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Updated: May 20, 2025
"Yes, much glad." The Indian looked at one and another of the party. "Where little brudder Raf?" "Ralph is missing," put in Lieutenant Radbury; and then added, quickly, "Do you know anything of him, Big Foot?" The Indian nodded slowly. "You do!" "Yes, see little Raf wid Mexican soldiers." "With the Mexican soldiers!" cried father and son, simultaneously. "You are certain?"
"I think he is getting off easy," observed Dan, when it became known under what conditions the Mexican commander was leaving. "I don't believe he would be so considerate with us." "Not by a long shot," put in Poke Stover. "He'd be for treating us wuss nor prairie-dogs." "Well, it is always best to be considerate," said Amos Radbury.
Then of a sudden his weapon dropped to his side. "Dan! Dan Radbury! What in thunder are you doing out here?" At first Dan did not hear the call, for the hoof-strokes of the mustang made considerable noise on the rocks over which he was clattering. But then the youth caught sight of the old frontiersman and his face beamed with joy. "Poke Stover! and is it really you?" he exclaimed. "Yes.
The volunteers, as they were called, were formed into a regiment, with John H. Moore as colonel. Old Colonel Milam, who had just arrived from Goliad, was made chief of a band of scouts, men who did valiant service from the beginning to the end of the war. It was to this regiment that Mr. Radbury became attached, and Dan and Ralph rode down to Gonzales to see their parent join. As Mr.
Then came the cry, "To shelter!" and Milam's men, about a hundred and forty strong, broke into the nearest mansion, which was that of De La Garcia. "Drop!" The cry came from Poke Stover, and he called to Amos Radbury, as he saw a Mexican in the act of picking off the lieutenant from the garden of a residence opposite to that of De La Garcia.
He was a short, stocky fellow, with a tangled head of hair and wolfish eyes which betrayed the Comanche blood that flowed in his veins from his mother's side. "Who are you?" demanded the man, hardly knowing what to say, so completely had he been taken by surprise. "I am Dan Radbury, as you know very well. This is my brother Ralph, and he shot the deer you are carrying off."
But as report after report came in of the advance of Santa Anna with a large force, he felt that it would be useless to give battle, and began to fall back toward the Colorado River, hoping there to be joined by Fannin and others. He took with him most of the inhabitants of Gonzales, and the town was left behind in flames. With the army went Amos Radbury and Dan, both well mounted and well armed.
It is needless to add that the Parkers were deeply affected over the loss of Henry. As Dan and Stover were about to start for the trail leading up the Guadalupe, they met Amos Radbury riding post-haste into Gonzales. "My son!" cried the father, joyfully. "And Poke, too! I was afraid you were dead!" "We came close enough to it, father," answered Dan.
This was the straw which broke the camel's back, so far as Hank Stiger was concerned, and with much hesitation he told his story, which in substance was as follows: About six months before, he had fallen in with a man of mixed American and Spanish blood named Carlos Martine, who was anxious to obtain possession of a large grant of land on the Guadalupe from the Radbury claim northward.
Usually the frontiersman spoke fair English, but at times he dropped into the vernacular of the plains. "I hope he doesn't go back to the cabin, now it's deserted," put in Ralph. "He may do that!" burst out Dan. "I never thought of it before." And he mentioned the matter to his father. "He will hardly dare to go back, for other settlers will be coming up from time to time," said Mr. Radbury.
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