They tethered the horses at the edge of the wood, but where they could reach the grass, and then Bowie placed numerous pickets in the wood through which an enemy must come, if he came.  Ned was in the first watch and Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther were with him.  Ned stood among the trees at a point where he could also see the river, here a beautiful, clear stream with a greenish tint.  He ate venison from his knapsack as he walked back and forth, and he watched the last rays of the sun, burning like red fire in the west, until they went out and the heavy twilight came, trailing after it the dark.

Ned’s impression of mediaevalism that he had received in the day when they were riding about San Antonio continued in the night.  They had gone back centuries.  Hidden here in this horseshoe, water on one side and wood on the other, they seemed to be in an absolutely wild and primitive world.  Centuries had rolled back.  His vivid imagination made the forest about them what it had been before the white man came.

The surface of the river was now dark.  The stream flowed gently, and without noise.  It, too, struck upon the boy’s imagination.  It would be fitting for an Indian canoe to come stealing down in the darkness, and he almost fancied he could see it there.  But no canoe came, and Ned walked back and forth in a little space, always watching the wood or the river.

The night was very quiet.  The horses, having grazed for an hour or two, now rested content.  The men not on guard, used to taking their sleep where they could find it, were already in slumber.  There was no wind.

The dark hours as usual were full of chill, but Ned’s vigorous walk back and forth kept him warm.  He was joined after a while by the famous scout, Henry Karnes, who, like “Deaf” Smith, seemed to watch all the time, although he came and went as he pleased.

“Well, boy,” said Karnes, “do you find it hard work, this watching and watching and watching for hours and hours?”

“Not at all,” replied Ned, responding to his tone of humorous kindness.  “I might have found it so once, but I don’t now.  I’m always anxious to see what will happen.”

“That’s a good spirit to have,” said Karnes, smiling, “and you need it down here, where a man must always be watching for something.  In Texas boys have to be men now.”

He walked back and forth with Ned, and the lad felt flattered that so famous a scout should show an interest in him.  The two were at the edge of the wood and they could see duskily before them a stretch of bare prairie.  Karnes was watching this open space intently, and Ned was watching it also.

The boy saw nothing, but suddenly he heard, or thought he heard, a low sound.  It was faint, but, unconsciously bending forward a little, he heard it again.  It was a metallic rattle and instantly he called the attention of Karnes to it.  The scout stopped his walk and listened.  Then Ned saw his form grow rigid and tense.