The Panther grinned in the dusk. He and Davy Crockett had instantly
recognized congenial souls, each in the other.

"I can't promise you that thar'll be rippin' an' t'arin' an' roarin' an'
chawin' all the time," he said, "but between you an' me, Davy Crockett,
I've an' idee that we're not goin' to any sort of prayer meetin' this
time of night."

"No, I'm thinkin' not," said Crockett, "but if there is a scene of
turbulence before us lead on. I'm prepared for my share in it. The
debate may be lively, but I've no doubt that I'll get my chance to
speak. There are many ways to attract the attention of the Speaker.
Pardon me, Mr. Panther, but I fall naturally into the phrases of
legislative halls."

"I remember that you served two terms in Congress at Washington," said
the Panther.

"An' I'd be there yet if it wasn't for Andy Jackson. I wanted my way in
Tennessee politics an' he wanted his. He was so stubborn an' headstrong
that here I am ready to become a statesman in this new Texas which is
fightin' for its independence. An' what a change! From marble halls in
Washington to a night in the brush on the frontier, an' with an unknown
enemy before you."

They stopped talking now and, kneeling down in a thicket, began to creep
forward. The cabin was not more than four or five hundred yards away,
but a long silence had succeeded the latest shots, and after an advance
of thirty or forty yards they lay still for a while. Then they heard two
shots ahead of them, and saw little pink dots of flame from the