We won't take the fight to them. They must bring it to us."
Ned blushed. Meanwhile the afternoon dragged on, slow and silent, as the
morning had been.
CHAPTER XIII
THE TEXANS
Late in the afternoon Ned's nerves began to affect him again. Once more,
the old longing for action took such strong hold upon him that he could
not cast it off for a long time. But he hid his face from Obed. He did
not want his older comrade to see that he was white and trembling.
Finally, he took some food from his pack and bit fiercely upon it, as he
ate. It was not for the food that he cared, but it was a relief to bring
his teeth together so hard. Obed looked at him approvingly.
"You're setting a good example, Ned," he said, "and I'll follow it."
He too ate, and then took a satisfactory drink from his water bottle.
Meanwhile the sun was setting in a cloudless sky, and both noticed with
satisfaction that it would be a clear night. Eyes, trained like theirs,
could see even in the dusk an enemy trying to creep upon them.
"Do you think you could sleep a while, Ned?" said Obed, persuasively.
"Of course, I'll awake you at the first alarm, if the alarm itself
doesn't do it. Sleep knits us up for the fray, and a man always wants to
be at his best when he goes into battle.
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