No
bonfires burned in San Antonio, and there were no sounds of music. It
seemed to Ned that the silence and darkness were sure indications of
action on the part of the foe.
He felt more lonely and depressed than at any other time hitherto in the
siege, and he was glad when Crockett and a young Tennesseean whom he
called the Bee-Hunter joined him. Crockett had not lost any of his
whimsical good humor, and when Ned suggested that Santa Anna was likely
to profit by the dark he replied:
"If he is the general I take him to be he will, or at least try, but
meanwhile we'll just wait, an' look, an' listen. That's the way to find
out if things are goin' to happen. Don't turn little troubles into big
ones. You don't need a cowskin for a calf. We'll jest rest easy. I'm
mighty nigh old enough to be your grandfather, Ned, an' I've learned to
take things as they come. I guess men of my age were talkin' this same
way five thousand years ago."
"You've seen a lot in your life, Mr. Crockett," said Ned, to whom the
Tennesseean was a great hero.
Crockett laughed low, but deep in his throat, and with much pleasure.
"So I have! So I have!" he replied, "an', by the blue blazes, I can say
it without braggin'.
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