"We'll give them a surprise," said Dan to one of the young men, a _ranchero_ named Henry Parker. He had known Henry Parker for over a year, and the two were warm friends. "Or get a surprise," was the answer. "They may be watching us just as hard as we are watching them." "Pooh! I am not afraid of a greaser!" "Neither am I. But it will pay to be careful." They had passed the ford, and now in the utter darkness the little band made its way through the brush toward the spot where the Mexican command had been in camp before the fog settled down. Coming closer, the Texans were spread out in a sort of skirmish line, with the four-pounder in the centre. Dan and his friend were on the extreme right, down by the water's edge. Here there was more than one little inlet to cross, and while Dan's horse was picking his steps the youth fancied he detected a sudden movement among the bushes overhanging the water's edge. [Illustration: "'HOLD ON!' HE CRIED TO HENRY PARKER. 'SOMETHING IS IN THAT BUSH!'"] "Hold on," he cried to Henry Parker. "Something is in that bush." "Man or beast?" whispered Henry, and placed his hand to the trigger of his gun. "I can't say. Wait till I investigate." Leaving his mustang in his friend's care, Dan leaped to the ground and ran close to the bushes. As he did this, he stumbled into a hole and fell. He picked himself up, and while doing so heard a splash and saw some dark object disappear beneath the river's surface. "Come here! Something is up!" he called to Henry, and at once his friend complied, and both ran down to the water's edge and strained their eyes to pierce the gloom and the fog. "What did you see?" "Something slipped into the water, and I am half of the opinion it was a man." "Then it must have been a Mexican!" "To be sure. Stay here and watch, and I'll go down the stream a bit. He ought to come up soon." Dan had hardly spoken when he espied a head coming up but thirty or forty feet away. It was the head of a Mexican soldier, evidently a spy. "Halt there!" cried Dan. "Come back here, or I'll fire!" It is doubtful if he would have fired on the swimmer, having no desire to open the war in person, but his threat had considerable effect. "No shoota me!" cried the Mexican. "No shoota!" And then he continued to talk in Spanish, which Dan and his friend understood, but imperfectly. "I want you to come back here," went on the youth, and he pointed his gun. At this the Mexican dove out of sight, not to come up for a distance of a rod or more. "Shoot him--you have the right," urged Henry. "Or else I'll do it." "Don't, Henry, it might be murder. Besides, we were ordered not to discharge any firearms until we received orders. A shot down here would alarm the whole Mexican camp." "But we don't want that rascal to escape, Dan." "I have it." Dan looked around and soon found several fair-sized stones. "Come back at once!" he ordered, and, taking aim, he let drive with one of the stones.