Anything could happen in San Antonio. It is one of the oldest cities in the United States, and ever since the day the Spaniard founded it, has been a hotbed of intrigue. Just at this time there were fully twenty thousand troops stationed in the various Camps about the City, and in order to impress the Mexicans with the idea that we were not altogether helpless, it had been suggested that a patriotic military parade be given. This was to take place the following day, and I had spent many hours helping to arrange the details. And now, my mysterious "friend" had told me over the 'phone that he knew certain parties were plotting to throw a bomb into the parade; that if I would go to the certain house named by him, I would find a meeting of the plotters in progress!
There was no time to be wasted. I got in touch with one of my lieutenants, M, and asked him to meet me in half an hour, and to come armed. Before leaving the office I sent for a couple of suits of overalls, one of which I donned, and when I met M, I gave him the other.
I told him all that I knew, and he realized that it was serious. We parked our car about two blocks from the house designated by my informant, and approached it afoot. The neighborhood was questionable. The house to which I had been directed stood a few feet back from the street in a neglected tangle of shrubbery. There was a fence about the property, but no gate. It was a small frame shack with two rooms in front and a third forming an ell. We walked around it cautiously several times, and finally discovered a light in the ell. The blinds were all tightly closed, and it was but a faint glimmer through a crack that we saw. We crawled carefully to the gallery and each looked through the crack.
We could barely distinguish the forms of five men huddled over an oil stove in the middle of the room. Three were in overalls and had the appearance of laborers; one wore a shabby old suit of civilian clothes, and the fifth appeared to be in uniform. Their heads were close together and they seemed to be talking in low tones, but neither M nor I could distinguish a word that was said.
There was a door a few feet from where we were, and I noticed another one on the opposite side of the room. I told M to go around to the other door and I would remain where I was. If either of us was able to distinguish any suspicious words, or if we found any reason to suspect that the five men were actually plotting, a low whistle was to be the signal to the other, and simultaneously we were to break in the door and rush them.
