"
[2] The loadstone in the bosom is a charm against evil; the
bringer of good fortune.
"He, and he only, was the man to go. Ere he left, he said
some strange words. I shall not, as a Mexican, forget them.
In the midst of the men he stood like a god, with his
great stature, and his bright, strong face. One cannot think
of him as of a common mortal. Indeed, I will confess that I
could only compare him with the Efreet in the Arabian tale,
`whose nostrils were like trumpets, his eyes like lamps, and
who had dishevelled, dust colored hair'"
"But, to proceed; what were the strange words?"
"Thus he spoke, and his voice rang out like a clarion:
"`You will fight as men fight for their homes, and their
wives, and their children, but also--remember this--the idea
of Texas is in the American heart! Two generations they have
carried it there! It is your destiny to make the idea a fact!
As far back as eighteen nineteen, Adams wanted Texas. When
Adams became president, he told Poinsett to offer Mexico a
million of dollars for Texas. Clay would have voted three
millions. Van Buren, in eighteen twenty-nine, told Poinsett
to offer five millions for Texas. I went to Washington that
year, and proposed to revolutionize Texas. I declare to you
that the highest men in the land were of my mind.
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