Henry had an actual place in mind for the setting
of this story. We are told four paragraphs below
that this point on the Frio is about 20 miles
from the Nueces River. Later we are told that the
Arroyo Hondo is near the Lone Wolf Crossing. Hondo
Creek enters the Frio in Frio County 5 miles from
Pearsall (about 75 miles southwest of San Antonio).
At that location the Frio and the Nueces are about
20 miles apart.]

[FOOTNOTE 66: mescal--a drug-containing liquor made by distilling
fermented agave cactus]

One day the adjutant-general of the State, who is, _ex offico_,
commander of the ranger forces, wrote some sarcastic lines to Captain
Duval of Company X, stationed at Laredo, relative to the serene and
undisturbed existence led by murderers and desperadoes in the said
captain's territory.

The captain turned the colour of brick dust under his tan, and
forwarded the letter, after adding a few comments, per ranger Private
Bill Adamson, to ranger Lieutenant Sandridge, camped at a water hole
on the Nueces with a squad of five men in preservation of law and
order.

Lieutenant Sandridge turned a beautiful _couleur de rose_ through his
ordinary strawberry complexion, tucked the letter in his hip pocket,
and chewed off the ends of his gamboge moustache.

The next morning he saddled his horse and rode alone to the Mexican