealed to in military straits. 
 
316 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Will Fanning answer the appeal ? " 
 " If the answer be permitted him. But 
 Urrea may prevent. Also other things." 
 
 Santa Anna entered San Antonio on Tues- 
 day the twenty-third of February, 1836, and by 
 the twenty-seventh the siege had become a 
 very close one. Entrenched encampments en- 
 circled the doomed men in the Alamo, and 
 from dawn to sunset the bombardment went 
 on. The tumult of the fight the hurrying in 
 and out of the city the clashing of church 
 bells between the booming of cannon these 
 things the Senora and her daughters could 
 hear and see ; but all else was for twelve days 
 mere surmise. But only one surmise was 
 possible, when it was known that the little 
 band of defiant heroes were fighting twenty 
 times their own number that no help could 
 come to them that the Mexicans were cut- 
 ting off their water, and that their provisions 
 were getting very low. The face of Ortiz 
 grew constantly more gloomy, and yet there 
 was something of triumph in his tone as he 
 told the miserably anxious women with what 
 desperate valor the Americans were fighting ; 
 and how fatally every one of their shots told. 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 317 
 
 On Saturday night, the fifth of March, he 
 called Antonia aside, and said, " My Sefiorita, 
 you have a great heart, and so I speak to you. 
 The end is close. To-day the Mexicans suc- 
 ceeded in getting a large cannon within gun- 
 shot of the Alamo, just where it is weakest. 
 Seftor Captain Crockett has stood on the roof 
 all day, and as the gunners have advanced to 
 fire it he has shot them down. A group of 
 Americans were around him ; they loaded 
 rifles and passed them to him quickly as he 
 could fire them. Santa Anna was in a fury 
 past believing. He swore then * by every saint 
 in heaven or hell ' to enter the Alamo to-mor- 
 row. Sefior Navarro says he is raging like a 
 tiger, and that none of his officers dare ap- 
 proach him. The Sefior bade me tell you that 
 to-morrow night he will be here to escort you 
 to Gonzales ; for no American will his fury 
 spare ; he knows neither sex nor age in his 
 passions. And when the Alamo falls, the 
 soldiers will spread themselves around for 
 plunder, or shelter, and this empty house is 
 sure to attract them. The Sefiorita sees with 
 her own intelligence how things must take 
 place." 
 
318 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " I understand, Captain. Will you go with 
 us-?" 
 
 " I will have the Jersey wagon ready at mid- 
 night. I know the horses. Before sun-up we 
 shall have made many miles." 
 
 That night as Antonia and her sister sat in 
 the dark together, Antonia said : " Isabel, to- 
 morrow the Alamo will fall. There is no hope 
 for the poor, brave souls there. Then Santa 
 Anna will kill every American." 
 
 " Oh, dear Antonia, what is to become of us ? 
 We shall have no home, nothing to eat, no- 
 where to sleep. I think we shall die. Also, 
 there is mi madre. How I do pity her ! " 
 
 " She is to be your care, Isabel. I shall rely 
 on you to comfort and manage her. I will 
 attend to all else. We are going to our father, 
 and Thomas and Luis." 
 
 " Yes, and after all I am very tired of this 
 dreadful life. It is a kind of convent. One is 
 buried alive here, and still not safe. Do you 
 really imagine that Luis is with my father and 
 Thomas?" 
 
 " I feel sure of it." 
 
 " What a great enjoyment it will be for me 
 to see him again ! " 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 3*9 
 
 " And how delighted he will be ! And as it 
 is necessary that we go, Isabel, we must make 
 the best of the necessity. Try and get mi 
 madre to feel this." 
 
 " I can do that with a few words, and tears, 
 and kisses. Mi madre is like one's good an- 
 gel very easy to persuade." 
 
 " And now we must try and sleep, queridita." 
 
 " Are you sure there is no danger to-night, 
 Antonia ? " 
 
 " Not to-night. Say your prayer, and sleep 
 in God's presence. There is yet nothing to 
 fear. Ortiz and Lopez Navarro are watching 
 every movement." 
 
 But at three o'clock in the morning, the 
 quiet of their rest was broken by sharp bugle 
 calls. The stars were yet in the sky, and all 
 was so still that they thrilled the air like some- 
 thing unearthly. Antonia started up, and ran 
 to the roof. Bugle was answering bugle ; and 
 their tones were imperative and cruel, as if they 
 were blown by evil spirits. It was impossible 
 to avoid the feeling that the call was a predes- 
 tined summons, full of the notes of calamity. 
 She was weighed down by this sorrowful pre- 
 sentiment, because, as yet, neither experience 
 
320 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 nor years had taught her that predestined ills 
 are never lost. 
 
 The unseen moving multitudes troubled the 
 atmosphere between them. In wild, savage 
 gusts, she heard the military bands playing the 
 infamous Dequelo, whose notes of blood and 
 fire commingled, shrieked in every ear " No 
 Quarter ! No Quarter ! " A prolonged shout, 
 the booming of cannon, an awful murmurous 
 tumult, a sense of horror, of crash and conflict, 
 answered the merciless, frenzied notes, and 
 drowned them in the shrieks and curses they 
 called for. 
 
 It was yet scarcely dawn. Her soul, moved 
 by influences so various and so awful, became 
 almost rebellious. Why did God permit such 
 cruelties ? Did He know ? Would He allow a 
 handful of men to be overpowered by num- 
 bers? Being omnipotent, would He not in 
 some way, at least, make the fight equal ? The 
 instinct of her angle-American nature revolted 
 at the unfairness of the struggle. Even her 
 ejaculations to heaven were in this spirit. " It 
 is so unjust," she murmured ; " surely the 
 Lord of Hosts will prevent a fight which must 
 be a massacre." 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 321 
 
 As she went about the simple preparations 
 for their breakfast, she wept continuously 
 tears of indignation and sorrow tears coming 
 from the strength of feeling, rather than its 
 weakness. The Seftora could eat nothing, 
 Isabel was white with terror. They wandered 
 from window to window in the last extremity 
 of anxiety. 
 
 About seven o'clock they saw Ortiz pass the 
 house. There were so many people on the 
 road he could not find an opportunity to enter 
 for some time. He had been in the city all 
 night. He had watched the movement of the 
 troops in the starlight. As he drank a cup of 
 chocolate, he said : 
 
 " It was just three o'clock, Seftorita, when 
 the Matamoras battalion was moved forward. 
 General Cos supported it with two thousand 
 men." 
 
 " But General Cos was paroled by these same 
 Americans who are now in the Alamo ; and 
 his life was spared on condition that he would 
 not bear arms against them again." 
 
 " It is but one lie, one infamy more. When 
 I left the city, about four thousand men were 
 attacking the Alamo. The infantry, in col- 
 
 21 
 
322 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 umns, were driven up to the walls by the cav- 
 alry which surrounded them." 
 
 " The Americans ! Is there any hope for 
 them ? " 
 
 " The mercy of God remains, Seftorita. That 
 is all. The Alamo is not as the everlasting 
 hills. What men have made, men can also 
 destroy. Sefior Navarro is in the church, 
 praying for the souls that are passing every 
 moment." 
 
 " He ought to have been fighting. To help 
 the living is better than to pray for the dead." 
 
 " Permit me to assure you, Seftorita Antonia, 
 that no man has done more for the living. In 
 time of war, there must be many kinds of 
 soldiers. Sefior Navarro has given nearly all 
 that he possesses for the hope of freedom. He 
 has done secret service of incalculable value." 
 
 " Secret service ! I prefer those who have 
 the courage of their convictions, and who 
 stand by them publicly." 
 
 " This is to be considered, Seftorita; the man 
 wjio can be silent can also speak when the 
 day for speaking arrives." No one opposed 
 this statement. It did not seem worth while 
 to discuss opinions, while the terrible facts 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 323 
 
 of the position were appealing to every 
 sense. 
 
 As the day went on, the conflict evidently 
 became closer and fiercer. Ortiz went back to 
 the city, and the three lonely women knelt 
 upon the house-top, listening in terror to the 
 tumult of the battle. About noon the firing 
 ceased, and an awful silence a silence that 
 made the ears ache to be relieved of it 
 followed. 
 
 "All is over!" moaned Antonia, and she 
 covered her face with her hands and sobbed 
 bitterly. Isabel had already exhausted tears. 
 The Seftora, with her crucifix in her hand, was 
 praying for the poor unfortunates dying with- 
 out prayer. 
 
 During the afternoon, smoke and flame, and 
 strange and sickening odors were blown north- 
 ward of the city, and for some time it seemed 
 probable that a great conflagration would 
 follow the battle. How they longed for some 
 one to come ! The utmost of their calamity 
 would be better than the intolerable suspense. 
 But hour after hour went past, and not even 
 Ortiz arrived. They began to fear that both 
 he and Navarro had been discovered in some 
 
324 WOVEN Of LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 disloyalty and slain, and Antonia was heart-sick 
 when she considered the helplessness of their 
 situation. 
 
 Still, in accordance with Navarro's instruc- 
 tions, they dressed for the contemplated 
 journey, and sat in the dark, anxiously 
 listening for footsteps. About eleven o'clock 
 Navarro and Ortiz came together. Ortiz went 
 for the horses, and Navarro sat down beside 
 the Senora. She asked him, in a low voice, 
 what had taken place, and he answered : 
 
 " Everything dreadful, everything cruel, and 
 monstrous, and inhuman ! Among the angels 
 in heaven there is sorrow and anger this 
 night." His voice had in it all the pathos of 
 tears, but tears mingled with a burning indig- 
 nation. 
 
 " The Alamo has fallen ! " 
 
 " Senorita Antonia, I would give my soul to 
 undo this day's work. It is a disgrace to 
 Mexico which centuries cannot wipe out." 
 
 " The Americans ? " 
 
 " Are all with the Merciful One." 
 
 " Not one saved ? " 
 
 " Not one." 
 
 " Impossible ! " 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 3 2 5 
 
 " I will tell you. It is right to tell the whole 
 world such an infamy. If I had little children I 
 would take them on my knee and teach them 
 the story. I heard it from the lips of one wet- 
 shod with their blood, dripping crimson from 
 the battle my own cousin, Xavier. He was 
 with General Castrillon's division. They 
 began their attack at four in the morning, and 
 after two hours' desperate fighting succeeded 
 in reaching a courtyard of the Alamo. 
 
 " They found the windows and doors barri- 
 caded with bags of earth. Behind these the 
 Americans fought hand to hand with despairing 
 valor. Ramires, Siesma and Batres led the 
 columns, and Santa Anna gave the signal of 
 battle from a battery near the bridge. When 
 the second charge was driven back, he became 
 furious. He put himself in front of the men, 
 and with shouts and oaths led them to the 
 third charge. Xavier said that he inspired 
 them with his own frenzy. They reached the 
 foot of the wall, and the ladders were placed 
 in position. The officers fell to the rear and 
 forced the men to ascend them. As they 
 reached the top they were stabbed, and the 
 ladders overturned. Over and over, and over 
 
326 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 again these attempts were made, until the 
 garrison in the Alamo were exhausted with 
 the struggle." 
 
 Navarro paused a few minutes, overpowered 
 by his emotions. No one spoke. He could 
 see Antonia's face, white as a spirit's, in the 
 dim light, and he knew that Isabel was weep- 
 ing and that the Sefiora had taken his hand. 
 
 " At last, at the hour of ten, the outer wall 
 was gained. Then, room by room was taken 
 with slaughter incredible. There were fourteen 
 Americans in the hospital. They fired their 
 rifles and pistols from their pallets with such 
 deadly aim that Milagros turned a cannon 
 shotted with grape and canister upon them. 
 They were blown to pieces, but at the entrance 
 of the door they left forty dead Mexicans." 
 
 " Ah Senor, Senor ! tell me no more. My 
 heart can not endure it." 
 
 " Mi madre," answered Isabel, " we must 
 hear it all. Without it, one cannot learn to 
 hate Santa Anna sufficiently"; and her small, 
 white teeth snapped savagely, as she touched 
 the hand of Lopez with an imperative 
 " Proceed." 
 
 " Colonel Bowie was helpless in bed. Two 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 3 2 7 
 
 Mexican officers fired at him, and one ran for- 
 ward to stab him ere he died. The dying man 
 caught his murderer by the hair of his head, 
 and plunged his knife into his heart. They 
 went to judgment at the same moment." 
 
 " I am glad of it ! Glad of it ! The Ameri- 
 can would say to the Almighty : ' Thou gavest 
 me life, and thou gavest me freedom ; freedom, 
 that is the nobler gift of the two. This 
 man robbed me of both/ And God is just. 
 The Judge of the whole earth will do right." 
 
 " At noon, only six of the one hundred 
 and eighty-three were left alive. They were 
 surrounded by Castrillon and his soldiers. 
 Xavier says his general was penetrated with 
 admiration for these heroes. He spoke 
 sympathizingly to Crockett, who stood in 
 an angle of the fort, with his shattered rifle 
 in his right hand, and his massive knife, drip- 
 ping with blood, in his left. His face was 
 gashed, his white hair crimson with blood ; but 
 a score of Mexicans, dead and dying, were 
 around him. At his side was Travis, but so 
 exhausted that he was scarcely alive. 
 
 " Castrillon could not kill these heroes. He 
 asked their lives of Santa Anna, who stood 
 
328 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 with a scowling, savage face in this last citadel 
 of his foes. For answer, he turned to the men 
 around him, and said, with a malignant empha- 
 sis : ' Fire / ' It was the last volley. Of the 
 defenders of the Alamo, not one is left." 
 
 A solemn silence followed. For a few min- 
 utes it was painful in its intensity. Isabel 
 broke it. She spoke in a whisper, but her 
 voice was full of intense feeling. " I wish in- 
 deed the whole city had been burnt up. There 
 was a fire this afternoon ; I would be glad if it 
 were burning yet." 
 
 " May God pardon us all, Seflorita ! That 
 was a fire which does not go out. It will burn 
 for ages. I will explain myself. Santa Anna 
 had the dead Americans put into ox-wagons, 
 and carried to an open field outside the city. 
 There they were burnt to ashes. The glori- 
 ous pile was still casting lurid flashes and shad- 
 ows as I passed it." 
 
 " I will hear no more ! I will hear no more !" 
 cried the Seftora. " And I will go away from 
 here. Ah, Seftor, why do you not make haste ? 
 In a few hours we shall have daylight again. I 
 Jim in a terror. Where is Ortiz ? " 
 
 " The horses are not caught in a five minutes, 
 
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO. 3 2 9 
 
 Senora. But listen, there is the roll of the 
 wagon on the flagged court. All, then, is 
 ready. Senora, show now that you are of a 
 noble house, and in this hour of adversity be 
 brave, as the Flores have always been." 
 
 She was pleased by the entreaty, and took 
 his arm with a composure which, though as- 
 sumed, was a sort of strength. She entered 
 the wagon with her daughters, and uttered no 
 word of complaint. Then Navarro locked the 
 gate, and took his seat beside Ortiz. The 
 prairie turf deadened the beat of their horses' 
 hoofs ; they went at a flying pace, and when 
 the first pallid light of morning touched the 
 east, they had left San Antonio far behind 
 and were nearing the beautiful banks of the 
 Cibolo. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 GOLIAD. 
 
 How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
 
 By all their country's wishes bless'd ? 
 ***** 
 
 By fairy hands their knell is rung ; 
 By forms unseen their dirge is sung. 
 There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
 To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
 And Freedom shall awhile repair, 
 To dwell a weeping hermit there," 
 
 " How shall we rank thee upon glory's page ? 
 Thou more than soldier, and just less than sage." 
 
 " Grief fills the room up of my absent child ; 
 Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me ; 
 Remembers me of all his gracious parts." 
 
 NEAR midnight, on March the ninth, the 
 weary fugitives arrived at Gonzales. 
 They had been detained by the deep mud in 
 the bottom lands, and by the extreme ex- 
 haustion of the ladies, demanding some hours' 
 rest each day. The village was dark and 
 quiet. Here and there the glimmer of a 
 
GOLIAD. 331 
 
 candle, now and then the call of a sentry, or 
 the wail of a child, broke the mysterious 
 silence. 
 
 Ortiz appeared to know the ground perfect- 
 ly. He drove without hesitation to a log 
 house in which a faint thread of light was ob- 
 servable, and as he approached it he gave a 
 long, peculiar whistle. The door was instant- 
 ly thrown open, and, as the wagon stopped, two 
 men stepped eagerly to it. In another instant 
 the Seftora was weeping in her husband's arms, 
 and Isabel laughing and crying and murmur- 
 ing her sweet surprises into the ear of the de- 
 lighted Luis. When their wraps had been re- 
 moved from the wagon, Ortiz drove away, leav- 
 ing Navarro and Antonia standing by the 
 little pile of ladies' luggage. 
 
 " I will take charge of all, Sefiorita. Alas ! 
 How weary you are ! " 
 
 "It is nothing, Senor. Let me thank you 
 for your great kindness." 
 
 \ " Sefiorita, to be of service to you is my 
 ' good fortune. If it were necessary, my life 
 for your life, and I would die happy." 
 
 She had given him her hand with her little 
 speech of thanks, and he raised it to his lips. 
 
