he (Jordan) even think of such a thing of them? They declared that his informer must be a personal enemy of theirs who wished to ruin them. The two Mexican colonels asserted most positively that they were on the most direct route to Saltillo and that there was no gorge in their direction. They declared, with hurt pride, that their intentions were honorable. Nevertheless, the course was changed, and the Texans, with their allies, crossed the Sierra del Cuauhchichil, passed through the small farm known as La Hedionda, and approached Saltillo, from the south-southeast without further incident, except that within one days march of Saltillo, Molano stated that the road ahead was fortified and that it would be necessary to diverge from the main route. A circuitous route was pursued until midnight when the Federalists halted at la ranchería de la Potosí the 22nd of October. The ranch abounded in forage and provisions. Here, in the vicinity of Buena Vista, made memorable a few years later in the war between the United States and Mexico, the Federalists remained until eight o'clock the next morning, within six miles of Saltillo. Doctor Shields Booker came in during the evening bearing an express from Canales with orders to take possession of the country and collect contributions from the enemy.[103]  After much insistence on the part of Jordan, Molano now reluctantly ordered the boxes containing the captured guns to be opened and the muskets to be distributed to those whose arms were in poor condition. Ammunition was also distributed, but in such small quantities as to give general dissatisfaction.

Once more Jordan was warned against impending treachery. A Mexican soldier who had been detained sick at Victoria de Tamaulipas arrived in the Texan camp at la hacienda de la Potosí before Saltillo, bearing dispatches from an unknown person, who warned that the Mexican colonels were in correspondence with the Centralists. For some time the Texans had realized that Molano and López were in receipt of letters daily, and that the Texan officers never received any. Strong suspicions developed that Jordan's mail was being intercepted and destroyed. As a result Jordan protested, and thereafter "forged letters were prepared & delivered to him to allay his suspicions."[104]  The new rumor of a "plot" deepened and greatly excited the suspicions of