The Texan Scouts

Book excerpt: The Texan Scouts by Joseph A. Altsheler is the story of the Battle at the Alamo. Altsheler's cow rancher hero Ned must survive and watch as his town crumbles at the hands of war. Excerpt: "The horseman rode slowly toward the west, stopping once or twice to examine the wide circle of the horizon with eyes that were trained to note every aspect of the wilderness. On his right, the plains melted away in gentle swell after swell, until they met the horizon. Their brown surface was broken only by the spiked and thorny cactus and stray bits of chaparral. On his left was the wide bed of a river that flowed through the sand, breaking here and there into several streams, and then reuniting, only to scatter its volume a hundred yards further into three or four channels. A bird of prey flew on strong wings over the water, dipped, and then rose again, but there was no other sign of life. Beyond, the country southward rolled away, gray and bare, sterile and desolate."