332 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 It was an act of homage that he might have 
 offered to a saint, but in it Lopez unconscious- 
 ly revealed to Antonia the secret love in his 
 heart. For he stood in the glow of light from 
 the open door, and his handsome face showed, 
 as in a glass darkly, the tenderness and hope- 
 lessness of his great affection. She was 
 touched by the discovery, and though she had 
 a nature faithful as sunrising she could not 
 help a feeling of kindly interest in a lover so 
 reticent, so watchful, so forgetful of him- 
 self. 
 
 The log cabin in which they found shelter 
 was at least a resting-place. A fire of cedar 
 logs burned upon the hearth, and there was a 
 bed in the room, and a few rude chairs covered 
 with raw hide. But the Seftora had a happy 
 smile on her weary face. She ignored the 
 poverty of her surroundings. She had her 
 Roberto, and, for this hour at least, had for- 
 given fate. 
 
 Presently the coffee-pot was boiling, and 
 Doctor Worth and Luis brought out their small 
 store of corn-bread and their tin camp-cups, 
 and the weary women ate and drank, and com- 
 forted themselves in the love and protection 
 
GOLIAD. 333 
 
 at their side. Doctor Worth sat by his wife, 
 and gave Antonia his hand. Isabel leaned her 
 pretty head against Luis, and listened with 
 happy smiles to his low words : 
 
 " Charming little one, your lips are two crim- 
 son curtains. Between curtain and curtain my 
 kiss is waiting. Give it to me." 
 
 " Eyes of my soul, to-night the world be- 
 gins again for me." 
 
 "At this blessed hour of God, I am the 
 happiest man he has made." 
 
 "As for me, here in this dear, white hand 
 I put my heart." 
 
 Is there any woman who cannot imagine 
 Isabel's shy glances, and the low, sweet words 
 in which she answered such delightful pro- 
 testations? And soon, to add a keener zest 
 to his happiness, Luis began to be a little 
 jealous. 
 
 "With us is Dias de Bonilla. Do you 
 remember, my beloved one, that you danced 
 with him once ? " 
 
 " How can you say a thing so offensive ? M 
 
 " Yes, dear, at the Sefiora Valdez's." 
 
 " It may be. I have forgotten." 
 
 " Too well he remembers. He has dared to 
 
334 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 sing a serenade to your memory well, truly, 
 he did not finish it, and but for the Seftor 
 Doctor, I should have taught him that Isabel 
 is not a name for his lips to utter. Here, he 
 may presume to come into your presence. 
 Will you receive him with extreme haughti- 
 ness ? It would be a great satisfaction to me." 
 
 "The poor fellow! Why should I make 
 him miserable? You should not be jealous, 
 Luis." 
 
 " If you smile on him the least little 
 smile he will think you are in love with him. 
 He is such a fool, I assure you. I am very 
 distressed about this matter, my angel." 
 
 " I will tell you Luis when the myrtle-tree 
 grows figs, and the fig-tree is pink with myrtle 
 flowers, then I may fall in love with Dias de 
 Bonilla if I can take the trouble." 
 
 No one heeded this pretty, extravagant talk. 
 It was a thing apart from the more serious 
 interests discussed by Doctor Worth and his 
 wife and eldest daughter. And when Ortiz and 
 Navarro joined the circle, the story of the fall 
 of the Alamo was told again, and Luis forgot 
 his own happiness, and wept tears of anger 
 and pity for the dead heroes. 
 
GOLIAD. 335 
 
 " This brutal massacre was on the morning 
 of the sixth, you say, Navarro ? " 
 
 " Last Sabbath morning, Senor. Mass was 
 being offered in the churches, and Te Deums 
 sung while it went on." 
 
 " A mass to the devil it was," said Ortiz. 
 
 " Now, I will tell you something. On the 
 morning of the second, Thomas was in Wash- 
 ington. A convention sitting there declared, 
 on that day, the independence of Texas, and 
 fifty-five out of fifty-six votes elected General 
 Houston Commander-in-Chief." 
 
 " Houston ! That is the name of victory ! 
 Gracids Dios ! " cried Navarro. 
 
 " It is probable that the news of this move- 
 ment influenced Santa Anna to such bar- 
 barity." 
 
 " It is his nature to be brutal." 
 
 " True, Ortiz ; yet I can imagine how this 
 proclamation would incense him. On the 
 morning of the sixth, the convention received 
 the last express sent by poor Travis from the 
 Alamo. It was of the most thrilling character, 
 breathing the very spirit of patriotism and 
 courage and despair. In less than an hour, 
 Houston, with a few companions, was on his 
 
336 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 way to the Alamo. At the same time he sent an 
 express to Fannin, urging him to meet him on 
 the Cibolo. Houston will be here to-morrow." 
 
 " Then he will learn that all help is too late." 
 
 But Houston had learned it in his own way 
 before he reached Gonzales ; for Travis had 
 stated that as long as the Alamo could be 
 held, signal guns would be fired at sunrising ; 
 and it is a well-authenticated fact that these 
 guns were heard by trained ears for more than 
 one hundred miles across the prairie. Hous- 
 ton, whose senses were keen as the Indians 
 with whom he had long lived knew when he 
 was within reach of the sound ; and he rose 
 very early, and with his ear close to the ground 
 waited in intense anxiety for the dull, rum- 
 bling murmur which would tell him the Alamo 
 still held out. His companions stood at some 
 distance, still as statues, intently watching 
 him. The sun rose. He had listened in vain ; 
 not the faintest sound did his ear detect. 
 
 " The Alamo has fired its last gun," he said, 
 on rejoining his companions. 
 
 *' And the men, General ? " 
 
 "They have died like men. You may be 
 sure of that," 
 
GOLIAD. 337 
 
 At Gonzales he heard the particulars. And 
 he saw that the news had exerted a depressing 
 influence upon the troops there. He called 
 them together. He spoke to them of the 
 brutal tragedy, and he invested its horrors 
 with the grandeur of eternal purpose and the 
 glory of heroic sacrifice. 
 
 " They were soldiers," he cried ; " and they 
 died like soldiers. Their names will be the 
 morning stars of American history. They will 
 live for ever in the red monument of the 
 Alamo." He looked like a lion, with a gloomy 
 stare ; his port was fierce, and his eyes com- 
 manded all he viewed. " Vengeance remains 
 to us ! We have declared our independence, 
 and it must be maintained." 
 
 He immediately sent off another express to 
 Fannin ; apprised him of the fall of the Alamo; 
 ordered him to blow up Goliad and fall back 
 upon Gonzales. Then he sent wagons into the 
 surrounding country, to transport the women 
 and children to the eastern settlements ; for 
 he knew well what atrocities would mark every 
 mile of Santa Anna's progress through the 
 country. 
 
 These wagons, with their helpless loads, were 
 
 22 
 
WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 to rendezvous at Peach Creek, ten miles from 
 Gonzales ; where also he expected Fannin and 
 his eight hundred and sixty men to join him. 
 This addition would make the American force 
 nearly twelve hundred strong. Besides which, 
 Fannin's little army was of the finest material, 
 being composed mostly of enthusiastic volun- 
 teers from Georgia and Alabama ; young men, 
 who, like Dare Grant and John Worth, were 
 inspired with the idea of freedom, or the 
 spread of Americanism, or the fanaticism of 
 religious liberty of conscience perhaps, even, 
 with hatred of priestly domination. Houston 
 felt that he would be sufficient for Santa Anna 
 when the spirit of this company was added to 
 the moral force of men driven from their homes 
 and families to fight for the lands they had 
 bought and the rights which had been guar- 
 anteed them. 
 
 So he watched the horizon anxiously for 
 Fannin's approach, often laying his ear to the 
 ground to listen for what he could not see. 
 And, impatient as he was for their arrival, the 
 Sefiora was more so. She declared that her 
 sufferings would be unendurable but for this 
 hope. The one question on her lips, the one 
 
GOLIAD. 339 
 
 question in her eyes, was, " Are they coming ? ' 
 And Antonia, though she did not speak of her 
 private hopes, was equally anxious. Brother 
 and lover were both very dear to her. And to 
 have the whole family together would be in 
 itself a great help. Whatever their depriva- 
 tions and fatigues, they could comfort each 
 other with their affection. 
 
 Every day wagon-loads of women and 
 children joined the camp, and the march east- 
 ward was very slow. But no circumstance 
 extols more loudly the bravery and tenderness 
 of these American soldiers than the patience 
 with which this encumbrance was endured. 
 Men worn out with watching and foraging 
 were never too weary to help some mother still 
 more weary, or to carry some little child whose 
 swollen feet would no longer aid it. 
 
 One night they rested at a little place on the 
 Colorado. In one room of a deserted cabin 
 Houston sat with Major Hockly, dictating to 
 him a military dispatch. They had no candles, 
 and Houston was feeding the fire with oak 
 splinters, to furnish light enough for their 
 necessity. In the other room, the Worth 
 family were gathered. Antonia, in preparing 
 
340 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 for their journey, had wisely laid a small mat- 
 tress and a couple of pillows in the wagon ; 
 and upon this mattress the Seftora and Isabel 
 were resting. Doctor Worth and Thomas sat 
 by the fire talking of Fannin's delay ; and An- 
 tonia was making some corn-meal cakes for 
 their supper. 
 
 When the Sefiora's portion was given to her 
 she put it aside, and lifted her eyes to 
 Antonia's face. They asked the question for- 
 ever in her heart, " Is Jack coming ? " and 
 Antonia pitifully shook her head. 
 
 Then the poor woman seemed to have 
 reached the last pitch of endurance. " Let me 
 die ! " she cried. " I can bear life no longer." 
 To Mary and the saints she appealed with a 
 passionate grief that was distressing to witness. 
 All the efforts of her husband and her children 
 failed to sooth her; and, as often happens 
 in a complication of troubles, she seized 
 upon the most trifling as the text of her com- 
 plaint. 
 
 " I cannot eat corn bread ; I have always 
 detested it. I am hungry. I am perishing for 
 my chocolate. And I have no clothing. I am 
 ashamed of myself. I thank the saints I have 
 
GO LI AD. 341 
 
 no looking-glass. Oh, Roberto ! Roberto ! 
 What have you done to your Maria?" 
 
 " My dear wife ! My dear, dear wife ! Be 
 patient a little longer. Think, love, you are 
 not alone. There are women here far more 
 weary, far more hungry; several who, in the 
 confusion, have lost their little children; others 
 who are holding dying babes in their arms." 
 
 " Giver of all good ! give me patience. I 
 have to say to you that other women's sorrows 
 do not make me grateful for my own. And 
 Santa Maria has been cruel to me. Another 
 more cruel, who can find ? I have confessed t& 
 her my heartache about Juan ; entreated her 
 to bring my boy to me. Has she done it ? " 
 
 " My darling Maria." 
 
 " Grace of God, Roberto ! It is now the 
 twenty-third of March ; I have been seventeen 
 days wandering with my daughters like very 
 beggars. If only I had had the discretion to 
 remain in my own house ! " 
 
 " Maria, Lopez will tell you that Fray Ig- 
 natius and the brothers are in possession of it. 
 He saw them walking about the garden reading 
 their breviaries." 
 
 At this moment General Houston, in the op- 
 
342 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 \ 
 
 posite room was dictating: "Before God, I 
 
 have found the darkest hours of my life. For 
 forty-eight hours I have neither eaten an ounce 
 of anything, nor have I slept." The Seflora's 
 sobbing troubled him. He rose to close the 
 door, and saw two men entering. One leaned 
 upon the other, and appeared to be at the 
 point of death. 
 
 " Where is there a doctor, General? 
 
 " In that room, sir. Have you brought news 
 of Fannin?" 
 
 "I have." 
 
 " Leave your comrade with the doctor, and 
 report." 
 
 The entrance of the wounded man silenced 
 the Senora. She turned her face to the wall 
 and refused to eat. Isabel sat by her side and 
 held her hand. The doctor glanced at it as he 
 turned away. It had been so plump and 
 dimpled and white. It was now very thin and 
 white with exposure. It told him far better than 
 complaining, how much the poor woman had 
 suffered. He went with a sigh to his patient. 
 
 " Stabbed with a bayonet through the shoul- 
 der hard riding from Goliad no food no 
 rest that tells the whole story, doctor." 
 
GOLIAD. 343 
 
 It was all he could say. A fainting fit fol- 
 lowed. Antonia procured some stimulant, and 
 when consciousness returned, assisted her 
 father to dress the wound. Their own coffee 
 was gone, but she begged a cup from some one 
 more fortunate ; and after the young man had 
 drunk it, and had eaten a little bread, he was 
 inclined to make light of his wound and his 
 sufferings. 
 
 " Glad to be here at all," he said. " I think 
 I am the only one out of five hundred." 
 
 " You cannot mean that you are of Fannin's 
 command ? " 
 
 " I was of Fannin's command. Every man 
 in it has been shot. I escaped by a kind of 
 miracle." 
 
 The doctor looked at the Seriora. She seemed 
 to be asleep. " Speak low," he said, " but tell 
 me all." 
 
 The man sat upon the floor with his back 
 against the wall. The doctor stooped over 
 him. Antonia and Isabel stood beside their 
 father. 
 
 "We heard of Urrea's approach at San 
 Patricio. The Irish people of that settlement 
 welcomed Urrea with great rejoicing. He was 
 
344 WO YEN OF ^LO VE AND GLOR F. 
 
 a Catholic a defender of the faith. But the 
 American settlers in the surrounding country 
 fled, and Fannin heard that five hundred women 
 and children, followed by the enemy, were try- 
 ing to reach the fortress of Goliad. He ordered 
 Major Ward, with the Georgia battalions, to go 
 and meet the fugitives. Many of the officers 
 entrea' ed him not to divide his men for a re- 
 port which had come by way of the faithless 
 colony of San Patricio. 
 
 " But Fannin thought the risk ought to be 
 taken. He took it, and the five hundred women 
 and children proved to be a regiment of Mex- 
 ican dragoons. They surrounded our infantry 
 on every side, and after two days' desperate 
 fighting, the Georgia battalions were no more. 
 In the meantime, Fannin got the express telling 
 him of the fall of the Alamo, and ordering him 
 to unite with General Houston. That might 
 have been a possible thing with eight hundred 
 and sixty men, but it was not possible with 
 three hundred and sixty. However, we made 
 the effort, and on the great prairie were at- 
 tacked by the enemy lying in ambush there. 
 Entirely encircled by them, yet still fighting 
 and pressing onward, we defended ourselves 
 
GOLIAD. 345 
 
 until our ammunition gave out. Then we ac- 
 cepted the terms of capitulation offered by 
 Urrea, and were marched back to Goliad as 
 prisoners of war. Santa Anna ordered us all 
 to be shot." 
 
 "But you were prisoners of war? " 
 
 " Urrea laughed at the articles, and said his 
 only intention in them was to prevent the loss 
 of Mexican blood. Most of his officers re* 
 monstrated with with him, but he flew into a 
 passion at Miralejes. ' The Seftor Presidente's 
 orders are not to be trifled with. By the Virgin 
 of Guadelupe ! ' he cried, ' it would be as much 
 as my own life was worth to disobey them/ 
 
 " It gave the Mexican soldiers pleasure to 
 tell us these things, and though we scarcely 
 believed such treachery possible, we were very 
 uneasy. On the eighth day after the surrender, 
 a lovely Sunday morning, we were marched 
 out of the fort on pretence of sending us to 
 Louisiana, according to the articles of surren- 
 der, and we were in high spirits at the prospect. 
 
 " But I noticed that we were surrounded by 
 a double row of soldiers, and that made me 
 suspicious. In a few moments, Fannin was 
 marched into the centre, and told to sit down 
 
346 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 on a low stool. He felt that his hour had 
 come. He took his watch and his purse, and 
 gave them to some poor woman who stood out- 
 side lamenting and praying for the poor 
 Americans. I shall never forget the calmness 
 and brightness of his face. The Mexican 
 colonel raised his sword, the drums beat, and 
 the slaughter began. Fifty men at a time 
 were shot ; and those whom the guns missed 
 or crippled, were dispatched with the bayonet 
 or lance." 
 
 "You escaped. How?" 
 
 " When the lips of the officer moved to give 
 the order : Fire ! I fell upon my face as if dead. 
 As I lay, I was pierced by a bayonet through 
 the shoulder, but I made no sign of life. After 
 the execution, the camp followers came to rob 
 the dead. A kind-hearted Mexican woman 
 helped me to reach the river. I found a horse 
 tied there, and I tool< it. I have been on the 
 point of giving up life several times, but I met 
 a man coming here with the news to Houston, 
 and he helped me to hold out." 
 
 The doctor was trembling with grief and 
 anger, and he felt Antonia's hand on his 
 shoulder. 
 
GOLIAD. 347 
 
 " My friend," he whispered, " did you know 
 John Worth?" 
 
 I " Who did not know him in Fannin's camp ? 
 Any of us would have been glad to save poor 
 Jack ; and he had a friend who refused to live 
 without him." 
 
 " Dare Grant ? " 
 
 " That was the man, young lady. Grant was 
 a doctor, and the Mexicans wanted doctors. 
 They offered him his life for his services, but 
 he would not have it unless his friend's life also 
 was spared. They were shot holding each 
 other's hands, and fell together. I was watch- 
 ing their faces at the moment. There wasn't a 
 bit of fear in them." 
 
