John caught fire as spirit catches fire. His blood boiled as he
listened, his fingers were handling his weapons. He must see Phyllis
and go. That little band of eight hundred Americans gathered round
Sam Houston, and defying Santa Anna to enslave them, filled his mind.
He could see them retreating across the country, always interposing
themselves between their families and the foe; hasting toward the
settlements on the Trinity River, carrying their wounded and children
as best they could. Every man, women, and child called him; and he
cast his lot in with theirs, never caring what woe or weal it might
bring him.
The Bishop had promised to call at the hotel for him about four
o'clock. John went no farther. He sat there all day talking over the
circumstances of Texas. Nor could the Bishop resist the enthusiasm.
In fact, the condition of the Texans touched him on its religious side
very keenly. For the fight was quite as much a fight for religious
as for political freedom. Never in old Spain itself had priestcraft
wielded a greater power than the Roman priesthood in Texas. They hated
and feared an emigration of Americans, for they knew them to be men
opposed to tyranny of all kinds, men who thought for themselves, and
who would not be dictated to by monks and priests. It was, without
doubt, the clerical element which had urged on the military element
to the massacre at the Alamo and at Goliad.
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