The Silent Rifleman! A tale of the Texan prairies

hat brief space, almost all the actions and adventures of a not uneventful life had passed th

me, that we may talk matters over. By something you let fall a while ago, it seems that you have been expecting to meet me at San Antonio, although I knew it not,

derstand that,

s of any kind, least of all for military titles, when not backed by military rank a

you that we have counted all along for

t very definite place, which you call your journey's end, b

or's camp, of course-wh

company you have with you. You do not really mean to say that you contemplate carrying that

s headquarters; and she h

wont to use, and starting to his feet, half indignant and half astonished. "Did I understand you aright

nettled a little by the manner of the questioner, and shaking off

er, he was reputed to be worth a

r Gordon, "he was reputed to be

pt since then, or a beggar?

raire, he is, all but one or two, th

e you his daughter for a wife, and n

did give her to me," s

she was

I will substitute a short

let us

king and half love, grew up between us-not altogether childish either; for it constantly increased during the three years which I spent in the city, until it became a powerful passion. When I entered the army, on the first raising of the second dragoon regiment, and before leaving the city for the north-west, I had an explanation with the colonel; and it was understood, and a

Orleans, although my brain and my heart were both on fire to do so. Three months since I received, the first time for nearly a year, a short, hurried, agonizing note from Julia, entreating me to come near her, without an instant's delay, as her mistress was too great to be endured, and one way or other she must release her

lectual powers from his once glorious standard, as to have made a coloured woman-his own emancipated slave, and formerly his mistress-his lawful wife and the partner of his fortunes; placing her openly at

Lord that liveth, if neither argument nor entreaty should have been power to prevail over such low and beast-like passion, my hand-my own hand, which

r husband would find some means to frustrate the enormities she had planned so artfully, and secure a share at least of the partial old man's fortunes. I had an interview with him, though not without much difficulty; I offered to forego all-to sign away all claim on her behalf and my own, provided he would give me her hand, portionless and alone. For a while I thought I had prevailed; but the fiend entered the room, and I saw the old man quail before the gaze of her fierce, snake-like eye, and all was lost. Th

, to Natchez, and thence to Natchitoches, where by good fortune I found the little squad of dragoons who escort me, making their way down the river to join my party, which they had been detailed

ld me that if you would undertake it, you could guide us in sa

bout it. The idea of Pierre Delacroix refusing to guide or assist a lady in the midst of dan

e so muc

d the fences, and all the way towards Encinos, there are not less than a thousand men scattered about in little bands, from six to fifty and upward. And now,

you have n

agoons in the United States, or out of it. Do what I bid you, and then get to

o do his bidding, much to the delight of the unfortunate dragoon, who was pacing up and down with hi

to his tent and his fair bride; and, in doing s

is pistol in the other, ready for instant defense on the least alarm; and, with his head rest

d the broad, lustrous, Northern moon, sailing in a flood of silver glory through the azur