But a boy in years, the man
nevertheless replaced the boy in his mind. He had looked upon the face
of awful things, so awful that few men could bear to behold them.
There was a certain hardening of his nature now. As he ran, and while
the feeling of horror was still upon him, the thought of vengeance
swelled into a passion. The Texans must strike back for what had been
done in the Alamo. Surely all would come when they heard the news that
he was bringing.
He believed that the Texans, and they must be assembled in force
somewhere, would be toward the east or the southeast, at Harrisburg or
Goliad or some other place. He would join them as soon as he could, and
he slackened his pace to a walk. He was too good a borderer now to
exhaust himself in the beginning.
He was overpowered after a while by an immense lethargy. A great
collapse, both physical and mental, came after so much exhaustion. He
felt that he must rest or die. The night was mild, as the spring was now
well advanced in Texas, and he sought a dense thicket in which he might
lie for a while. But there was no scrub or chaparral within easy reach,
and his feeling of lassitude became so great that he stopped when he
came to a huge oak and lay down under the branches, which spread far and
low.
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