face to face, hands gripped with the great borderer.

"This is Mr. Palmer, known all over Texas as the Panther, and Mr. Obed
White, once of Maine, but now a Texan," said Ned, introducing his
friends.

Crockett and the Panther shook hands, and looked each other squarely in
the eye.

"Seems to me," said Crockett, "that you're a man."

"I was jest thinkin' the same of you," said the Panther.

"An' you," said Crockett to Obed White, "are a man, too. But they
certainly do grow tall where you come from."

"I'm not as wide as a barn door, but I may be long enough to reach the
bottom of a well," said Obed modestly. "Anyway, I thank you for the
compliment. Praise from Sir Davy is sweet music in my ear, indeed. And
since we Texans have to stand together, and since to stand together we
must know about one another, may I ask you, Mr. Crockett, which way you
are going?"

"We had an idea that we would go to San Antonio," said Crockett, "but
I'm never above changin' my opinion. If you think it better to go
somewhere else, an' can prove it, why me an' Betsy an' the whole crowd
are ready to go there instead."

"What would you say?" asked the Panther, "if we told you that Santa Anna
an' 7,000 men were on the Rio Grande ready to march on San Antonio?"