Such they undoubtedly were to him.
"The Mexicans will be at Gonzales to-morrow," said one of the men.

"The place, as you know, has refused to give up its cannon and has defied them, but it's almost bare of men.

I don't think they have a dozen there." "The battle is generally to the strong if they get there in time," said Obed, "and here are seven of us on good horses." "Not countin' the fact that one of us is a Ring Tailed Panther with claws a foot long an' two sets of teeth in his mouth," said Palmer.
"Ride on, boys, an' ride hard." They urged their horses into a gallop and sped over the prairie.

At midnight they clattered into the tiny village of Gonzales on the Guadalupe River, where everybody except the little children was awake and watching.

Lights flared from the cabins, and the alarm at first, lest they were Mexicans, changed to joy when they were disclosed as Texans.
But the armed force of the place, though stout of heart, was pitifully small.