IOIO 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 27, 1908. 
on foot—a thing so totally unusual for the time 
and place. 
When Jose was brought into the presence of 
Senor O’Connor, he had decided to tell the 
whole truth. He told O’Connor that he was a 
Mexican from Bexar (now called San Antonio); 
that he started from Bexar in his canoe, loaded 
with honey, to come down the San Antonio 
River to the Guadalupe, thence by the different 
bays to Matagorda, where he had expected to 
sell his honey and then get a job among the 
Matagorda colony. But as he came near the 
Caranchua camp they halted him and made him 
prisoner. They consumed his honey and made 
a slave of him. He had not dared to try to run 
away from them, as he did not know where to 
go, nor whom to go to. And now they had 
sent him on an errand for them, all of which 
he would explain. They had told Jose that at 
or near the ranch there was a herd of horses 
during the night, while O’Connor and his men 
would all be asleep. 
The Indians had also cautioned Jose how to 
approach the pen in the darkness without 
awakening the pack of dogs. Jose said that he 
was trying to obey the orders of the Caranchua 
chief when Juan made him a prisoner. 
“But,” said Jose, “now I am clear away from 
the Caranchuas, and I do not owe them any¬ 
thing but to pay them for their treatment of 
me. I am ready to guide a hostile party to their 
camp, and if you will let me do it, I will lead 
your clan into a position that we can kill every 
one.” 
O’Connor was a good judge of men. I was 
personally acquainted with him for more than 
thirty years. He believed every thing that Jose 
had told him, and Jose had evidently told the 
truth. Then O’Connor hurriedly sent messen¬ 
gers to each settler that he felt sure could be 
VOYAGERS RETURNING HOME. 
From a photograph by Thomas A. Reynolds. 
that they wanted possession of; that the horses 
belonged to Senor O’Connor. They directed 
Jose to be careful that no one should see him, 
as discovery would be certain death to- him. 
They had explained to Jose that there were 
four swells of ground between their camp and 
the O’Connor ranch; that when he had passed 
over three of those swells he must be careful 
and wait there till it was dark enough to safely 
go further. And as soon as it was well dark, 
then Jose would pass over the last one and go 
to the pen where O’Connor enclosed his horses 
every night. They had explained to Jose the 
position of the horse pen and that O’Connor 
had a bell on a very gentle animal of the herd. 
So he could go up to the bell horse easily, after 
they were in the pen, and that O’Connor would 
have them in the pen before dark. Then after it 
became dark enough to make it safe for him to 
do so, Jose was to slip carefully up to the pen 
and take the bell off the bell horse, so that it 
could not raise an alarm while they were taking 
the horses away; and thus they thought to be 
able to slyly steal the entire herd and get away 
depended upon. He sent also to Refugio, a 
small town about twenty miles distant. I think 
that they were nearly all Irishmen, like Tom 
O’Connor himself. The men promptly hurried 
to the O’Connor ranch. Jose had been kept se¬ 
cure for possible developments. 
When the entire clan had assembled at the 
O’Connor ranch, they held a consultation. 
They called in Jose and heard him tell his story. 
They questioned him closely and unanimously 
agreed to admit him in full confidence. They 
then requested Jose to express himself fully 
and freely, and give them what he considered 
the best plan to be pursued. Jose replied sub¬ 
stantially, as follows: 
“I know that those Caranchuas would kill 
me in a minute if they could unless I could con¬ 
vince them that I have been true to them. Now 
let me tell you. I know their camp and its 
surroundings, and I know well the entire ground 
from the camp to the edge of the forest. I can 
guide you to the very spot after we get to the 
timber, but I do not know the prairie on this 
side of the timber. I propose that we all start 
together at a time of day that will bring us to 
the timber border a little after dark. Then 
from the edge of the timber I had better go 
alone, while you all remain quiet till I return. 
I will go on to the place where they have an 
outside guard when they are looking for trouble. 
If there should be no one there, then I shall 
know that they are not looking for any 
trouble, and will come back to you, and we will 
all go on together for a short distance, after 
which I had better go on ahead of you at least 
a hundred "yards. We shall not be likely to meet 
any of them on the way, but we must be care¬ 
ful. If I should meet any of them while ahead 
of you I can tell them of my escape and return 
to them. They will believe me and receive me 
gladly. Then we will have a noisy talk, and I 
will shout with pretended gladness. In that 
case you will know what to do. I think it would 
be best to keep quiet till I get a chance to come 
back to you. You will know about that. There 
would not be more than two or three of them 
anyhow. Oh! we shall get them. But I be¬ 
lieve that we can go right to the camp before we 
shall meet any of them. If so, then when we get 
nearly there, I will slip on ahead and see if 
everything is all right and none of them will 
know that I am about. If I should be dis¬ 
covered I can manage that by making them be¬ 
lieve that I have returned to them, and we will 
be uproarious with joy at my safe return, and 
you must rush up at once and take them by 
surprise. 
“But I think that I can get right in to the 
camp without being discovered. In that case, I 
can go to the tent where they keep their bows 
and I will cut every string twice, so there can 
be no splicing, and then slip back to you. 
Then I shall know exactly how everything is 
there and we can run in. on them with our 
double-barrel shotguns and clean out the whole 
pack.” 
As soon as Jose had finished his talk, it was 
unanimously hailed as the right thing, and every 
arrangement was hastened to carry out the plan 
that Jose had given. A double-barrel shotgun, 
a brace of pistols and a dirk constituted the 
armament of each one. (Revolvers were then 
unknown in Texas.) More determined men 1 
never set out to do anything than that party of 
desperate men as they followed Jose toward the 
Caranchua camp. And old Juan was with them. 
They reached the border of the timber, about 
three miles from the Caranchua camp, soon after 
dark. There was no miscarriage of the plan 
upon which they had set out. Jose quietly 
entered the Caranchua camp grounds without 
discovery. He succeeded in cutting every bow 
string. He saw that they had a great fire of 
unusual brightness. They had butchered a beef. 
Long ropes were arranged and were hung full 
of beef cut in slender strips to be cured over the 
fire. All was hilarity in the Caranchua camp; 
no thought of danger seemed to be in the mind 
of any of them. 
Jose hastened back to his comrades and told 
them that all things were ready. Then the at¬ 
tacking party hastened forward as quietly as 
possible without having been discovered and 
sent a shower of leaden missiles into the Caran¬ 
chuas as they stood around the fire. Many fell 
at the first discharge. The remainder hastened 
to their bows and found them useless instru¬ 
ments. Also they had run upon a group of 
