Read Online Gone to Texas by Don Worcester - Free Book Online Page A

morning, Ellis was sure his time had come, but he slowly recovered. He was fed only a little bread and gruel mornings, and soup and a chicken’s head nights. As he recovered he was ravenously hungry, but the volume of his food wasn’t increased.
    One evening a monk with a shaved head brought Ellis his usual fare. Famished and feeling desperate, Ellis, who happened to be out of the stocks, arose. “Why is it that the only part of the chicken you ever give me is the head?” he growled.
    â€œEat it or go to Hell for more,” the monk retorted. Enraged, Ellis flung his bowl, striking the monk’s shaved head. While the monk howled in pain, Ellis threw his water pot at him but missed. Weakened by the fever, he fell back on his mat. A sergeant entered the room and put Ellis’ neck in the stocks, where it remained for fifteen days. He regretted not killing the monk, for then they would have shot him and ended his troubles. While his neck was in the stocks the chinces bit the skin off it, leaving it raw.
    When Ellis was released from the hospital, two soldiers armed only with sabers escorted him back to the castle. At the edge of town they came to a house where a woman sold beer. Ellis invited the soldiers to have some, and they gladly accepted. Determined to escape, Ellis asked one of the soldiers to accompany him to the garden behind the house. Catching him off guard, Ellis held his knife to the man’s throat and seized his saber.
    â€œWhat are you going to do?” the frightened soldier asked.
    â€œI’m leaving. Why don’t you come with me?”
    â€œI will. If I don’t Colonel Carreño will put me in your place.” Seeing that the soldier really didn’t plan to accompany him, Ellis gave him a peso and told him to buy some bread for the journey. Then he fled to the woods before the soldier could return with others and arrest him. With the steel he used to strike fire, he removed the chains from his legs. He hid in the woods all day, listening to the birds and smelling the flowers. At night he slipped into town and bought bread, cheese, and a gourd of brandy. Two men in the shop were talking in English, so Ellis waited for them outside. They were Irishmen, and told him they were crewmen on a privateer that had just arrived from Peru.
    â€œWill your captain talk to me?” Ellis asked.
    â€œCome with us and we’ll ask him,” one of the men replied. They walked to the house where the captain was staying. He invited Ellis to his room.
    â€œAre you Mexican?” he asked.
    â€œNo, American.” The captain looked surprised.
    â€œBut you speak Spanish so well,” he said.
    â€œI’ve been a prisoner for years,” Ellis told him, “Eight or nine, maybe more. I’ve lost track of time.
    The captain shook his head sympathetically.
    â€œWill you take me with you when you sail?” Ellis asked. “I’ve got to get away before they find me. I don’t want to die in that hole.”
    â€œI’ll take you, but I can’t talk any longer now. Meet my men at the wharf tomorrow night. They’ll take you out to the brig and hide you. We sail at noon.”
    After hiding in the woods all day and reveling in his freedom, Ellis met the two Irishmen at night, and once on board the brig they hid him in an empty water barrel. At last I’m going to get away, he thought, and anxiously waited for the brig to weigh anchor. Cramped and uncomfortable, he remained there all night as the ship rose and fell with the tide. At mid-morning he heard voices, and soon knew that a patrol had come to see if he was on board. Ellis held his breath and tried to make himself smaller. When he heard the patrol leave, he exhaled. Only a couple of hours more before we sail, he thought. He relaxed and tried not to think.
    But the patrol returned, and Ellis shivered as he heard the clanking of swords and heavy footsteps on the deck. A voice said, “I