desperate character, he was feared, and, of course, courted by his
fellow Texans.

Perceiving that he could not succeed in his views so long as the girl
was with her father, he contrived to throw the old man into gaol, and
inducing her to come to his house to see what could be done to release
him, he abused her most shamefully, using blows and violence to
accomplish his purpose, to such a degree, that he left her for dead.
Towards the evening, she regained some strength, and found a shelter in
the dwelling of some humane Mexican.

The old Indian was soon liberated: he found his daughter, but it was on
her death-bed, and then he learned the circumstances of the shameful
transaction, and deeply vowed revenge. A Mexican gentleman, indignant at
such a cowardly deed, in the name of outraged nature and humanity, laid
the cause before a jury of Texans. The doctor was acquitted by the Texan
jury, upon the ground that the laws were not made for the benefit of the
Comanches.

The consequences may be told in a few words. One day Dr. Cobbet was
found in an adjoining field stabbed to the heart and scalped. The Indian
had run away, and meeting with a party of Comanches, he related his
wrongs and his revenge. They received him again into the tribe, but the
injury was a national one, not sufficiently punished: that week
twenty-three Texans lost their scalps, and fourteen women were carried
into the wilderness, there to die in captivity.

The Comanche chief advised us to keep close to the shores of the Rio
Grande, that we might not meet with the parties of the Pawnee Loups; and
so much was he pleased with us, that he resolved to turn out of his way