 The Sefiora rose, and came as swiftly as a 
 spirit to them. She looked like a woman walk- 
 ing in her sleep. She touched the stranger. 
 " I heard you. You saw Dare Grant die. But 
 my boy ! My boy ! Where is my Juan ? " 
 
 " Maria, darling." 
 
 " Don't speak, Roberto. Where is my Juan ? 
 Juan Worth ? " 
 
 " Madam. I am sorry enough, God knows, 
 Juan Worth was shot." 
 
 Then the wretched mother threw up her 
 
348 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 hands, and with an awful cry fell to the ground. 
 It was hours ere she recovered consciousness, 
 and consciousness only restored her to 
 misery. 
 
 The distress of the father, the brother and 
 sisters of the dead youth was submerged in the 
 speechless despair of the mother. She could 
 not swallow food ; she turned away from the 
 the sympathy of all who loved her. Even Isa- 
 bel's caresses were received with an apathy 
 which was terrifying. With the severed curl 
 of her boy's hair in her fingers, she sat in tear- 
 less, voiceless anguish. 
 
 Poor Antonia, weighed down with the double 
 loss that had come to her, felt, for the first 
 time, as if their condition was utterly hopeless. 
 The mental picture of her brother and her 
 lover meeting their tragic death hand in hand, 
 their youth and beauty, their courage and 
 fidelity, was constantly before her. With all 
 the purity and strength of her true heart, she 
 loved Dare ; but she did not for a moment wish 
 that he had taken a different course. " It 
 is just what I should have expected from 
 him," she said to Isabel. " If he had let poor 
 Jack die alone, I could never have loved him 
 
GOLIAD. 349 
 
 in the same way again. But oh, Isabel, how 
 miserable I am ? " 
 
 " Sweet Antonia, I can only weep with you. 
 Think of this ; it was on last Sunday morning. 
 Do you remember how sad you were?" 
 
 " I was in what seemed to be an unreason- 
 able distress. I went away to weep. My 
 very thoughts were tired with their sorrowful 
 journeys up and down my mind, trying to find 
 out hope and only meeting despair. Oh, my 
 brave Jack ! Oh, my dear Dare, what a cruel 
 fate was your's ! " 
 
 " And mi madre, Antonia ? I fear, indeed, 
 that she will lose her senses. She will not 
 speak to Thomas, nor even to me. She has 
 not said a prayer since Jack's death. She can- 
 not sleep. I am afraid of her, Antonia." 
 
 " To-night we are to move further east ; per- 
 haps the journey may waken her out of this 
 trance of grief. I can see that our father is 
 wretched about her ; and Thomas wanders in 
 and out of the room as if his heart was 
 broken." 
 
 "Thomas loved Jack. Luis told me that he 
 sat with him and Lopez, and that he sobbed 
 like a woman. But, also, he means a great 
 
350 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. . 
 
 revenge, None of the men slept last night. 
 They stood by the camp-fires talking. Some- 
 times I went to the door and looked out. 
 How awful they were in the blaze and dark- 
 ness ! I think, indeed, they could have con- 
 quered Santa Anna very easily." 
 
 Isabel had not misjudged the spirit of the 
 camp. The news of the massacre at Goliad 
 was answered by a call for vengeance that 
 nothing but vengeance could satisfy. On the 
 following day Houston addressed his little 
 army. He reminded them that they were the 
 children of the heroes who fought for liberty at 
 Yorktown, and Saratoga, and Bunker Hill. He 
 made a soul-stirring review of the events that 
 had passed ; he explained to them their situa- 
 tion, and the designs of the enemy, and how 
 he proposed to meet them. 
 
 His voice, loud as a trumpet with a silver 
 sound, inspired all who heard it with courage. 
 His large, bright visage, serious but hopeful, 
 seemed to sun the camp. "They live too 
 long," he cried, "who outlive freedom. And 
 I promise you that you shall have a full cup of 
 vengeance. For every man that fell fighting 
 at the Alamo, for every one treacherously 
 
GO LI AD. 351 
 
 slaughtered at Goliad, you shall be satisfied. 
 If I seem to be flying before the enemy now, it 
 is for his destruction. Three Mexican armies 
 united, we cannot fight. We can fight them 
 singly. And every mile we make them follow 
 us weakens them, separates them, confuses 
 them. The low lands of the Brazos, the un- 
 fordable streams, the morasses, the pathless 
 woods, are in league with us. And we must 
 place our women and children in safety. Even 
 if we have to carry them to General Gaines and 
 the United States troops, we must protect 
 them, first of all. I believe that we shall win 
 our freedom with our own hands; but if the 
 worst come, and we have to fall back to the 
 Sabine, we shall find friends and backers there. 
 I know President Jackson, my old general, the 
 unconquered Christian Mars ! Do you think 
 he will desert his countrymen ? Never ! If 
 we should need help, he has provided it. And 
 the freedom of Texas is sure and certain. It 
 is at hand. Prepare to achieve it. We shall 
 take up our march eastward in three hours." 
 
 Ringing shouts answered the summons. The 
 camp was in a tumult of preparation imme- 
 diately ; Houston was lending his great phys- 
 
352 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 ical strength to the mechanical difficulties to 
 be encountered. A crowd of men was around. 
 Suddenly a woman touched him on the arm, 
 and he straightened himself and looked at her. 
 
 " You will kill Santa Anna, General ? You 
 will kill this fiend who has escaped from hell ! 
 By the mother of Christ, I ask it." 
 
 " My dear madam ! " 
 
 He was so moved with pity that he could 
 not for a moment or two give her any stronger 
 assurance. For this suppliant, pallid and fren- 
 zied with sorrow, was the once beautiful Se- 
 fiora Worth. He looked at her hollow eyes, 
 and shrunk form, and worn clothing, and re- 
 membered with a pang, the lovely, gracious 
 lady clad in satin and lace, with a jewelled 
 comb in her fine hair and a jewelled fan in her 
 beautiful hands, and a wave of pity and anger 
 passed like a flame over his face. 
 
 " By the memory of my own dear mother, 
 Seflora, I will make Santa Anna pay the full 
 price of his cruelties." 
 
 "Thank you, Seflor"; and she glided away 
 with her tearless eyes fixed upon the curl of 
 black hair in her open palm. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 
 
 " But to the hero, when his sword 
 Has won the battle for the free, 
 Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, 
 And in its hollow tones are heard. 
 The thanks of millions yet to be," 
 
 " Who battled for the true and just, 
 
 44 And grasps the skirts of happy chance, 
 And breasts the blows of circumstance. 
 
 " And lives to clutch the golden keys, 
 To mould a mighty state's decrees." 
 
 E memorial of wrongs, which resulted in 
 the Declaration of Texan Independence, 
 was drawn up with statesmanlike ability by 
 David G. Burnett, a native of New Jersey, a 
 man of great learning, dignity, and experience ; 
 who, as early as 1806, sailed from New York 
 to join Miranda in his effort to give Spanish 
 America liberty. The paper need not be 
 quoted here. It gave the greatest prominence 
 
 23 
 
354 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 to the refusal of trial by jury, the failure to 
 establish a system of public education, the tyr- 
 anny of military law, the demand that the col- 
 onists should give up arms necessary for their 
 protection or their sustenance, the inciting of 
 the Indians to massacre the American settlers, 
 and the refusal of the right to worship the 
 Almighty according to the dictates of their 
 own consciences. Burnett was elected Gover- 
 nor, and Houston felt that he could now give 
 his whole attention to military affairs. 
 
 The seat of Government was removed to 
 Harrisburg, a small place on the Buffalo Ba- 
 you ; and Houston was sure that this change 
 would cause Santa Anna to diverge from his 
 route to Nacogdoches. He dispatched orders 
 to the men scattered up and down the Brazos 
 from Washington to Fort Bend a distance of 
 eighty miles to join him on the march to 
 Harrisburg, and he struck his own camp at the 
 time he had specified. 
 
 In less than twenty-four hours they reached 
 San Felipe, a distance of twenty-eight miles. 
 The suffering of the women and children on 
 that march can never be told. Acts of hero- 
 ism on the part of the men and of fortitude 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 355 
 
 on the part of the women that are almost in- 
 credible, marked every step of the way. The 
 Senora sat in her wagon, speechless, and lost in 
 a maze of melancholy anguish. She did not 
 seem to heed want, or cold, or wet, or the 
 utter misery of her surroundings. Her soul 
 had concentrated all its consciousness upon 
 the strand of hair she continually smoothed 
 through her fingers. Dr. Worth, in his capac- 
 ity of physician, accompanied the flying fami- 
 lies, and he was thus able to pay some atten- 
 tion to his distraught wife ; but she answered 
 nothing he said to her. If she looked at him, 
 her eyes either flamed with anger, or expressed 
 something of the terror to be seen in the eyes 
 of a hunted animal. It was evident that her 
 childish intelligence had seized upon him as 
 the most obvious cause of all her loss and 
 misery. 
 
 The condition of a wife so beloved almost 
 broke his heart. The tragic death of his dear 
 son was not so hard to endure as this living 
 woe at his side. And when they reached San 
 Felipe and found it in ashes, a bitter cry of 
 hopeless suffering came from every woman's 
 lips. They had thought to find there a lit- 
 
35 6 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 tie food, and a day's sheltered resting-place. 
 Even Antonia's brave soul fainted at the want 
 and suffering around her. She had gold, but 
 it could not buy bread for the little ones, 
 weeping with hunger and terrified by the fret- 
 fulness of mothers suffering the pangs of want 
 and in the last stage of human weariness. 
 
 It was on this night Houston wrote : " I 
 will do the best I can ; but be assured the 
 fame of Jackson could never compensate me 
 for my anxiety and mental pain." And yet, 
 when he was told that a blind woman and her 
 seven children had been passed by, and did 
 not know the enemy were approaching, he 
 delayed the march until men had been sent 
 back to bring them into safety. 
 
 During these days of grief and privation 
 Isabel's nature grew to its finest proportions. 
 Her patient efforts to arouse her mother, and 
 her cheerfulness under the loss of all comforts, 
 were delightful. Besides which, she had an 
 inexhaustible fund of sympathy for the babies. 
 She was never without one in her arms. Three 
 mothers, who had died on the road, left their 
 children to her care. And it was wonderful 
 and pitiful to see the delicately nurtured girl, 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 357 
 
 making all kinds of efforts to secure little 
 necessaries for the children she had elected to 
 care for. 
 
 " The Holy Mother helps me," she said to 
 Antonia. " She makes the poor little ones 
 good, and I am not very tired." 
 
 At San Felipe they were joined by nearly one 
 hundred men, who also brought word that a fine 
 company were advancing to their aid from 
 Mississippi, under General Quitman ; and that 
 two large cannon, sent by the people of Cin- 
 cinnati, were within a few miles. And thus 
 hoping and fearing, hungry and weary to the 
 death, they reached, on the i6th of April, after 
 a march of eighteen miles, a place called Mc- 
 Arley's. They had come over a boggy prairie 
 under a cold rain, and were depressed beyond 
 expression. But there was a little shelter here 
 for the women and children to sleep under. 
 The men camped in the open. They had not 
 a tent in their possession. 
 
 About ten o'clock that night, Doctor Worth 
 was sitting with his wife and children and 
 Antonia in one corner of a room in a deserted 
 cabin. He had the Senora's wasted hand in 
 his own, and was talking to her. She sat in 
 
WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY 
 
 apathetic silence. It was impossible to tell 
 whether she heard or understood him. 
 
 " I wonder where Isabel is/' said Antonia ; 
 and with the words the girl entered the 
 room. She had in her arms a little lad of 
 four years old, suffering the tortures of croup. 
 
 " Mi madre," she cried, " you know how to 
 save him ! He is dying ! Save him ! Listen 
 to me ! The Holy Mother says so"; and she 
 laid the child on her knee. 
 
 A change like a flash of light passed over 
 the Seftora's face. " The poor little one ! " 
 Her motherly instincts crushed down every- 
 thing else. In the child's agony she forgot her 
 own grief. With glad hearts the doctor and 
 Antonia encouraged her in her good work, and 
 when at length the sufferer had been relieved 
 and was sleeping against her breast, the Sefiora 
 had wept. The stone from her heart had been 
 rolled away by a little child. Her own selfish 
 sorrow had been buried in a wave of holy, 
 unselfish maternal affection. The key to her 
 nature had been found, and henceforward 
 Isabel brought to her every suffering baby. 
 
 On the next day they marched ten miles 
 through a heavy rain, and arrived at Burnett's 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 359 
 
 settlement. The women had shelter, the men 
 slept on the wet ground took the prairie 
 without cover with their arms in their hands. 
 They knew they were in the vicinity of Santa 
 Anna, and all were ready to answer in an in- 
 stant the three taps of the drum, which was 
 the only instrument of martial music in the 
 camp, and which was never touched but by 
 Houston. 
 
 Another day of eighteen miles brought them 
 to within a short distance of Harrisburg. 
 Santa Anna had just been there, and the place 
 was in ashes. It was evident to all, now, that 
 the day and the hour was at hand. Houston 
 first thought of the two hundred families he 
 had in charge, and they were quickly taken 
 over the bayou. When he had seen the last 
 one in this comparative safety, he uttered so 
 fervent a " Thank God ! " that the men around 
 unconsciously repeated it. The bayou though 
 narrow was twenty feet deep, and the very 
 home of alligators. There was only one small 
 bridge in the vicinity. He intended its de- 
 struction, and thus to make his little band and 
 the deep, dangerous stream a double barrier 
 between the Mexicans and the women and 
 
360 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 children beyond them. It was after this duty 
 he wrote : 
 
 "This morning we are in preparation to 
 meet Santa Anna. We will only be about seven 
 hundred to march, besides the camp guard. 
 But we go to conquest. The troops are in 
 fine spirits, and now is the time for action. I 
 leave the result in the hands of an all-wise 
 God, and I rely confidently in his Providence. 
 
 "SAM HOUSTON."* 
 
 The women and children, under a compe- 
 tent guide, continued their march eastward. 
 But they were worn out. Many were unable 
 to put their feet to the ground. The wagons 
 were crowded with these helpless ones. The 
 Seftora had so far recovered as to understand 
 that within a few hours Santa Anna and the 
 Americans must meet. And, mentally led by 
 Isabel's passionate hatred, she now showed a 
 vindictiveness beyond that of any other 
 woman. 
 
 She spent hours upon her knees, imploring 
 the saints, and the stars, and the angel Michael, 
 
 * Copy from Department of War of the Republic of 
 Texas, 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE EJtEAST. 361 
 
 to fight against Santa Anna. To Isabel she 
 whispered, " I have even informed the evil one 
 where he may be found. The wretch who 
 ordered such infamies! He poisons the air 
 of the whole world as he goes through it. I 
 shall never be happy till I know that he is in 
 purgatory. He will be hated even there and 
 in a worse place, too. Yes, it is pleasant to 
 think of that ! There will be many accusers of 
 him there. I shall comfort myself with imagin- 
 ing his punishment. Isabel, do you believe 
 with your heart that Sefior Houston and the 
 Americans will be strong enough to kill him? " 
 
 " Mi madre, I know it." 
 
 " Then do be a little delighted. How can 
 you bear things with such a provoking indiffer- 
 ence ? But as Luis is safe " 
 
 " Chito ! Chito ! Do not be cruel, mi madre. 
 I would stab Santa Anna with my own hands 
 very slowly, I would stab him. It would be 
 so sweet. The Sisters told me of a woman 
 in the Holy Book, who smiled upon the one 
 she hated, and gave him milk and butter, and 
 when he slept, drove a great nail through his 
 temples. I know how she felt. What a feast 
 it would be, to strike, and strike, and strike ! I 
 
362 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 could drive ten, twenty, fifty nails, into Santa 
 Anna, when I think of Juan." 
 
 No one had before dared to breathe her boy's 
 name in her hearing. She herself had never 
 spoken it. It fell upon the ears of both women 
 like a strain of forgotten music. They looked 
 at each other with eyes that stirred memory 
 and love to their sweetest depths. Almost in 
 whispers they began to talk of the dead boy, 
 to recall how lovable, how charming, how affec- 
 tionate, how obedient he had been. Then the 
 Sefiora broke open the seals of her sorrow, 
 and, with bitter reproaches on herself, con- 
 fessed that the kiss she had denied her Juan 
 was a load of anguish upon her heart that she 
 could not bear. 
 
 " If I had only blessed him," she moaned ; 
 " I had saved him from his misfortune. A 
 mother's blessing is such a holy thing ! And 
 he knelt at my knees, and begged it. I can 
 see his eyes in the darkness, when my eyes are 
 shut. I can hear his voice when I am asleep. 
 Isabel, I shall never be happy till I see Juan 
 again, and say to him, ' Forgive me, dear one, 
 forgive me, for I have suffered.' " 
 
 Both were weeping, but Isabel said, bravely : 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3 6 3 
 
 " I am sure that Juan does not blame you 
 now, mi madre. In the other world one 
 understands better. And remember, also, the 
 letter which he wrote you. His last thought 
 was yours. He fell with your name on his 
 lips. These things are certain. And was it 
 not good of Dare to die with him ? A friend 
 like that ! Out of the tale-books who ever 
 hears of such a thing ? Antonia has wept 
 much. In the nights, when she thinks I am 
 asleep, I hear her. Have you seen that she 
 has grown white and thin ? I think that my 
 father is very unhappy about her." 
 
