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Duncan went back to making hats and repairing guns. It’ll take years to hear from Spain, Ellis brooded. By then I’ll be an old man. Why don’t they just shoot us?
    Months passed and rumors floated about, but nothing happened. Some said that Salcedo hadn’t sent the papers to Spain, and they’d never be freed; that was easy to believe. Duncan was called to the village of Aldama to repair the weapons of a detachment of troops stationed there, a task that would take several months. Fero and House again exchanged letters about a plan for escaping. “William Danlin and I are thinking of trying to get away,” House told Ellis.
    â€œMe too,” Ellis replied. He got permission to go to San Carlos, where he made escape plans for Duncan, House, and himself. Between them, Ellis and Duncan had purchased, through Mexican friends, four horses and three guns.
    Before attempting to escape, House and the other prisoners in Chihuahua decided to petition Salcedo to release them. An obliging priest wrote in Spanish a lengthy explanation of how they’d come to accompany Nolan to Texas, explaining that he had assured them he had permission and a passport, and that he had been allowed to enter Texas a number of times before. They had no reason to doubt his word until they met a Spanish patrol searching for them, and then it was too late to back out. While waiting to learn Salcedo’s response, Fero and Cooley again wrote House concerning escape plans. From San Carlos, Ellis wrote to Duncan in Aldama and to House in Chihuahua that he had the preparations nearly complete, and that two soldiers had agreed to desert and accompany them. They were to meet at an old church when the day came, and from there set out on their journey. He entrusted the letters to a villager, who delivered Duncan’s at Aldama before continuing on to Chihuahua with the letter to House. Duncan hurried his work along so he could return to Chihuahua in time to join the escape party.
    Tom House was sick and stretched out on a mat in the adobe house that served as his blacksmith shop, when a sergeant and squad of soldiers entered. “Stay where you are,” the sergeant ordered in Spanish, and gathered up the letters on a little table that served as a desk.
    â€œWhat’s goin’ on?” House asked in broken Spanish.
    â€œI shouldn’t tell you, perhaps,” the sergeant replied, “but one of your countrymen—the one with a nose like a hawk—took General Salcedo a letter from Señor Bean to you. The General ordered us to see what we could find here and arrest you. That’s all I know.”
    â€œNose like a hawk,” House muttered. “That can only be that son-of-a-bitch Waters. I’ll cut off his balls for this, if he has any.” The soldiers escorted him to the guardhouse.
    At Aldama, Duncan learned that Ellis, Cooley, and Fero had been arrested in San Carlos, and hastily burned the letter from Ellis. If they force him to talk about our escape plans, they’ll come for me next, Duncan thought. Every time he saw soldiers he expected to be arrested, but he was allowed to finish his work and return to Chihuahua, where he found House in the hospital, in bad shape.
    One day, Ellis’ cell door opened and a guard helped Joel Pierce through it and lowered him to the floor, for he was too weak to stand alone. Ellis recoiled in horror at the sight.
    â€œI’m dying, Ellis,” Joel gasped as he lay on the floor. “I’ll never see my wife again. I didn’t expect to find you a prisoner, but at least I’ll die in the company of a friend and a countryman.”
    Ellis had a little money in his pocket, and he persuaded the guard to buy some wine and bread. After Joel drank a little wine and ate some bread, he was able to sit up. Ellis gazed at him sadly—he was little more than a skeleton; there was no doubt that he hadn’t long to live.
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