They shed good Mexican blood at the fort, Velasco, and they have attacked us elsewhere.

They do not pay their taxes or obey our decrees, and when I send my officers to make them obey they take down their long rifles." Austin smiled again, and now the watching boy thought the smile was not sad at all.

If Santa Anna took notice he gave no sign.
"But you are reasonable," continued the Mexican, and now his manner was winning to an extraordinary degree.

"It was my predecessor, Farias, who brought you here, but I would not see you go, because I love you like a brother, and now I have come to you, that between us we may calm your turbulent Texans." "But you must bear in mind," said Austin, "that our rights have been taken from us.

All the clauses of our charter have been broken, and now your Congress has decreed that we shall have only one soldier to every five hundred inhabitants and that all the rest of us shall be disarmed.
How are we, in a wild country, to protect ourselves from the Comanches, Lipans and other Indians who roam everywhere, robbing and murdering ?" Austin's face, usually so benevolent, flushed and his eyes were very bright.