The Lost Gold of the Montezumas: A Story of the AlamoStoddard, William O.
General
The Lost Gold of the Montezumas: A Story of the Alamo
Stoddard, William O.
Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.) -- Siege, 1836 -- Juvenile fiction
What, indeed, could be better for an already celebrated Lipan warrior,
intending to be a chief some day, than a whole pond of water, very
nearly a whole deer, and a good fire to cook by?
He was satisfied thus far, but there was one trait of his character
which had been showing itself ceaselessly. Red Wolf was a born
investigator. It was something more than mere curiosity. It worked
well, too, with all his training as a hunter and as a warrior, for it
led him to try and find out the meaning, if it had any, of every thing
and circumstance he might happen to meet. His eyes were hardly ever
quiet, and they were a very keen, penetrating pair of eyes.
He broiled and ate his last cutlet, went to the pond for a draught, and
then he set himself to a close study of the ruins. He went from one to
another of them rapidly at first, until he was able to say of them,
counting upon his fingers,--
"Heap old fort. Many lodges. No big gun. Heap fight one day."
What he meant by that was that in several places he had discovered
skulls and bones, which told of men who had fallen there with none to
care for their burial. Some of these were inside of the walls of the
houses. Others were scattered in the open. All were dry, white,
decayed, ready to crumble entirely.
The first inspection had been of a hasty kind, as if for fear of
interruption. When it was over, Red Wolf stood still for a moment, and
stared at the openings in the chaparral. Somebody, an old man with
white hair, for instance, ought to be coming out at one of them at
about this time. Why did he not come?
"Great Bear in bushes," he remarked. "Heap Comanche. Big Knife come.
Texan. Red Wolf want Tetzcatl."
He could not have him right away, that was plain, however much he might
want him. So he turned to the ruins for another search, and this time
he went more slowly, and scrutinized with greater care every square
foot of each in turn.
Nothing could have been left in any of them, of course, but he was on
the lookout for "sign." There seemed to be none for him to read, until
at last, in one of the most completely broken quadrangles of old walls,
he stood still and uttered a loud "Ugh!" of astonishment.
"Hole in wall," he said. "Heap dollar."
A considerable mass of _adobe_ had been shattered in falling. Just
under its former base there had been a kind of brickwork box. It had
been built over so as to conceal it completely, but it had never been
provided with either door or lid. In it had been placed a number of
deerskin bags. One of these had split in falling, and there on the
ground lay a number of silver coins. They were Spanish-Mexican
dollars, halves, quarters, all more or less blackened by corrosion,
exposed as they were to rain and sun, but all as good as ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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