 " In an hour of mercy may the merciful One 
 remember Dare Grant ! I will pray for his 
 peace as long as I live. If he had left Juan 
 if he had come back alone I think indeed I 
 should have hated him." 
 
 " That was also the opinion of Antonia 
 she would never have loved him the same. I 
 am sure she would not have married him." 
 
 " My good Antonia ! Go bring her to me, 
 Isabel. I want to comfort her. She has been 
 so patient with me. I have felt it felt it every 
 minute ; and I have been stupid and selfish, and 
 have forgotten that she too was suffering." 
 
364 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 The next day it was found impossible to 
 move. The majority of the women had hus- 
 bands with the army. They had left their 
 wives, to secure everlasting freedom for their 
 children; but, even if Houston was victorious, 
 they might be wounded and need their help. 
 To be near them in any case was the one 
 thing about which they were positive. 
 
 "We will not move another inch," said a 
 brave little Massachusetts woman, who had 
 been the natural leader of this domestic 
 Exodus ; " we will rest ourselves a little here, 
 and if the Mexicans want some extraordinary 
 fighting they can have it ; especially, if they 
 come meddling with us or our children. My 
 husband told me just to get out of reach of 
 shot and shell and wait there till we heard of 
 the victory, and I am for doing that, and no 
 other thing." 
 
 Nearly two hundred women, bent upon their 
 own way, are not to be taken any other way ; 
 and the few old men who had been sent to guide 
 the party, and shoot what game was necessary 
 for their support, surrendered at once to this 
 feminine mutiny. Besides, the condition of 
 the boys and girls between seven and fourteen 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3 6 5 
 
 was really a deplorable one. They were too 
 old to be cared for as infants, and they had 
 been obliged, with the strength of children, to 
 accomplish the labor of men and women. 
 Many were crippled in their feet, others were 
 continually on the point of swooning. 
 
 It was now the 2Oth of April. The Sefiora 
 and her daughters had been six weeks with 
 the American army, exposed to all the priva- 
 tions which such a life entailed. But the most 
 obvious of these privations were, perhaps, 
 those which were most easily borne. Women 
 endure great calamities better than the little 
 annoyances affecting those wants which are 
 part and parcel of their sex or their caste. It 
 was not the necessaries so much as the luxuries 
 of life which the Senora missed the changes 
 of raiment the privacy the quiet the regu- 
 larity of events. 
 
 During the whole of the 2Oth, there was 
 almost a Sabbath stillness. It was a warm, 
 balmy day. The wearied children were 
 under the wagons and under the trees, 
 sleeping the dead sleep of extreme exhaus- 
 tion. The mothers, wherever it was pos- 
 sible, slept also. The guides were a little 
 
366 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 apart, listening and smoking. If they spoke, 
 it was only in monosyllables. Rest was so 
 much more needed than food that little or no 
 attempt was made to cook until near sundown. 
 
 At dawn next morning nay, a little before 
 dawn when all was chill, and gray, and misty, 
 and there was not a sound but the wailing of a 
 sick child, the Sefiora touched her daughters. 
 Her voice was strange to them ; her face 
 solemnly happy. 
 
 " Antonio ! Isabel ! / have seen Juan ! I 
 have seen Juan ! My eyes were shut, but I have 
 seen him. He was a beautiful shadow, with a 
 great, shadowy host around him. He bent on 
 me such eyes! Holy Mother! their love was 
 unfathomable, and I heard his voice. It was 
 far off, yet near. ' Madre ! ' he said, ' 71?- 
 morrow you shall hear from us. 9 Now I am 
 happy. There are words in my heart, but I 
 cannot explain them to you. I know what 
 they mean. I will weep no more. They put 
 my Juan's body in the grave, but they have 
 not buried him" 
 
 All day she was silent and full of thought, 
 but her face was smiling and hopeful, and she 
 had the air of one waiting for some assured 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3^7 
 
 happiness. About three o'clock in the after- 
 noon she stood up quickly and cried, " Hark ! 
 the battle has begun ! " Every one listened 
 intently, and after a short pause the oldest of 
 the guides nodded. " I'd give the rest of my 
 life to be young again," he said, "just for 
 three hours to be young, and behind Hous- 
 ton!" 
 
 " To-morrow we shall hear'' 
 
 The words fell from the Seftora's lips with a 
 singular significance. Her face and voice were 
 the face and voice of some glad diviner, tri- 
 umphantly carrying her own augury. Under 
 a little grove of trees she walked until sunset, 
 passing the beads of her rosary through her 
 fingers, and mechanically whispering the 
 prayers appointed. The act undoubtedly 
 quieted her, but Antonia knew that she lay 
 awake all night, praying for the living or the 
 dead. 
 
 About ten o'clock of the morning of the 22d, 
 a horseman was seen coming toward the camp 
 at full speed. Women and children stood 
 breathlessly waiting his approach. No one 
 could speak. If a child moved, the movement 
 was angrily reproved. The tension was too 
 
368 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 great to admit of a touch through any sense. 
 Some, unable to bear the extended strain, sank 
 upon the ground and covered their faces with 
 their hands. But the half-grown children, wan 
 with privations and fever, ragged and bare- 
 foot, watched steadily the horse and its rider, 
 their round, gleaming eyes full of wonder and 
 fear. 
 
 " It is Thomas," said the Sefiora. 
 
 As he came near, and the beat of the horse's 
 hoofs could be heard, a cry almost inarticulate, 
 not to be described, shrill and agonizing in its 
 intensity, broke simultaneously from the 
 anxious women. It was one cry from many 
 hearts, all at the last point of endurance. 
 Thomas Worth understood it. He flung his 
 hat up, and answered with a joyful " Hurrah ! " 
 
 When he reached the camp, every face was 
 wet with tears, and a crowd of faces was in- 
 stantly round him. All the agonies of war 
 were on them. He raised himself in his stir- 
 rups and shouted out : 
 
 "You may all go back to your homes! 
 Santa Anna is completely overthrown ! The 
 Mexican army is destroyed ! There will be no 
 more righting, no more fears. The indepen- 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 
 
 dence of Texas is won ! No matter where you 
 come from, you are all Texans now ! Victory ! 
 Freedom ! Peace ! My dear friends, go back 
 to your homes. Your husbands will join you 
 at the San Jacinto." 
 
 Then he dismounted and sought his mother 
 and sisters. With joyful amazement he recog- 
 nized the change in the Senora. " You look 
 like yourself, dear mother," he said. " Father 
 sends you this kiss. He would have brought 
 it, but there are a few wounded men to look 
 after ; and also I can ride quicker. Antonia, 
 cheer up my dear ! and Isabel, little 
 darling, you will not need to cry any more 
 for your ribbons, and mantillas, and pretty 
 dresses." 
 
 " Thomas ! You have not much feeling, I 
 think. What I want to know about, is Luis. 
 You think of no one ; and, as for my dresses, 
 and mantillas, I dare say Fray Ignatius has 
 sold, or burned them/ 
 
 "Queridita! Was I cruel? Luis is well. 
 He has not a scratch. He was in the front of 
 the battle, too." 
 
 " That, of course. Would you imagine that 
 
 Luis would be at the rear ? He is General 
 
 24 
 
370 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 Houston's friend, and one lion knows another 
 lion." 
 
 " Pretty one, do not be angry with me. I 
 will tell you some good news. Luis is coming 
 here, unless you go back at once with me," 
 
 ' We will go back with you, Thomas. I am 
 full of impatience. I remember my dear 
 home. I will go to it, like a bird to its 
 nest." 
 
 In half an hour they had .turned the heads 
 of their horses westward again. They went so 
 rapidly, and were under so much excitement, 
 that sustained conversation was impossible. 
 And the Seftora also fell into a sound sleep as 
 soon as the first homeward steps had been 
 taken. Whatever had been made known to 
 her by Juan had received its fulfilment. She 
 was assured and happy. She slept till they 
 reached the victorious camp, and her husband 
 awakened her with a kiss. She answered him 
 with her old childish impulsiveness. And 
 among the first words she said, were : " Rob- 
 erto, my beloved, I have seen Juan." 
 
 He believed her. To his reverent soul there 
 was nothing incredible in the statement. The 
 tie between a mother and her child is not 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 371 
 
 broken by death. Was it unlikely, then, that 
 Juan should have been conscious of, and 
 touched by, the mental agony which his un- 
 timely death had caused a mother so beloved ? 
 
 And oh ! how different was the return to the 
 ground west of the Buffalo Bayou. The very 
 atmosphere was changed. A day or two of 
 spring had brought out the flowers and un- 
 folded every green thing. Doctor Worth took 
 his family to a fine Mexican marquee, and 
 among other comforts the Sefiora found there 
 the chocolate she had so long craved, and some 
 cigaritos of most delicate flavor. 
 
 In a short time a luxurious meal was pre- 
 pared by Antonia, and just as they were sitting 
 down to it, Luis and Lopez entered the tent 
 together. Isabel had expected the visit and 
 prepared for it as far as her limited wardrobe 
 permitted. And her fine hair, and bright eyes, 
 her perfect face and form, and the charming 
 innocence of her manners, adorned her as the 
 color and perfume of the rose make the beauty 
 of the flower. She was so lovely that she could 
 dare to banter Luis on the splendor of his 
 attire. 
 
 " It is evident, mi madre, that Luis has 
 
372 WO VEN OF LOVE AND GLOR Y. 
 
 found at least the baggage of a major-general. 
 Such velvet and silver embroidery ! Such a 
 silk sash ! They are fit at the very least for a 
 sultan of the Turks." 
 
 He came to her crowned with victory. Like 
 a hero he came, and like a lover. They had a 
 thousand pretty things to say to each other ; 
 and a thousand blissful plans in prospect. 
 Life to them had never before been so well 
 worth living. 
 
 Indeed, a wonderful exaltation possessed 
 both Luis and Lopez. The sombre, handsome 
 face of the latter was transfigured by it. He 
 kissed the hand of the Seftora, and then turned 
 to Antonia. Her pallor and emaciation 
 shocked him. He could only murmur, " Sefto- 
 rita ! " But she saw the surprise, the sorrow, 
 the sympathy, yes, the adoring love in his 
 heart, and she was thankful to him for the 
 reticence that relieved her from special 
 attention. 
 
 Doctor Worth made room for Lopez beside 
 him. Luis sat by Isabel, upon a pile of splen- 
 did military saddle-cloths. As she sipped her 
 chocolate, he smoked his cigarito in a lazy 
 fashion, and gave himself up with delight to 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 373 
 
 that foolishness of love-making which is often 
 far wiser than the very words of wisdom. 
 
 As yet the ladies had not spoken of the bat- 
 tle. It was won. That great fact had been as 
 much as they could bear at first. The Seftora 
 wanted to sleep. Isabel wanted to see Luis. 
 Only Antonia was anxious for the details, and 
 she had been busy in preparing the respectable 
 meal which her mother had so long craved. 
 The apparent indifference was natural enough. 
 The assurance of good fortune is always suffi- 
 cient for the first stage of reaction from 
 anxiety. When the most urgent personal feel- 
 ings have been satisfied, then comes the de- 
 mand for detail and discussion. So now, as 
 they sat together, the Seftora said : 
 
 " No one has told me anything about the 
 battle. Were you present, Roberto?" 
 
 " I had that great honor, Maria. Lopez and 
 Luis were with the cavalry, and Ortiz also has 
 had some satisfaction for all his wrongs." 
 
 " Very good ! But I am impatient for the 
 story ; so is Antonia ; and as for Isabel bah ! 
 the little one is listening to another story. 
 One must excuse her. We expected the bat- 
 tle on the twentieth, but no ! 
 
574 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " The enemy were expecting it also, and 
 were in high spirits and perfect preparation. 
 Houston thought it prudent to dash their en- 
 thusiasm by uncertainty and waiting. But at 
 dawn, on the twenty-first, we heard the three 
 taps of the drum, and seven hundred soldiers 
 sprang to their feet as one man. Houston had 
 been watching all night. He spoke to us with 
 a tongue of fire and then, while we cooked and 
 ate our breakfast, he lay down and slept. The 
 sun came up without a cloud, and shone 
 brightly on his face. He sprang to his feet and 
 said to Burleson, as he saluted him : ' The 
 sun of Austerlitz has risen again.' 
 
 " Some one brought him a piece of corn- 
 bread and broiled beef. He sat upon the 
 grass and ate it or rather upon the blue hya- 
 cinths that covered the grass; they are red 
 now. For many weeks I had not seen his 
 countenance so bright ; all traces of trouble 
 and anxiety were gone. He called Deaf 
 Smith the scout of scouts and quickly 
 ordered him to cut down the only bridge 
 across the bayou. 
 
 "At nine o'clock, General Cos joined Santa 
 Anna with five hundred and forty men, and for 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 375 
 
 a moment I thought we had made a mistake 
 in not attacking the enemy before his rein- 
 forcements came up. But the knowledge that 
 Cos was present, raised enthusiasm to the high- 
 est pitch. Our troops remembered his parole 
 at the Alamo, and the shameful manner in : '; 
 which he had broken it ; and there was not a ' f 
 man who did not long to kill him for it. 
 
 "About three o'clock in the afternoon, 
 Houston ordered the attack. The seven hun- 
 dred Americans were divided into three bodies. 
 I saw Houston in the very centre of the line, 
 and I have a confused memory of Milard and 
 Lamar, Burleson and Sherman and Wharton, 
 in front of their divisions." 
 
 " Were the Mexicans expecting the attack, 
 father?" 
 
 "They were in perfect order, Antonia ; and 
 when Sherman shouted the battle-cry : * Re- 
 member the Alamo! Goliad and the Alamo! ' 
 it was taken up by the whole seven hundred, 
 and such a shout of vengeance mortal ears 
 never heard before. The air was full of it, 
 and it appeared to be echoed and repeated by 
 innumerable voices. 
 
 " With this shout on our lips, we advanced 
 
376 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 to within sixty paces of the Mexican lines, and 
 then a storm of bullets went flying over our 
 heads. One ball, however, shattered Hous- 
 ton's ankle, and another struck his horse in the 
 breast. But both man and horse were of the 
 finest metal, and they pressed on regardless of 
 their wounds. We did not answer the volley 
 until we poured our lead into their very 
 bosoms. No time for reloading then. We 
 clubbed our rifles till they broke, flung them 
 away and fired our pistols in the eyes of the 
 enemy; then, nothing else remaining, took our 
 bowie-knives from our belts and cut our way 
 through the walls of living flesh." 
 
 Lopez rose at the words. It was impossible 
 for him to express himself sufficiently in an at- 
 titude of repose. His eyes glowed like fire, his 
 dark face was like a flame, he threw up his 
 hands as he cried : 
 
 " Nothing comparable to that charge with 
 knives was ever made on earth ! If I had seen 
 through the smoke and vapor the mighty 
 shade of Bowie leading it, I should not have 
 been surprised." 
 
 " Perhaps indeed, he did lead it," said the 
 Seftora, in a solemn voice. " I saw, yes, by 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 377 
 
 all the saints of God ! I saw a great host with 
 my Juan. They stretched out vast, shadowy 
 arms they made me feel what I can never tell. 
 But I shall honor Seftor Houston. I shall say 
 to him some day, ' Sefior, the unseen bat- 
 talions the mighty dead as well as the 
 mighty living won the battle/ Roberto, be- 
 lieve me, there are things women understand 
 better than wise men." 
 
 A little awe, a solemn silence, answered the 
 earnest woman. Luis and Isabel came close 
 to her, and Isabel took her hand. Lopez 
 resumed the conversation. " I know Colonel 
 Bowie," he said. " In the last days at San 
 Antonio I was often with him. Brave as a 
 lion, true to his friends, relentless to his foes, 
 was he. The knife he made was the expres- 
 sion of his character in steel. It is a knife of 
 extreme unction the oil and wafer are all that 
 remains for the men who feels its edge. For 
 my part, I honor the Seftora's thought. It is a 
 great satisfaction to me to hope that Bowie, 
 and Crockett, and Travis, and Fannin, and all 
 their company were present at San Jacinto. 
 If the just God permitted it, 'twas a favor of 
 supreme justice." 
 
378 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " But then you are not alone in the thought, 
 Lopez. I heard General Sherman say, * Poor 
 Fannin ! He has been blamed for not obeying 
 Houston's orders. 7 think he obeyed them 
 " to-day? At the moment I did not com- 
 prehend; but now it is plain to me. He 
 thought Fannin had been present, and perhaps 
 it was this belief made him so impetuous and 
 invincible. He fought like a spirit ; one for- 
 got that he was flesh and blood." 
 
 "Sherman is of a grand stock," said the 
 doctor; " descended from the wise Roger 
 Sherman; bred in Massachusetts and trained 
 in all the hardy virtues of her sons. It was 
 from his lips the battle-cry of 'Remember the 
 Alamo ! ' sprang." 
 
 " But then, Roberto, nothing shall persuade 
 me that my countrymen are cowards." 
 
 " On the contrary, Maria, they kept their 
 ground with great courage. They were slain 
 by hundreds just where they stood when the 
 battle began. Twenty-six officers and nearly 
 seven hundred men were left dead upon the 
 field. But the flight was still more terrible. 
 Into the bayou horses and men rolled down 
 together. The deep black stream became red; 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 379 
 
 it was choked up with their dead bodies, while 
 the mire and water of the morass was literally 
 bridged with the smothered mules and horses 
 and soldiers." 
 
