Such a rush would have been their best chance for crushing Bowie's men in any case, but the charging warriors found no Texans to crush. Wild were the whoops of wrath and disappointment, but Great Bear himself was equal to the occasion. His face expressed strong admiration of such a feat of generalship, and he said, loudly,-- "Ugh! Big Knife great chief! Getaway heap! Comanche tired now. Find Texan by and by." There was no help for it. The only thing to do was to rest and to eat, for immediate pursuit was out of the question. Miles and miles away, an hour or so later, in another camping place as good as the one they had left, the white riflemen also were taking it easy. They had plenty of buffalo cutlets to broil; they had distanced their pursuers, and they were contented. "Boys," remarked Colonel Bowie, "we've gained a whole day's ride on 'em if we work it right." "All right, colonel," responded Joe; "but when that young Lipan rid in last night I begun to wish I was back in the Alamo. My skelp felt loose." "He's a buster," remarked Jim Cheyne; "but I'm right down glad his dad is here. Best guide we could git." As for Red Wolf himself, he was sitting apart from the rest. After all, he was only a boy and all these others were distinguished warriors. CHAPTER XI. THE CHARGE OF THE LANCERS. Days that go by with nothing in them but steady riding, buffalo-killing, and undisturbed camps at the end of each day may be very pleasant but they are not exciting. As Colonel Bowie remarked to his men, however,-- "A squad like ours, mounted as we are, can get ahead faster than a big band like Great Bear's. They'll send scouting-parties ahead, but we can keep out of their way. We're making first-rate time." So they were, and they were also carefully keeping their horses in good condition for any required run. They carried no baggage, and they had now, they thought, a long "start" ahead of their Comanche pursuers. The most silent rider among them, not excepting Castro himself, was Red Wolf, and it was not altogether because he was a boy. The fact was that he had been seeing and hearing a great deal, and that he was full to bursting with the spirit of adventure which all the while spoke out in the talk of the Texans.