Andy Jackson kept me from going back to Washington, an' so me an' these twelve good friends of mine, Tennesseans like myself, have come here to help free Texas." He reached out his hand and Ned grasped it.

The boy felt a thrill.

The name of Davy Crockett was a great one in the southwest, and here he was, face to face, hands gripped with the great borderer.
"This is Mr.Palmer, known all over Texas as the Panther, and Mr.Obed White, once of Maine, but now a Texan," said Ned, introducing his friends.
Crockett and the Panther shook hands, and looked each other squarely in the eye.
"Seems to me," said Crockett, "that you're a man." "I was jest thinkin' the same of you," said the Panther.
"An' you," said Crockett to Obed White, "are a man, too.

But they certainly do grow tall where you come from." "I'm not as wide as a barn door, but I may be long enough to reach the bottom of a well," said Obed modestly.

"Anyway, I thank you for the compliment.