 " The battle began at three o'clock ; but we 
 heard the firing only for a very short time," 
 said Antonia. 
 
 "After we reached their breastworks it 
 lasted just eighteen minutes. At four, the 
 whole Mexican army was dead, or flying in 
 every direction, and the pursuit and slaughter 
 continued until twilight. Truly an unseen 
 power made all our moves for us. It was a 
 military miracle, for our loss was only eight 
 killed and seventeen wounded." 
 
 " I am sorry Houston is among the 
 wounded." 
 
 " His ankle-bone is shattered. He is suf- 
 fering much. I was with him when he left the 
 field and I was delighted with his patience and 
 dignity. The men crowded around him. They 
 seized his bridle ; they clasped his hands. 
 ' Have we done well to-day, General ? Are 
 you satisfied with us ? ' they cried. 
 
 " ' You have covered yourselves with glory/ 
 he answered. * You have written a grand page 
 
380 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. ^ 
 
 in American history this day, boys. For it 
 was not for fame nor for empire you fought ; 
 but for your rights as freemen, for your homes 
 and your faith.' 
 
 ! "The next moment he fell from his horse, 
 and we laid him down at the foot of an oak 
 tree. He had fainted from loss of blood and 
 the agony of his wound, combined with the 
 superhuman exertions and anxieties of the 
 past week." 
 
 " But he is better now?" 
 
 " Yes ; I dressed the wound as well as my 
 appliances permitted ; but he will not be able 
 to use his foot for some time. No one slept 
 that night. Weary as the men were, their ex- 
 citement and happiness were too great for the 
 bonds of sleep. In the morning the rich spoils 
 of the enemy's camp were divided among them. 
 Houston refused any part in them. ' My 
 share of the honor is sufficient,' he said. Yet 
 the spoils were very valuable ones to men who 
 but a few hours before had nothing but the 
 clothing they wore and the arms they carried. 
 Among them were nearly one thousand stand 
 of English muskets, three hundred valuable 
 mules, one hundred fine horses, provisions, 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 381 
 
 clothing, tents, and at least twelve thousand 
 dollars in silver." 
 
 "Were you on the field all the time, 
 father?" 
 
 " I was near Houston from first to last. 
 When he saw the battle was won, he did his 
 best to prevent needless slaughter. But men 
 on a battle-field like San Jacinto cannot be 
 reasoned with; after a certain point, they 
 could not even be commanded. The majority 
 had some private revenge to satisfy after the 
 public welfare had been served. We met one 
 old man in a frenzy, covered with blood from 
 his white beard to his boots, his arms bare to 
 his shoulders, his knife dripping from haft to 
 point." 
 
 " Houston looked at him, and said something 
 about mercy and valor. ' General,' he said, 
 'they killed two of my boys at Goliad, and 
 my brother at the Alamo. I'll not spare a 
 Mexican while I've the strength to kill one. 
 I'm on the scent for Santa Anna, and, by G , 
 if I find him, I will spare Texas and you any 
 more trouble with the brute.' ' 
 
 At this moment Thomas Worth entered the 
 marquee, and, in an excited manner, said : 
 
382 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Santa Anna is taken ! Santa Anna is 
 taken ! " 
 
 " Taken ! " cried the Sefiora in a passion. 
 " Taken ! Is it possible the wretch is yet in 
 this world ? I was assuring myself that he was 
 in one not so comfortable. Why is he not 
 killed? It is an inconceivable insult to 
 humanity to let him live. Have you thought 
 of your brother Juan? Give me the knife in 
 your belt, Thomas, if you cannot use it." 
 
 " My dear mother" 
 
 " Maria, my life ! Thomas could not wisely 
 kill so important a prisoner. Texas wants him 
 to secure her peace and independence. The 
 lives of all the Americans in Mexico may de- 
 pend upon his. Mere personal vengeance on 
 him would be too dear a satisfaction. On the 
 battle-field he might have been lawfully 
 slain and he was well looked for ; but now, 
 No." 
 
 " Holy Mary ! might have been slain ! He 
 ought to have been slain, a thousand times 
 over." 
 
 " Luis, I wish that you had been a hero, 
 and killed him. Then all our life long, if you 
 had said, ' Isabel, I slew Santa Anna/ I should 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3 8 3 
 
 have given you honor for it. I should be 
 obedient to your wishes for that deed." 
 
 "But my charming one, I prefer to be 
 obedient to your wish. Let us not think of 
 the creature ; he is but a dead dog." 
 
 The doctor turned to his son. " Thomas, 
 tell us about the capture." 
 
 "I was riding with a young lieutenant, 
 called Sylvester, from Cincinnati, and he saw 
 a man hiding in the grass. He was in coarsest 
 clothing, but Sylvester noticed under it linen 
 of fine cambric. He said : 'You are an officer, 
 I perceive, sir.' The man denied it, but when 
 he could not escape, he asked to be taken to 
 General Houston. Sylvester tied him to his 
 bridle-rein, and we soon learned the truth ; 
 for as we passed the Mexican prisoners they 
 lifted their hats and said, with a murmur of 
 amazement, * El Presidente ! ' 
 
 "The news spread like wildfire. As we 
 took him through the camp he trembled at the 
 looks and words that assailed him, and prayed 
 us continually, ' for the love of God and the 
 saints,' not to let him be slain. We took him 
 to Houston in safety. Houston was resting on 
 the ground, having had, as my father knows, 
 
384 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 a night of great suffering. Santa Anna ap- 
 proached him, and, laying his hand on his 
 heart, said : ' I am General Antonio Lopez de 
 Santa Anna, President of the Mexican Repub- 
 lic, and I claim to be your prisoner of war/ 
 Houston pointed to a seat, and then sent for 
 Santa Anna's secretary, Almonte, who is also a 
 prisoner, and who speaks English perfectly. 
 
 " When Almonte came, he embraced Santa 
 Anna, and addressing Houston, said: 'General, 
 you are born to a great destiny. You have 
 conquered the Napoleon of the West. Gener- 
 osity becomes the brave and the fortunate.' 
 
 " Houston answered, sternly : ' You should 
 have remembered that sentiment at the Alamo 
 and at Goliad/ 
 
 " Then the following conversation occurred. 
 Santa Anna said : 
 
 " ' The Alamo was taken by storm. The 
 usages of war permitted the slaughter.' 
 
 " ' We live in the nineteenth century, Presi- 
 dent. We profess to be Christians/ 
 
 " ' I have to remind you, General Houston, 
 of the storming of San Sebastian, Ciudad, 
 Riego and Badajos, by the Duke of Wei- 
 lington/ 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3 S 5 
 
 " ' That was in Spain. There may have been 
 circumstances demanding such cruelty.' 
 
 " ' Permit me also to bring to your intelli- 
 gence the battles at Fort Meigs and at the 
 river Raisin. American prisoners were there 
 given by English officers to their Indian allies 
 for torture and death. The English war cry 
 at Sandusky was, " Give the d Yankees no 
 quarter." ' 
 
 "'Sir, permit me to say, that you read his- 
 tory to a devilish purpose, if you read it to 
 search after brutal precedents. At Goliad our 
 men surrendered. They were promised safe- 
 conduct out of Texas. The massacre at Goliad 
 was a ferocious crime/ 
 
 " ' It was precisely the same thing as the 
 wholesale murder of Turkish prisoners at Jaffa 
 by the great Napoleon. Also I had the posi- 
 tive orders of my government to slay all 
 Americans found with arms.' 
 
 "'These men had given up their arms/ 
 
 " ' All Americans my government said so/ 
 
 " ' Sir ! you are the government of Mexico. 
 You obeyed your own orders/ 
 
 " ' You will at least allow that, in the eyes of 
 recognized nations, your army was but a band 
 
386 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 of desperadoes, without government, and fight- 
 ing under no flag.' 
 
 " ' Sir, you show a convenient ignorance. 
 We have a government ; and as soon as we can 
 lay down our rifles, we shall probably be able 
 to make a flag. I say to you, President Santa 
 Anna, that the butchery at Goliad was without 
 an excuse and without a parallel in civilized 
 warfare. The men had capitulated to General 
 Urrea.' 
 
 " ' Urrea had no right to receive their capit- 
 ulation.' Then his mild, handsome face became 
 in a moment malicious and tigerish, and he 
 said with a cruel emphasis : ' If I ever get 
 Urrea into my hands, I will execute him ! I 
 perceive, however, that I have never under- 
 stood the American character. For the few 
 thousands in the country, I thought my array 
 an overwhelming one. I underestimated their 
 ability.' 
 
 " ' I tell you, sir, an army of millions would 
 be too small to enslave ten thousand free-born 
 an gio- Americans. Liberty is our birthright. 
 We have marched four days on an ear or two 
 of dry com, and then fought a battle after it ' ; 
 and Houston drew from his pocket an ear, par- 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3 8 7 
 
 tially consumed, which had been his ration. 
 ' We have had no tents, no music, no uniforms, 
 no flag, nothing to stimulate us but the deter- 
 mination to submit to no wrong, and to have 
 every one of our rights.' 
 
 "Then he turned to Rusk and Sherman, and 
 called a military counsel about the prisoner, 
 who was placed in an adjoining tent under a 
 sufficient guard. But the excitement is in- 
 tense ; and the wretch is suffering, undoubt- 
 edly, all the mortal terrors of being torn to 
 pieces by an infuriated soldiery. Houston will 
 have to speak to them. They will be influ- 
 enced by no other man." 
 
 The discussion upon this event lasted until 
 midnight. But the ladies retired to their own 
 tent much earlier. They knelt together in 
 grateful prayer, and then kissed each other 
 upon their knees. It was so sweet to lie down 
 once more in safety ; to have the luxury of a 
 tent, and a mattress, and pillow. 
 
 " Blessed be the hand of God ! my children," 
 said the Sefiora ; " and may the angels give us 
 in our dreams grateful thoughts." 
 
 And then, in the dark, Isabel nestled her 
 head in her sister's breast, and whispered: 
 
388 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Forgive me for being happy, sweet Antonia. 
 Indeed, when I smiled on Luis, I was often 
 thinking of you. In my joy and triumph and 
 love, I do not forget that one great awful grave 
 at Goliad. But a woman must hide so many 
 things; do you comprehend me, Antonia?" 
 
 "Querdita," she whispered, " I comprehend 
 all. God has done right. If His angel had 
 said to me, ' One must be taken and the other 
 left,' I should have prayed, ' Spare then my lit- 
 tle sister all sorrow.' Good-night, my darling "; 
 but as their lips met, Isabel felt upon her 
 cheeks the bitter rain which is the price of 
 accepted sacrifice ; the rain, which afterwards 
 makes the heart soft, and fresh, and responsive 
 to all the airs of God- 
 
 At the same moment, the white curtains of 
 the marquee, in which the doctor sat talking 
 with his son and Luis and Lopez, were opened ; 
 and the face of Ortiz showed brown and glow- 
 ing between them. 
 
 " Setters," he said, as he advanced to them, 
 " I am satisfied. I have been appointed on the 
 guard over Santa Anna. He has recognized 
 me. He has to obey my orders. Will you 
 think of that?" Then taking the doctor's 
 
THE LOADSTONE IN THE BREAST. 3*9 
 
 hand he raised it to his lips. " Senor, I owe 
 this satisfaction to you. You have made me 
 my triumph. How shall I repay you ? " 
 
 " By being merciful in the day of your 
 power, Ortiz." 
 
 "I assure you that I am not so presump- 
 tuous, Sefior. Mercy is the right of the Di- 
 vinity. It is beyond my capacity. Besides 
 which, it is not likely the Divinity will trouble 
 himself about Santa Anna. I have, therefore, 
 to obey the orders of the great, the illustrious 
 Houston ; which are, to prevent his escape at 
 all risks. May St. James give me the opportu- 
 nity, Sefiors ! In this happy hour, a Dios! " 
 
 Then Lopez bent forward, and with a smile 
 touched the doctor's hand. " Will you now 
 remember the words I said of Houston ? Did 
 I not tell you, that success was with him? 
 that on his brow was the line of fortune i 1 
 that he was the loadstone in the breast of 
 freedom ? " 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HOME AGAIN. 
 
 " Where'er we roam, 
 Our first, best country ever is at home." 
 
 " What constitutes a state ? 
 
 Men who their duties know ; 
 But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain. 
 
 " And sovereign law, that states collected will 
 
 O'er thrones and globes elate, 
 Sits empress ; crowning good, repressing ill.' 
 
 " This hand to tyrants ever sworn a foe, 
 
 For freedom only deals the deadly blow ; 
 Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, 
 For gentle peace, in freedom's hallowed shade." 
 
 THE vicinity of a great battle-field is a 
 dreadful place after the lapse of a day or 
 two. The bayou and the morass had provided 
 sepulture for hundreds of slain Mexicans, but 
 hundreds still lay upon the open prairie. Over 
 it, birds of prey hung in dark clouds, heavy- 
 winged, sad, sombre, and silent, Nothing dis- 
 
HOME AGAIN. 391 
 
 turbed them. They took no heed of the living. 
 Armed with invincible talons and beaks tipped 
 with iron, they carried on ceaselessly that 
 automatic gluttony, which made them benefi- 
 cent crucibles of living fire, for all which 
 would otherwise have corrupted the higher 
 life. And yet, though innocent as the ele- 
 ments, they were odious in the sight of all. 
 
 Before daylight in the morning the Seftora 
 and her daughters were ready to begin their 
 homeward journey. The doctor could not 
 accompany them, General Houston and the 
 wounded Americans being dependent largely 
 upon his care and skill. But Luis Alveda and 
 Lopez Navarro received an unlimited furlough \ 
 and about a dozen Mexican prisoners of war 
 belonging to San Antonio were released on 
 Navarro's assurance, and permitted to travel 
 with the party as camp servants. It was likely, 
 also, that they would be joined by a great 
 many of the families who had accompanied the 
 great flight ; for, on the preceding evening, 
 Houston had addressed the army, and told 
 the householders and farmers to go home 
 and plant their corn. 
 
 Full of happiness, the ladies prepared for 
 
392 WOVEN 1 OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 their journey. A good army wagon, drawn by 
 eight mules, and another wagon, containing two 
 tents and everything necessary for a comfort- 
 able journey, was waiting for them. The 
 doctor bid them good-by with smiles and 
 cheerful promises. They were going home. 
 The war was over. Independence was won. 
 They had the hope of permanent peace. The 
 weather also was as the weather may be among 
 the fields of Eden. The heavens were cloud- 
 less, the air sweet and fresh, and the wild 
 honeysuckles, with their spread hands full of 
 scent, perfumed the prairies mile after mile. 
 The mules went knee-deep through warm 
 grasses ; the grasses were like waving rainbows, 
 with the myriads of brightly tinted flowers. 
 
 Even Lopez was radiantly happy. Most 
 unusual smiles lighted up his handsome face, 
 and he jingled the silver ornaments on his 
 bridle pleasantly to his thoughts as he cantered 
 sometimes a little in advance of the wagon, 
 sometimes in the rear, occasionally by its side; 
 then, bending forward to lift his hat to the 
 ladies and inquire after their comfort. 
 
 Luis kept close to Isabel ; and her lovely 
 face and merry chatter beguiled him from all 
 
HOME AGAIN. 393 
 
 other observations. A little before noon they 
 halted in a beautiful wood ; a tent was spread 
 for the ladies, the animals were loosened from 
 their harness, and a luxurious meal laid upon 
 the grass. Then the siesta was taken, and at 
 three o'clock travel was resumed until near sun- 
 set, when the camp was made for the night. 
 The same order was followed every day, and 
 the journey was in every sense an easy and 
 delightful one. The rides, cheered by pleasant 
 companionship, were not fatiguing ; the im- 
 promptu meals were keenly relished. And 
 there were many sweet opportunities for little 
 strolls in the dim green woods, and for delight- 
 ful conversations, as they sat under the stars, 
 while the camp-fire blazed among the pictur- 
 esque groups of Mexicans playing monte 
 around it. 
 
 On the third afternoon, the Seftora and 
 Isabel were taking a siesta, but Antonia could 
 not sleep. After one or two efforts she was 
 thoroughly aroused by the sound of voices 
 which had been very familiar to her in the 
 black days of the flight those of a woman 
 and her weary family of seven children. She 
 had helped her in many ways, and she still felt 
 
394 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 an interest in her welfare. It appeared now to 
 be assured. Antonia found her camping in a 
 little grove of mulberry trees. She had 
 recovered her health ; her children were noisy 
 and happy, and her husband, a tall, athletic 
 man, with a determined eye and very courteous 
 manners, was unharnessing the mules from a 
 fine Mexican wagon ; part of the lawful spoils 
 of war. They, too, were going home : " back to 
 the Brazos," said the woman affectionately ; 
 "and we're in a considerable hurry," she added, 
 " because it's about time to get the corn in. 
 Jake lays out to plant fifty acres this year. 
 He says he can go to planting now with an 
 easy conscience ; he 'lows he has killed enough 
 Mexicans to keep him quiet a spell." 
 
