Page:For the Liberty of Texas.djvu/65

Rh the figure of a tall, heavily bearded frontiersman slipped into the cabin. He helped hold the door while Dan secured it again.

"Poke Stover!" cried the youth. "I'm mighty glad you've come!"

"Are you and Ralph safe?" was the question, as soon as the man could catch his breath, for he had been running with all the swiftness at his command.

"Yes, although I've got a scratch on the throat. But father—do you know anything of him?"

"Yes, he has gone to Gonzales to bring help. He says he signalled to you from the tall pine."

"So he did. Did he have a fight with any of the Indians?"

"Yes, he was attacked by Bison Head and Hank Stiger, the half-breed. He put a bullet through Stiger's left calf, and knocked the Injun down with the butt of his gun. That's the reason the two were not with the party that attacked the cabin."

"How many are there, all told?" asked Ralph, who had come down the ladder again.

"Not more than ten, and one of 'em's dead outside."

"And two or three of them are wounded," added Dan.

"The wust on it is, they'll be gittin' thicker and thicker," resumed the old frontiersman, who had