PREFACE.
My publishers want a Preface. The public is so frequently annoyed by the ill-timed and obtrusive impertinence of Prefaces, Prefatory Remarks, &c, that there seems to be a general inclination to snub authors who " indulge" in them. For my part, lest this same public should say to me, as the old story goes, " Consider yourself insulted, sir!" I should greatly prefer anticipating this with, " Consider yourself cowhided !" and be done with it, thereby saving myself the pain of inflicting, and it the pain of enduring, a " Preface."
" A thought unspoken is as a deed unacted—a thing said is done."
But then it is considered necessary that I should announce who I am.
" A Texan Ranger !" to be sure, as any body will be apt to find out who reads my book.
Is this a romance, or are these incidents real ?
A better evidence than my own assertion is that contained in the narrative itself: it bears its character on its face!
Were you ever in the Camanche country, or on such an expedition ?
Yes, both; see the numerous sketches I published three years since in the American Whig and Democratic Reviews, in which I first introduced to their readers those heroic Ranger leaders, Colonel Hays, Major Chavalier, and