 They talked a short time together, and then 
 Antonia walked slowly into the deeper shadows 
 of the wood. She found a wide rock, uaader 
 trees softly dimpling, pendulous, and tenderly 
 green ; and she sat down in the sweet gloom, 
 to think of the beloved dead. She had often 
 longed for some quiet spot, where, alone with 
 God and nature, she could, just for oace, give 
 to her sorrow and her love a free expres- 
 sion. 
 
HOME A CAM. 395 
 
 Now the opportunity seemed to be hers. 
 She began to recall her whole acquaintance 
 with Dare their hours of pleasant study 
 their sails upon the river their intercourse by 
 the fireside the most happy Sundays, when 
 they walked in the house of God together. 
 In those days, what a blessed future was be- 
 fore them ! She recalled also the time of hope 
 and anxiety after the storming of the Alamo, 
 and then the last heroic act of his stainless 
 life. She had felt sure that in such a session 
 with her own soul she would find the relief of 
 unrestrained and unchecked weeping. But we 
 cannot kindle when we will either the fire or 
 the sensibility of the soul. She could not 
 weep ; tears were far from her. Nay, more, 
 she began to feel as if tears were not needed 
 for one who had found out so beautiful, so un- 
 selfish, so divine a road to the grave. Ought 
 she not rather to rejoice that he had been so 
 early called and blest ? To be glad for herself, 
 too, that all her life long she could keep the 
 exquisite memory of a love so noble ? 
 
 In the drift of such thoughts, her white, 
 handsome face grew almost angelic. She sat 
 motionless and let them come to her; as if she 
 
396 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 were listening to the comforting angels. For 
 God has many ways of saying to the troubled 
 soul : " Be at peace "; and, certainly, Antonia 
 had not anticipated the calmness and resig- 
 nation which forbid her the tears she had be- 
 spoken. 
 
 At length, in that sweet melancholy which 
 such a mental condition induces, she rose to 
 return to the camp. A few yards nearer to it 
 she saw Lopez sitting in a reverie as profound 
 as her own had been. He stood up to meet 
 her. The patience, the pathos, the exaltation 
 in her face touched his heart as no words 
 could have done. He said, only : " Seftorita, if 
 I knew how to comfort you ! " 
 
 " I went away to think of the dead, Seftor/' 
 
 " I comprehend but then, I wonder if the 
 dead remember the living ! " 
 
 " In whatever dwelling-place of eternity the 
 dear ones who died at Goliad are, I am sure 
 that they remember. Will the emancipated 
 soul be less faithful than the souls still earth- 
 bound ? Good souls could not even wish to 
 forget and they were good." 
 
 " It will never be permitted me to know two 
 souls more pure, more faithful, more brave. 
 
HOME AGAIN. 397 
 
 Juan was as a brother to me, and, by my 
 Santiguada / * I count it among God's bless- 
 ings to have known a man like Seftor Grant. 
 A white soul he had indeed ; full of great 
 nobilities ! " 
 
 Antonia looked at him gratefully. Tears 
 uncalled-for sprang into the eyes of both ; they 
 clasped hands and walked mutely back to the 
 camp together. For the sentiment which 
 attends the realization that all is over, is 
 gathered silently into the heart ; it is too deep 
 for words. 
 
 They found the camp already in that flurry 
 of excitement always attendant upon its rest 
 and rising, and the Seftora was impatiently in- 
 quiring for her eldest daughter. 
 
 " Gracious Maria ! Is that you, Antonia ? 
 At this hour we are all your servants, I think. 
 I, at least, have been waiting upon your pleas- 
 ure "; then perceiving the traces of sorrow and 
 emotion on her face, she added, with an un- 
 reasonable querulousness : " I bless God when 
 I see how He has provided for women ; giving 
 them tears, when they have no other employ- 
 ment for their time." 
 
 * Sign of the Cross. 
 
398 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 "Dearest mother, I am sorry to have kept 
 you waiting. I hope that you have forgotten 
 nothing. Where is your mantilla? And have 
 you replenished your cigarito case ? Is there 
 water in the wagon ? " 
 
 " Nothing has been provided. Things most 
 necessary are forgotten, no doubt. When you 
 neglect such matters, what less could happen? " 
 
 But such little breezes of temper were soon 
 over. The influences surrounding, the pros- 
 pects in advance, were too exhilarating to per^ 
 mit of anything but passing shadows, and 
 after an easy, delightful journey, they reached 
 at length the charming vicinity of the romantic 
 city of the sword. They had but another five 
 miles ride, and it was the Seftora's pleasure to 
 take it at the hour of midnight. She did not 
 wish her return to be observed and talked 
 about ; she was in reality very much mortified 
 by the condition of her own and her daughters' 
 wardrobe. 
 
 Consequently, though they made their noon 
 camp so near to their journey's end, they rested 
 there until San Antonio was asleep and dream- 
 ing. It was the happiest rest of all the delight- 
 ful ones they had known. The knowledge 
 
HOME AGAIN. 399 
 
 that it was the last stage of a journey so re- 
 markable, made every one attach a certain 
 tender value to the hours never to come back ; 
 to the experiences n^eyer to be repeated. 
 
 The Seftora was gay as a child ; Isabel shared 
 and accentuated her enthusiasms ; Luis was ex- 
 pressing his happiness in a variety of songs; 
 now glorifying his love in some pretty romance 
 or serenade, again musically assuring liberty, 
 or Texas, that he would be delighted at any 
 moment to lay down his life for their sakes. 
 Antonia was quite as much excited in her own 
 way, which was naturally a much quieter way ; 
 and Lopez sat under a great pecan-tree, smok- 
 ing his cigarito with placid smiles and admir- 
 ing glances at every one. 
 
 As the sun set, the full moon rose as it rises no- 
 where but over Texan or Asian plains ; golden, 
 glorious, seeming to fill the whole heaven and 
 the whole earth with an unspeakable radiance ; 
 softly glowing, exquisitely, magically beautify- 
 ing. The commonest thing under it was trans- 
 figured into something lovely, fantastic, fairy. 
 like. And the dullest souls swelled and rose 
 like the tides under its influence. 
 
 Antonia took from their stores the best they 
 
4co WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 had, and a luxurious supper was spread upon 
 the grass. The meal might have been one of 
 ten courses, it occupied so long ; it provoked 
 so much mirth, such a rippling stream of remi- 
 niscence ; finally, such a sweetly solemn retro- 
 spect of the sorrows and mercies and triumphs 
 of the campaign they had shared together. This 
 latter feeling soon dominated all others. 
 
 The delicious light, the sensuous atmosphere, 
 the white turrets and towers of the city, shining 
 on the horizon like some mystical, heavenly 
 city in dreams the murmur of its far-off life, 
 more audible to the spiritual than the natural 
 ears the dark figures of the camp servants, 
 lying in groups or quietly shuffling their cards, 
 were all elements conducive to a grave yet 
 happy seriousness. 
 
 No one intended to sleep. They were to 
 rest in the moonlight until the hour of eleven, 
 and then make their last stage. This night 
 they instinctively kept close together. The 
 Seftora had mentally reached that point where 
 it was not unpleasant to talk over troubles, 
 and to amplify especially her own share of 
 them. 
 
 " But, Holy Maria ! " she said ; " how unnec- 
 
HOME AGATN. 4* 
 
 essary are such sorrows ! I am never, in the 
 least, any better for them. When the Divine 
 Majesty condescends to give me the sunshine 
 of prosperity, I am always exceedingly relig- 
 ious. On the contrary, when I am in sorrow, I 
 do not feel inclined to pray. That is precisely 
 natural. Can the blessed Mother expect 
 thanks, when she gives her children only suffer* 
 ing and tears ? " 
 
 14 God give*: us whatever is best for us, dear 
 mother." 
 
 " Speak, when you have learned wisdom, 
 Antonia. I shall always believe that trouble 
 comes from the devil ; indeed, Fray Ignatius 
 once told me of a holy man that had one grief 
 upon the heels of the other, and it was the 
 devil who was sent with all of them. I have 
 myself no doubt that he opened the gates of 
 hell for Santa Anna to return to earth and do 
 a little work for him." 
 
 u This thought makes me tremble," said 
 Lopez ; " souls that have become angelic, can 
 become evil. The degraded seraphim, whom 
 we call the devil, was once the companion of 
 archangels, and stood with Michael, and Raph- 
 ael, and Gabriel, in the presence of the Holy 
 
 23 
 
402 WOVEN- OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 One. Is there sin in heaven ? Can we be 
 tempted even there ? " 
 
 The inquiry went in different ways to each 
 heart, but no one answered it. There were 
 even a few moments of constrained, conscious 
 silence, which Luis happily ended, by chant- 
 ing softly a verse from the hymn of the Three 
 Angels : 
 
 " ' Who like the Lord? ' thunders Michael the Chief. 
 Raphael, ' the cure of God,' bringeth relief, 
 And, as at Nazareth, prophet of peace, 
 Gabriel, * the light of God,' bringeth release." 
 
 The noble syllables floated outward and up- 
 ward, and Antonia and Lopez softly intoned 
 the last line together, letting them fall slowly 
 and softly into the sensitive atmosphere. 
 
 " And as for trouble coming from the devil," 
 said Lopez, " I think, Sefiora, that Fray Igna- 
 tius is wrong. Trouble is not the worst thing 
 that can come to a man or woman. On the 
 contrary, our Lady of Prosperity is said to do 
 them far greater harm. Let me repeat to you 
 what the ever wise Don Francisco de Quevedo 
 Villegas says about her: 
 
 i 
 
 " Where is the virtue prosperity has not 
 staggered ? Where the folly she has not aug- 
 
HOME AGAIN". 43 
 
 mented ? She takes no counsel, she fears no 
 punishment. She furnishes matter for scandal, 
 experience, and for story. How many souls, 
 innocent while poor, have fallen into sin and 
 impiety as soon as they drank of the enchanted 
 cup of prosperity ? Men that can bear pros- 
 perity, are for heaven ; even wise devils leave 
 them alone. As for the one who persecuted 
 and beggared Job, how foolish and impertinent 
 he was ! If he had understood humanity, he 
 would have multiplied his riches, and pos- 
 sessed him of health, and honors, and pleasures: 
 that is the trial it cannot bear.' ' 
 
 " Oh, to be sure ! Quevedo was a wise man. 
 But even wise men don't know everything. 
 However, we are going home! I thank the 
 saints for this immeasurable favor. It is a 
 prosperity that is good for women. I will 
 "stake my Santiguida on that ! And will you 
 _< observe that it is Sunday again? Just before 
 ^sunset I heard the vesper bells clearly. Re- 
 member that we left San Antonio on Sunday 
 also ! I have always heard that Sunday was a 
 good day to begin a journey on." 
 " If it had been on a Friday" 
 " Friday ! Indeed, Luis, I would not have 
 
404 WOVEN OF LQVE AND GLORY, 
 
 gone one hundred yards upon a Friday. How 
 can you suppose what is so inconceivably fool- 
 ish ? " 
 
 " I think much of the right hour to under- 
 take anything," said Lopez. " The first move- 
 ments are not in the hands of men ; and we 
 are subject to more influences than we com- 
 prehend. There is a ripe time for events, as 
 well as for fruits ; but the hour depends upon 
 forces which we cannot control by giving to 
 them the name of the day; and our sage 
 Quevedo has made a pleasant mockery thereon, 
 It is at my lips, if your ears care to hear it," 
 
 " Quevedo, again ! No, it is not proper, 
 Sefior. Every day has its duties and its favors, 
 Seftor. That man actually said that fasting on 
 Friday was not a special means of grace ! Que- 
 vedo was almost a heretic. I have heard Fray 
 Ignatius say so. He did not approve of him," 
 
 " Mi madre, let us hear what is to be said. 
 Rachela told me, I must fast on a Friday, 
 and cut my nails on a Wednesday, and never 
 cut them on a Sunday, and take medicine on a 
 Monday, and look after money on Tuesday, 
 and pay calls and give gifts on Saturday ; 
 very well, I do not think much of Rachela; 
 
HOME AGAIN. 405 
 
 just suppose, for the passing of the time, that 
 we listen to what Quevedo says." 
 
 " Here are four against me ; well, then, 
 proceed, Sefior." 
 
 " 'On Monday,' says the wise and witty one, 
 * buy all that you can meet with, and take all 
 that 13 to be had for nothing. On Tuesday, 
 receive all that is given you ; for it is Mar's 
 day, and he will look on you with an ill aspect 
 if you refuse the first proffer and have not a 
 second, On Wednesday, ask of all you meet ; 
 perhaps Mercury may give some one vanity 
 enough to grant you something. Thursday is 
 a good day to believe nothing that flatterers 
 say. Friday it is well to shun creditors. On 
 Saturday it is well to lie long abed, to walk at 
 your ease, to eat a good dinner, and to wear 
 comfortable shoes ; because Saturn is old, and 
 loves his ease.' " I 
 
 "And Sunday, Seftor?" 
 
 " Pardon, Seftorita Isabel, Sunday comes 
 not into a pasquinade. Senora, let me tell you 
 that it draws near to eleven. If we leave now 
 we shall reach San Antonio in time to say the 
 prayer of gratitude before the blessed day of 
 the seven is past." 
 
406 WOVE A" OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 " Holy Mary! that is what I should desire. 
 Come, my children ; I thank you, Seftor, for 
 such a blessed memory. My heart is indeed 
 full of joy and thankfulness." 
 
 A slight disappointment, however, awaited 
 the Seftora. Without asking any questions, 
 without taking anything into consideration, 
 perhaps, indeed, because she feared to ask or 
 consider, she had assumed that she would im- 
 mediately re-enter her own home. With the 
 unreason of a child, she had insisted upon ex- 
 pecting that somehow, or by some not ex- 
 plained efforts, she would find her house pre- 
 cisely as she left it. Little had been said of 
 its occupancy by Fray Ignatius and his broth- 
 ers ; perhaps she did not quite believe in the 
 statement ; perhaps she expected Fray Igna- 
 tius to respect the arrangements which he 
 knew had been so dear to her. 
 
 It was therefore a trial indeed, something of 
 a shock when she found they were to be the 
 guests of Navarro, and when it was made 
 clear to her that her own home had been dis- 
 mantled and rearranged and was still in the 
 possession of the Church. But, with a child's 
 unreason, she had also a sweet ductility of 
 
HOME AGAIN. 407 
 
 nature ; she was easily persuaded, easily 
 pleased, and quite ready to console herself with 
 the assurance that it only needed Doctor 
 Worth's presence and personal influence to 
 drive away all intruders upon her rights. 
 
 In the mean time she was contented. The 
 finest goods in San Antonio were sent early 
 on the following morning to her room ; and 
 the selection of three entire wardrobes gave 
 her abundance of delightful employment. 
 She almost wept with joy as she passed the 
 fine lawns and rich silks through her worn 
 fingers. And when she could cast off forever 
 her garment of heaviness and of weariful wan- 
 derings, and array herself in the splendid 
 robes which she wore with such grace and 
 pleasure, she was an honestly grateful woman. 
 
 Then she permitted Lopez to let her old 
 acquaintances know of her presence in her 
 native city ; and she was comforted when she 
 began to receive calls from the Senora Alveda, 
 and Judge and Sefiora Valdez, and many 
 other of her friends and associates. They 
 encouraged her to talk of her sufferings and 
 her great loss. Even the judge thought it 
 worth his while, now, to conciliate the simple 
 
40 8 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 little woman. He had wisdom enough to per- 
 ceive that Mexican domination was over, and 
 that the American influence of Doctor Worth 
 was likely to be of service to him. 
 
 The Sefiora found herself a heroine ; more 
 than that, she became aware that for some 
 reason those who had once patronized her 
 were now disposed to pay her a kind of ctmrt. 
 But this did not lessen her satisfaction ; she 
 suspected no motive but real kindness, for she 
 had that innate rectitude which has always 
 confidence in the honesty of others. 
 
 There was now full reconciliation between 
 Luis and his mother and uncles ; and his be- 
 trothal to Isabel was acknowledged with all 
 the customary rejoicings and complimentary 
 calls and receptions. Life quickly began to 
 fall back into its well-defined grooves ; if there 
 was anything unusual, every one made an 
 effort to pass it by without notice. The city 
 was conspicuously in this mind. American 
 rule was accepted in the quiescent temper 
 with which men and women accept weathef 
 which may or may not be agreeable, but 
 which is known to be unavoidable. Americana 
 were coming by hundreds arid by thousands ; 
 
HOME AGAIN. 409 
 
 and those Mexicans who could not make up 
 their minds to become Texans, and to assimi- 
 late with the new elements sure to predomi- 
 nate, were quietly breaking up their homes 
 and transferring their interests across the Rio 
 Grande. 
 
