Ned looked intently at Santa Anna to see how he would take the daring and truthful indictment.

But the Mexican showed no confusion, only astonishment.

He threw up his hands in a vivid southern gesture and looked at Austin in surprised reproof.
"My friend," he said in injured but not angry tones, "how can you ask me such a question?
Am I not here to protect the Texans?
Am I not President of Mexico?
Am I not head of the Mexican army?
My gallant soldiers, my horsemen with their lances and sabers, will draw a ring around the Texans through which no Comanche or Lipan, however daring, will be able to break." He spoke with such fire, such appearance of earnestness, that Ned, despite a mind uncommonly keen and analytical in one so young, was forced to believe for a moment.

Texas, however, was far and immense, and there were not enough soldiers in all America to put a ring around the wild Comanches.

But the impression remained longer with Austin, who was ever hoping for the best, and ever seeing the best in others.
Ned was a silent boy who had suffered many hardships, and he had acquired the habit of thought which in its turn brought observation and judgment.