Ned did not recall until long afterward that it was the birthday of the great Washington.
By a singular coincidence Santa Anna appeared before Taylor with a vastly superior force on the same birthday eleven years later.
It was a hidden sun, and the day was bleak with clouds and driving winds.

Nevertheless the snow that had fallen began to disappear.

Ned and Old Jack still made their way forward, somewhat slowly now, as they were stiff and sore from the long night's fight with darkness and cold.

On his right, only a few feet away, was the swollen current of the San Antonio.

The stream looked deep to Ned, and it bore fragments of timber upon its muddy bosom.