 They were not missed, even for a day. 
 Some American was ready to step into their 
 place, and the pushing, progressive spirit of 
 the race was soon evident in the hearty way 
 with which they set to work, not only to re- 
 pair what war had destroyed, but to inaugu- 
 rate those movements which are always 
 among their first necessities. Ministers, phy- 
 sicians, teachers, mechanics of all kinds, were 
 soon at work ; churches were built, Bibles were 
 publicly sold, or given away ; schools were 
 advertised ; the city xvas changing its tone as 
 easily as a woman changes the fashion of her 
 dress. Santa Anna had said truly enough to 
 Houston, that the Texans had no flag to 
 fight under; but the young Republic very 
 soon flung her ensign out among those of the 
 gray nations of the world. It floated above 
 the twice glorious Alamo : a bright blue stand- 
 ard, with one white star in the centre. It was 
 
410 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 run up at sunrise one morning. The city was 
 watching for it ; and when it suddenly flew out 
 in their sight, it was greeted with the most, 
 triumphant enthusiasm. The lonely star in 
 its field of blue touched every heart's chivalry. 
 It said to them, " I stand alone ! I have no 
 sister states to encourage and help me ! I rely 
 only on the brave hearts and strong arms that 
 set me here!" And they answered the silent 
 appeal with a cheer that promised everything ; 
 with a love that even then began to wonder 
 if there were not a place for such a glorious 
 star in the grand constellation under which 
 most of them had been born. 
 
 A short time after their return, the Seftora 
 had a letter from her husband, saying that he 
 was going to New Orleans with General Hous- 
 ton, whose wound was in a dangerous condi- 
 tion. Thomas Worth had been appointed to 
 an important post in the civil government ; and 
 his labors, like those of all the public men of 
 Texas at that date, were continuous and Her- 
 culean. It was impossible for him to leave 
 them ; but the doctor assured his wife that he 
 would return as soon as he had placed Houston 
 in the hands of skilful surgeons ; and he asked 
 
HOME AGAIN". 411 
 
 her, until then, to be as happy as her circum- 
 stances permitted. 
 
 She was quite willing to obey the request. 
 Not naturally inclined to worry, she found 
 many sources of content and pleasure, until 
 the early days of June brought back to her the 
 husband she so truly loved, and with him the 
 promise of a return to her own home. Indeed 
 the difficulties in the way of this return had 
 vanished ere they were to meet. Fray Igna- 
 tius had convinced himself that his short lease 
 had fully expired ; and when Dr. Worth went 
 armed with the legal process necessary to re- 
 sume his rights, he found his enemy had 
 already surrendered them. The house was 
 empty. Nothing of its old splendor remained. 
 Every one of its properties had been scattered. 
 The poor Sefiora walked through the desolate 
 rooms with a heartache. 
 
 " It was precisely in this spot that the side- 
 board stood, Roberto ! the sideboard that my 
 cousin Johar presented to me. It came from 
 the City of Mexico, and there was not another 
 like it. I shall regret it all my life." 
 
 " Maria, my dearest, it might have been 
 worse. The silver which adorned it is safe. 
 
412 WO YEN OF L VE A ND GL OR Y. 
 
 Those r monks did not find out its hiding- 
 place, and I bought you a far more beautiful 
 sideboard in New Orleans ; the very newest 
 style, Maria/' 
 
 " Roberto ! Roberto ! How happy you 
 Juake me ! To be sure my cousin Johar's side- 
 board was already shabby and to have a side- 
 board from New Orleans, that, indeed, is some- 
 thing to talk about ! " 
 
 " Besides, which, dearest one, I bought new 
 furniture for the parlors, and for your own 
 apartments ; also for Antonia's and Isabel's 
 rooms. Indeed, Maria, I thought It best to 
 provide afresh for the whole house." 
 
 " How wonderful ! No wife in San Antonio 
 has a husband so good. I will never conde- 
 scend to speak of you when other women talk 
 of their husbands. New furniture for my 
 whole house ! The thing is inconceivably 
 charming. But when, Roberto, will these 
 things arrive? Is there danger on the road 
 they are coming? Might not someone take 
 them away? I shall not be able to sleep until 
 I am sure they are safe." 
 
 " I chartered a schooner in New Orleans, and 
 came with them to the Bay of Espiritu Santo. 
 
HOME AGAIN. 413 
 
 There I saw them placed upon wagons, and 
 only left them after the customs had been paid 
 in the interior sixty miles away, You. may 
 hire servants at once to prepare the rooms: 
 the furniture will be here in about three 
 days." 
 
 " I am the happiest woman in the world, 
 Roberto ! " And she really felt herself to be 
 so. Thoughtful love could have devised noth- 
 ing more likely to bridge pleasantly and surely 
 over the transition between the past and thfc 
 coming life. Every fresh piece of furniture 
 unpacked was a new wonder and a new de- 
 light. With her satin skirts tucked daintily 
 clear of soil, and her mantilla wrapped around 
 her head and shoulders, she went from room 
 to room, interesting herself in every strip of 
 carpet, and every yard of drapery. Her de- 
 light was infectious. The doctor smiled to find 
 himself comparing shades, and gravely consid- 
 ering the arrangement of chairs, and tables. 
 
 But how was it possible for so loving a hus- 
 band and father to avoid sharing the pleasure 
 he had provided ? And Isabel was even more 
 excited than her mother. AH this grandeur 
 had a double meaning to her ; it would reflect 
 
414 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 honor upon the betrothal receptions which 
 would be given for Luis and herself (i amber 
 satin and white lace is exactly what I should 
 have desired, Antonia," she said delightedly. 
 " How exceedingly suitable it will be to me ! 
 And those delicious chintzes and dimities for 
 our bedrooms ! Did you ever conceive of 
 things so beautiful?" 
 
 Antonia was quite ready to echo her delight. 
 Housekeeping and homemaking, in all its ways, 
 was her lovable talent. It was really Antonia 
 who saw all the plans and the desires of the 
 Seflora thoroughly carried out. It was her 
 clever fingers and natural taste which gave to 
 every room that air of comfort and refinement 
 which all felt and admired, but which seemed 
 to elude their power to imitate. 
 
 On the fourth of July the doctor and his 
 family ate together their first dinner in their 
 renovated home. The day was one that he 
 never forgot, and he was glad to link it with a 
 domestic occurence so happy and so fortunate. 
 
 Sometimes silently, sometimes with a few 
 words to his boys, he had always, on this 
 festival, drank his glass of fine Xeres to the 
 honor and glory of the land he loved. This 
 
HOME AGAhV. 4i5 
 
 day he spoke her name proudly. He recalled 
 the wonders of her past progress ; he antici- 
 pated the blessings which she would bring to 
 Texas ; he said, as he lifted the glass in his 
 hand, and let the happy tears flow down his 
 browned and thinned face : 
 
 " My wife and daughters, I believe I shall 
 live to see the lone star set in the glorious 
 assemblage of her sister stars ! I shall live to 
 say, I dwell in San Antonio, which is the 
 loveliest city in the loveliest State of the 
 American Union. For, dear ones, I was born 
 an American citizen, and I ask this favor of 
 God, that I may also die an American 
 citizen." 
 
 " Mi Roberto, when you die I shall not long 
 survive you. And now that the house is made 
 so beautiful ! With so much new furniture ! 
 How can you speak of dying ? " 
 
 " And, my dear father, remember how you 
 have toiled and suffered for the Independence 
 of Texas." 
 
 " Because, Antonia, I would have Texas go 
 free into a union of free States. This was the 
 hope of Houston. ' We can have help/ he 
 often said to his little army ; " a word will call 
 
416 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 help from Nacogdoches, but we will emanci- 
 pate ourselves. If we go into the American 
 States, we will go as equals ; we will go as 
 men who have won the right to say: Let 
 us dwell under the same flag, for we are 
 brothers 1" 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 UNDER ONE FLAG. 
 
 " And through thee I believe 
 In the noble and great, who are gone. 
 
 " Yes ! I believe that there lived 
 Others like thee in the past. 
 Not like the men of the crowd. 
 Who all around me to-day, 
 Bluster, or cringe, and make life 
 Hideous, and arid, and vile, 
 But souls temper'd with fire, 
 Fervent, heroic, and good ; 
 Helpers, and friends of mankind." 
 
 ARNOLD. 
 
 41 Our armor now may rust, our idle scimitars 
 Hang by our sides for ornament, not use. 
 Children shall beat our atabals and drums ; 
 And all the noisy trades of war no more 
 Shall wake the peaceful morn." 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 AS the years go on they bring many 
 changes changes that come as naturally 
 as the seasons that tend as naturally to 
 anticipated growth and decay that scarcely 
 
 startle the subjects of them, till a lengthened- 
 
 27 
 
418 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 out period of time discloses their vitality and 
 extent. Between the ages of twenty and thirty, 
 ten years do not seem very destructive to life. 
 The woman at eighteen, and twenty-eight, 
 if changed, is usually ripened and improved ; 
 the man at thirty, finer and more mature than 
 he was at twenty. But when this same period 
 is placed to women and men who are either 
 approaching fifty, or have passed it, the change 
 is distinctly felt. 
 
 It was even confessed by the Sefiora one 
 exquisite morning in the beginning of March, 
 though the sun was shining warmly, and the 
 flowers blooming, and the birds singing, and 
 all nature rejoicing, as though it was the first 
 season of creation. 
 
 " I am far from being as gay and strong as 
 I wish to be, Roberto, " she said ; " and to- 
 day, consider what a company there is com- 
 ing! And if General Houston is to be added 
 to it, I shall be as weary as I shall be happy." 
 
 "He is the simplest of men; a cup of coffee, 
 a bit of steak" 
 
 11 San Bias / That is how you talk ! But is 
 it possible to receive him like a common 
 mortal? He is a hero, and, besides that, 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 419 
 
 among hidalgos de casa Solar" (gentlemen 
 of known property) 
 
 " Well, then, you have servants, Maria, my 
 dear one." 
 
 " Servants ! Bah ! Of what use are they, 
 Roberto, since they also have got hold of 
 American ideas ? " 
 
 " Isabel and Antonia will be here." 
 
 " Let me only enumerate to you, Roberto. 
 Thomas and his wife and four children arrived 
 last night. You may at this moment hear the 
 little Maria crying. I dare say Pepita is wash- 
 ing the child, and using soap which is very dis- 
 agreeable. I have always admired the wife of 
 Thomas, but I think she is too fond of her 
 own way with the children. I give her advices 
 which she does not take." 
 
 " They are her own children, dearest." 
 
 " Holy Maria ! They are also my own 
 grandchildren.*' 
 
 "Well, well, we must remember that Abbie 
 is a little Puritan. She believes in bringing 
 up children strictly, and it is good ; for Thomas 
 would spoil them. As for Isabel's boys " 
 
 " God be blessed ! Isabel's boys are en- 
 tirely charming. They have been corrected at 
 
420 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 my own knee. There are not more beautifully 
 behaved boys in the christened world." 
 
 "And Antonia's little Christina?" 
 
 " She is already an angel. Ah, Roberto ! 
 If I had only died when I was as innocent as 
 that dear one ! " 
 
 " I am thankful you did not die, Maria. 
 How dark my life would have been without 
 you ! " 
 
 " Beloved, then I am glad I am not in the 
 kingdom of heaven ; though, if one dies like 
 Christina, one escapes purgatory. Roberto, 
 when I rise I am very stiff : I think, indeed, I 
 have some rheumatism." 
 
 " That is not unlikely ; and also Maria, you 
 have now some years." 
 
 " Let that be confessed; but the good God 
 knows that I lost all my youth in that awful 
 flight of 'thirty-six." 
 
 " Maria, we all left or lost something on 
 that dark journey. To-day, we shall recover 
 its full value." 
 
 " To be sure that is what is said we shall 
 see. Will you now send Dolores to me? I 
 must arrange my toilet with some haste ; and 
 tell me, Roberto, what dress is your prefer- 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 421 
 
 ence ; it is your eyes, beloved, I wish to 
 please." 
 
 Robert Worth was not too old to feel 
 charmed and touched by the compliment. 
 And he was not a thoughtless or churlish 
 husband ; he knew how to repay such a wifely 
 compliment, and it was a pleasant sight to see 
 the aged companions standing hand in hand 
 before the handsome suits which Dolores had 
 spread out for her mistress to examine. 
 
 He looked at the purple and the black and 
 the white robes, and then he looked at the 
 face beside him. It was faded, and had lost 
 its oval shape ; but its coloring was yet beauti- 
 ful, and the large, dark eyes tender and bright 
 below the snow-white hair. After a few min- 
 utes' consideration, he touched, gently, a robe 
 of white satin. " Put this on, Maria," he 
 said, " and your white mantilla, and your best 
 jewels. The occasion will excuse the utmost 
 splendor." 
 
 The choice delighted her. She had really 
 wished to wear it, and some one's judgment to 
 endorse her own inclinations was all that was 
 necessary to confirm her wish. Dolores found 
 her in the most delightful temper. She sat 
 
422 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 before the glass, smiling and talking, while 
 her maid piled high the snowy plaits and curls, 
 and crowned them with the jewelled comb, 
 only worn on very great festivals. Her form 
 was still good, and the white satin fell grace- 
 fully from her throat to her small feet. Be- 
 sides, whatever of loss or gain had marred her 
 once fine proportions, was entirely concealed 
 by the beautifying, graceful, veiling folds of 
 her mantilla. There was the flash of dia- 
 monds, and the moonlight glimmer of pearls 
 beneath this flimsy covering ; and at her belt a 
 few white lilies. She was exceedingly pleased 
 with her own appearance, and her satisfaction 
 gave an ease and a sense of authority to her 
 air and movements which was charming. 
 
 " By Maria's grace, I am a very pretty old 
 lady," she said to herself; " and I think I 
 shall astonish my daughter-in-law a little. One 
 is afraid of these calm, cool, northern women, 
 but I feel to-day that even Abbie must be 
 proud of me." 
 
 Indeed, her entrance into the large parlor 
 made quite a sensation. She could see the 
 quiet pleasure in her husband's face ; and her 
 son Thomas, after one glance, put down the 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 423 
 
 child on his knee, and went to meet her. " Mi 
 madre," he whispered with a kiss. He had 
 not used the pretty Spanish word for years, 
 but in the sudden rush of admiring tenderness, 
 his boyish heart came back to him, and quite 
 unconsciously he used his boyhood's speech. ' 
 After this, she was not the least in awe of her ' 
 wise daughter-in-law. She touched her cheek 
 kindly, and asked her about the children, and 
 was immeasurably delighted when Abbie said : 
 " How beautiful you are to-day ! I wish I had 
 your likeness to send to Boston. Robert, 
 come here and look at your grandmother ! I 
 want you to remember, as long as you live, 
 how grandmother looks to-day." And Robert 
 a fine lad eight years old, accustomed to 
 implicit obedience put down the book he 
 was reading, planted himself squarely before 
 the Seftora, and looked at her attentively, as if 
 she was a lesson to be learned. 
 
 " Well then, Roberto ? " 
 
 " I am glad I have such a pretty grand- 
 mother. Will you let me stand on tiptoes and 
 kiss you ?" and the cool, calm northern woman's 
 eyes filled with tears, as she brought her 
 younger children, one by one, for the Senora's 
 
424 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 caress, The doctor and his son watched this 
 pretty domestic drama with hearts full of pride 
 and happiness ; and before it had lost one parti- 
 cle of its beauty and feeling, the door was flung 
 open with a vigor which made every one turn 
 to it with expectation. A splendid little lad 
 sprang in, and without any consideration for 
 satin and lace, clung to the Seftora. He was 
 her image: a true Yturbide, young as he was; 
 beautiful and haughty as his Castilian ances- 
 tors. 
 
 Isabel and Luis followed ; Isabel more 
 lovely than ever, richly dressed in American 
 fashion, full of pretty enthusiasms, vivacious, 
 charming, and quite at her ease. She had 
 been married eight years. She was a fashiona- 
 ble woman, and an authority upon all social 
 subjects. 
 
 Luis also was wonderfully improved. The 
 light-hearted gaiety, which ten years ago had 
 bubbled over in continual song, was still there ; 
 but it was under control, evident only because 
 it made perpetual sunshine on his face. He had 
 taken the doctor's advice completed his study 
 of English and Mexican law and become a 
 famous referee in cases of disputed Mexican 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 425 
 
 claims and title deeds. His elegant form and 
 handsome, olive face looked less picturesque in 
 the dull, uncompromising stiffness of broad- 
 cloth, cut into those peculiarly unbecoming 
 fashions of ugliness which the anglo-Saxon 
 and anglo-American affect. But it gained by 
 the change a certain air of reliability and im- 
 portance ; an air not to be dispensed with in 
 a young lawyer already aspiring to the seat 
 among the lawmakers of his State. 
 
 " We called upon Antonia," said Isabel, " as 
 we came here. Of course she was engaged with 
 Lopez. They were reading a book together ; 
 and even on such a day as this were taking, 
 with the most blessed indifference, a minute at 
 a time. They will join us on the Plaza. I rep- 
 resented to them that they might miss a good 
 position. ' That has been already secured,' said 
 Lopez, with that exasperating repose which 
 only the saints could endure with patience. 
 For that reason, I consider Antonia a saint to 
 permit it. As for me, I should say : ' The 
 house is on fire, Lopez ! Will it please you for 
 once to feel a little excited ? ' Luis says they 
 read, continually, books which make people 
 think of great solemnities and responsibilities. 
 
426 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY. 
 
 How foolish, when they are so rich, and might 
 enjoy themselves perpetually ! " 
 
 " Here are the carnages," cried Thomas 
 Worth, " and the ceremony of to-day has its 
 own hour. It will never come again." 
 
 " Your mother and I will go first, Thomas ; 
 and we will take Abbie and your eldest son. I 
 shall see you in your place. Luis, bring your 
 boy with you ; he has intelligence and will re- 
 member the man he will see to-day, and may 
 never see again." 
 
