"If they don't, my health will give way.

I'll be a-droopin' an' a-pinin' an' I'll have to go off an' fight the Comanches an' Lipans to get back my strength." But he was assured that his health would not suffer.

Mexican cavalry, a hundred strong, were coming under a captain, Castenada, sent by Ugartchea, the Mexican commander at San Antonio de Bexar.

Scouts had brought that definite news.

They were riding from the west and they would have to cross the Guadalupe before they could enter Gonzales.
There were fords, but it would be a dangerous task to attempt their passage in face of the Texan rifles.
The ferryboat was tied safely on the Gonzales side, and then the eighteen, every one a fine marksman, distributed themselves at the fords.