 On the Plaza, close to the gates of the 
 Alamo, a rostrum had been erected ; and around 
 it were a few stands, set apart for the carriages 
 of the most illustrious of the families of San 
 Antonio. The Sefiora, from the shaded depths 
 of her own, watched their arrival. Nothing 
 could be more characteristic than the approach 
 of her daughters. Antonia and Lopez, stately 
 and handsome, came slowly ; their high-step- 
 ping horses chafing at their restraint. Luis and 
 Isabel drove to their appointed place with a 
 speed and clatter, accentuated by the jingling 
 of the silver rings of the harness and the silver 
 hanging buttons on the gay dress of the Mexi- 
 can driver. But the occupants of both car- 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 42? 
 
 riages appeared to be great favorites with the 
 populace who thronged the Plaza, the windows, 
 the flat roofs of the houses, and every available 
 place for hearing and seeing. 
 
 The blue flag of Texas fluttered gayly over 
 the lovely city ; and there was a salvo of cannon ; 
 then, into the sunshine and into the sight of all 
 stepped the man of his generation. Nature 
 has her royal line, and she makes no mistakes 
 in the kings she crowns. The physical charm 
 of Houston was at this time very great. His 
 tall, ample, dignified form attracted attention 
 at once. His eyes penetrated the souls of all 
 upon whom they fell. His lips were touched 
 with fire, and his words thrilled and swayed 
 men, as the wind sways the heavy heads in a 
 field of ripe barley. 
 
 He stretched out his arms to the people, and 
 they stretched out their arms to him. The 
 magnetic chain of sympathy was complete. 
 The hearts of his listeners were an instrument, 
 on which he played the noblest, most inspir- 
 ing, the sweetest of melodies. He kindled 
 them as flame kindles dry grass. He showed 
 them their future with a prophet's eye, and 
 touched them also with the glad diviner's rap- 
 
428 WOVEN OF LOVE AND GLORY, 
 
 ture. They aspired, they rejoiced at his bid- 
 ding ; and at the moment of their highest en- 
 thusiasm, he cried out : 
 
 " Whatever State gave us birth, we have one 
 native land and we have one flag ! " Instantly 
 f from the grim, blood-stained walls of the for- 
 tress, the blessed Stars and Stripes flew out ; 
 and in a moment a thousand smaller flags, 
 from every high place, gave it salutation. 
 Then the thunder of cannon was answered by 
 the thunder of voices. Cannon may thunder 
 and make no impression ; but the shout of hu- 
 manity ! It stirs and troubles the deepest 
 heart-stream. It is a cry that cannot be resist- 
 ed. It sets the gates of feeling wide open. 
 And it was while men were in this mood that 
 Houston said his last words : 
 
 " I look in this glorious sunshine upon the 
 bloody walls of the Alamo. I remember Goliad. 
 I carry my memory back over the long struggle 
 of thirty years. Do you think the young, 
 brave souls, fired with the love of liberty, 
 who fell in this long conflict have forgotten it ? 
 No ! No ! No ! Wherever in God's Eternity 
 they are this day, I believe they are permitted 
 to know that Texas has become part of their 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 429 
 
 country, and rests forever under the flag they 
 loved. The shouting thousands, the booming 
 cannon, that greeted this flag were not all the 
 sounds I heard ! Far off, far off, yet louder 
 than any noise of earth, I heard from the dead 
 years, and the dead heroes of these years ; the 
 hurrahing of ghostly voices and the clapping 
 of unseen hands ! " 
 
 " It was like Houston to call the dead to the 
 triumph," said the doctor, as he stood with the 
 Seflora in her room. He was unbuttoning her 
 gloves, and her tears dropped down upon his 
 hands. 
 
 " He is a man by himself, and none like him. 
 I thought that I should never forgive him for 
 sparing the life of that monster Santa Anna ; 
 but to-day I forgive him even that. I am so 
 happy that I shall ask Holy Maria to excuse 
 me the feeling ; for it is not good to permit 
 one's self to be too happy ; it brings trouble. 
 But indeed, when I looked at Thomas, I 
 thought how wisely he has married. It is 
 seldom a mother can approve of her daughter- 
 in-law ; but Abbie has many excellencies good 
 manners, and a good heart, and a fortune which 
 is quite respectable," 
 
WOVEN OF LOVE A AW GLORY. 
 
 "And strong principles also, Maria. She 
 will bring up her children to know right and 
 wrong, and to do right." 
 
 " That of course. Every good mother does 
 that. I am sure it is a sight for the angels to 
 see Isabel teaching her children their prayers. 
 Did you observe also how great a favorite Luis 
 is? He lifted his hat to this one and that one, 
 and it is certain that the next election will be 
 in his hand." 
 
 " Perhaps I wish Lopez would take more 
 interest in politics. He is a dreamer." 
 
 " But, then, a very happy dreamer." Per- 
 haps to dream well and pleasantly is to live a 
 better life. Antonia is devoted to him. She 
 has a blessed lot. Once I did not think she 
 would be so fortunate." 
 
 " Lopez was prudent and patient." 
 
 " Prudent ! Patient ! It is a miracle to me ! 
 I assure you, they even talk together of young 
 Seftor Grant ! It is satisfactory, but extreme- 
 ly strange." 
 
 " You had better sleep a little, Maria. Gen- 
 eral Houston is coming to dinner." 
 
 " That is understood. When I spoke last to 
 him, I was a woman broken-hearted. To-night 
 
UNDER ONE FLAG. 43 * 
 
 I will thank him for all that he has done. Ah, 
 Roberto ! His words to-day went to my soul 
 I thought of my Juan I thought of the 
 vision he showed me I wondered if he knew 
 if he saw and heard " she leaned her head 
 upon her husband's breast, and he kissed away 
 the sorrowful rain. 
 
 " He was so sweet ! so beautiful ! Oh, 
 Roberto ! " 
 
 " He was God's greatest gift to us. Maria ! 
 dear Maria ! I love you for all the children 
 you have given me; but most of all, for 
 Juan ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
tf. SFKAIOHT AND SOWS, FRINTBM, 
 riTTKB LANE. 
 
A Selected List 
 
 of 
 
 New and Recent Publications 
 
 from 
 
 Messrs. Frederick Warne & Co/s 
 
 Catalogue. 
 
Frederick Warne & Co.'s Publications 
 WORKS OF SILAS K. HOCKING 
 
 Over One Million Volumes of this Popular Writer's Works 
 
 have been sold 
 In large crown 8 vo, cloth gilt, bevelled boards, price 33. 6d. each 
 
 In Spite of Fate. With Original Illus- 
 
 trations by F. Reason. 
 
 " No popular writer of the day is more in favour with the reading public. 
 In ' In Spite of Fate ' Mr. Hocking presents his customary variety of char- 
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 wonderful power of, as it were, ' humanizing ' his figures, and that power 
 is once more vigorously displayed in his latest novel." Sheffield Telegraph. 
 
 For Such is Life. With Original 
 
 Illustrations by Lancelot Speed. 
 
 14 Mr. Silas Hocking enjoys the enviable reputation of being the most 
 popular of living story writers, for his novels have now reached a point 
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 The Heart of Man. With Original 
 
 Illustrations by Ernest Prater. 
 
 "Should Mr. Hocking write no more, his niche in English literature is 
 now filled. Taken in every way, the book is great. Arrestive, sustained, 
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 Methodist. 
 
 A Son of Reuben. With Original 
 
 Illustrations by H. R. Steer, R.I. 
 
 11 This charming story will be reckoned as one of the best of this popular 
 writer's works." Aberdeen Free Press. 
 
 Chandos House , Bedford Street \ Strand^ London 
 
Frederick Warm & Co.'s Publications 
 WORKS OF SILAS K. HOCKING 
 
 Over One Million Volumes of this Popular Writes Works 
 have been sold 
 
 In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, bcTelled boards, price 38. 6d. each 
 
 One in Charity. With Original Illus- 
 trations by Gordon Browne. 
 
 "A capital story of unusual interest. There is an air of naturalness 
 and freedom in the whole story, which will make it pleasant reading for old 
 and young alike." Western Morning News. 
 
 Caleb Carthew : A Life Story. With 
 
 Original Illustrations by Lancelot Speed. 
 
 " ' Caleb Carthew ' is no ordinary book, and the best may yet learn much 
 that is good from its perusal. An earnest, manly tone runs through it." 
 Morning Post. 
 
 For Abigail : A West-Country Story. 
 
 With Original Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. 
 
 '"For Abigail* reminds us, to an extent, of 'John Halifax,' and its 
 author will not care for higher commendation." Academy. 
 
 Where Duty Lies. With Original 
 
 Illustrations by Harold Copping. 
 
 "The story is one of great and sustained interest, with plenty of move- 
 ment and mystery. The illustrations, from original drawings by Harold 
 Copping, form a pleasing feature." Glasgow Herald. 
 
 For Light and Liberty. With 
 
 Original Illustrations by Alfred Johnson. 
 
 "With a keen remembrance of Mr. Hocking's other works of fiction, we 
 are inclined to think he has never imagined or written anything better than 
 this." Publisher's Circular. 
 
 Chandos House, Bedford Street, Strand, London 
 
Frederick Warm & Co.'s Publications 
 
 NEW ILLUSTRATED BOOKS FOR 
 BOYS. 
 
 In Quest of Sheba's Treasure. A 
 
 Perilous Adventure by Sea and Land. By S. Walkey. 
 Illustrated by G. Hutchinson. In large crown 8vo, cloth 
 gilt, bevelled boards, price 33. 6d. 
 
 "A rousing bok of adventure is ' In Quest of Sheba's Treasure,' by S. 
 Walkey, a tale of the days of Nelson (of whom, however, we get but a 
 glimpse) and of some bold Devon lads who went off to the Bedouin desert in 
 quest of the treasure of the Queen of Sheba, to which they had obtained a 
 clue. And after many perils and breathless escapes they find it" Glasgow 
 Herald. 
 
 Lost in African Jungles. By Frederick 
 
 Whishaw. With Four Original Illustrations by J. B. 
 Greene. In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, bevelled boards, 
 price 33. 6d. 
 
 " ' Lost in African Jungles ' transports us by the magic wand of Fred. 
 Whishaw to the other side of the world, where plenty of perils from men and 
 beasts abound. Apart from being an excellent entertainment in itself, the 
 book will serve to illustrate the difficulties encountered by British Colonists 
 in the conquest of Lobengula," Birmingham Gazette. 
 
 The Fur Traders of the West; or, 
 
 Adventures among the Redskins. By E. R. Suffling. 
 With numerous Illustrations by Andriolli and Lancelot 
 Speed. In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, bevelled boards, 
 price 33. 6d. 
 
 "The perilous but successful career of the Cornish family who settled in 
 the wild Oregon country to trade for skins with the Indians is depicted with 
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 incidents of the story." Manchester Guardian. 
 
 Chandos House, Bedford Street, Strand, London 
 
Frederick Warne & Go's Publications 
 
 NEW ILLUSTRATED BOOKS FOR 
 BOYS. 
 
 The Story of the Indian Mutiny. 
 
 By Ascott R. Hope. With Original Illustrations. In 
 crown 8vo, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 
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 Under Many Flags ; or, Stories of 
 
 Scottish Adventurers. By the late W. H. Davenport 
 Adams. With Four Illustrations by Lancelot Speed. 
 In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 
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 Mr. Adams' style is fascinating, and he builds up thrilling romances on 
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 "This is a book for every boy to revel in. " Glasgow Herald. 
 
 11 Mr. Davenport Adams has skilfully and popularly retold a number of 
 the most romantic stories of Scottish soldiers of fortune of past days. " 
 
 Dundee Courier. 
 
 A Mid of the Naval Brigade. By 
 
 Arthur Lee Knight, author of " Jack Trevor," " Ronald 
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 Greene. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 11 Is a genuine tale of the sea, with a savour of adventure and danger such 
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 " Mr. Knight is already widely known as the author of many first-rate sea 
 stories. In this volume he fully keeps up his reputation, and provides for 
 his young readers a most exciting story." Daily Chronicle. 
 
 Chandos House, Bedford Street, Strand, London 
 
Frederick Warm & CoJs Publications 
 
 NEW ILLUSTRATED FAIRY TALES. 
 
 In large crown 8vo, art linen, gilt top, or cloth gilt, 
 bevelled boards, price 33. 6d. each. 
 
 Grimms' Fairy Tales and Household 
 
 Stories. Translated by Mrs. H. B. Paull and Mr. L. A. 
 Wheatley. With numerous Original Illustrations and 
 Coloured Plates. 
 
 Grimms' Goblins and Wonder Tales. 
 
 Translated by Mrs. H. B. Paull and Mr. L. A. Wheatley. 
 With numerous Original Illustrations and Coloured 
 Plates. 
 
 These two volumes of famous stories, collected by 
 the Brothers Grimm in the fertile and imaginative field 
 of their native land, have an ever-growing number of 
 readers, and are assured a hearty welcome from all who 
 delight in finding really high-class children's literature, 
 issued in * thoroughly attractive and up-to-date style. 
 
 Andersen's Fairy Tales. Translated by 
 
 Mrs. H. B. Paull. With numerous Original Illustrations 
 and Coloured Plates. 
 
 Andersen's Tales for the Young. 
 
 Translated by Mrs. H. B. Paull. With numerous 
 Original Illustrations and Coloured Plates. 
 
 Amongst all the various editions of Andersen's popular 
 tales, none will be found to surpass these editions for 
 fidelity in translation, fulness of text, and excellence of 
 get-up. The tales are world-wide favourites, known to 
 nursery-land of all nations. 
 
 Chandos House, Bedford Street^ Strand^ London 
 
Frederick Warne & Co.'s Publications 
 
 NEW ILLUSTRATED FAIRY TALES. 
 
 In large crown 8vo, art linen, gilt top, or cloth gilt, 
 bevelled boards, price 35. 6d. each. 
 
 The One-Eyed Griffin, and other Fairy 
 
 Tales. A Series of Original Stories by Herbert E. 
 
 Inman. With numerous Illustrations by E. A. Mason. 
 "This book contains several stories in addition to 'The One-Eyed 
 Griffin,' which is the chief item among them. This narrative is that of 
 a little boy who enters into the realms of fabulous monsters, where he 
 encounters the giants Can't, Won't, and Don't Care, into whose terrible 
 clutches has fallen the lady of his heart. With the aid of the One-Eyed 
 Griffin he succeeds in overcoming them, and the story succeeds, in 
 allegorical fashion, to detail the difficulties which befall the diminutive hero. 
 The illustrations are singularly happy in their delineation of the subject, 
 and will win the affections of the youthful circle for whose benefit the 
 volume has been produced." Daily Telegraph. 
 
 Icelandic Fairy Tales. By Mrs. A. W. 
 
 Hall. With Twenty-six Original Illustrations from 
 
 Drawings by E. A. Mason. 
 
 " A young reader could scarcely have a more promising introduction to 
 the literature of the Sagas. Sigurd and Frithjof and Ingeborg are not 
 indeed such imposing creatures as they are in the sterner tales ; but they 
 are always people whom every child ought to know, and the giants are 
 giants of the proper sort." The Scotsman. 
 
 The Owl King, and other Fairy Stories. 
 
 A Series of Original Tales by Herbert E. Inman. With 
 
 numerous Illustrations by E. A. Mason. 
 
 "So great is the cry among the little people for a fresh story one they 
 have not heard before that it is a relief to be able with ' The Owl King ' to 
 satisfy for awhile their seemingly insatiable appetite. ' The Owl King ' will 
 soon, however, become established among the old-time favourites, for a good 
 story once told travels with wonderful swiftness." Family Circle. 
 
 Ghandos House, Bedford Street, Strand, London 
 
Frederick Warm & Co.'s Publications 
 
 NEW ILLUSTRATED FAIRY TALES. 
 
 In large crown 8vo, art linen, gilt top, or cloth gilt, 
 gilt, bevelled boards, price 33. 6d. each. 
 
 Prince Ubbely Bubble's Fairy Tales, 
 
 and Glimpses from Elf-Land. By J. Templeton Lucas. 
 With numerous Illustrations by Barnard, Phiz, Ellen 
 Edwards, &c. 
 
 The favourite themes of childhood are here, in a 
 series of fascinating stories, of which the first is " The 
 Perseverance of Prince Ubbely Bubble," and amongst 
 , numerous other tales are told those of "The Six Goblin 
 Eggs," "Tom and the Ogre," "The Adventures of 
 John, the Son of Jack the Giant Killer," etc. 
 
 The Old, Old Fairy Tales. Edited 
 
 by Mrs. Valentine. With numerous Or ginal Illustrations 
 and Coloured Plates. 
 
 The well-known favourites, " Puss in Boots," " The 
 White Cat," " Tom Thumb," and others, are comprised 
 in this collection, which embraces, as its name implies, 
 all the oft-told tales. 
 
 Holme Lee's Fairy Tales. The Story 
 
 of Tuflongbo. With numerous Original Illustrations. 
 
 Is a narrative of the wonderful life and adventures of 
 Tuflongbo. When he grows up, he goes on a great 
 journey, falls into the hands of giants, amongst whom his 
 escapes are recorded, until he finally puts off his shoes 
 and vanishes into shadowland. 
 
 Chandos House, Bedford Street, Strand, London 
 
YB 74192