midnight
`` Not countin ' the fact that one of us is a Ring Tailed Panther with claws a foot long an ' two sets of teeth in his mouth , '' said Palmer . `` Ride on , boys , an ' ride hard . '' They urged their horses into a gallop and sped over the prairie . At midnight they clattered into the tiny village of Gonzales on the Guadalupe River , where everybody except the little children was awake and watching . Lights flared from the cabins , and the alarm at first , lest they were Mexicans , changed to joy when they were disclosed as Texans . But the armed force of the place , though stout of heart , was pitifully small . They found only eleven men in Gonzales capable of bearing arms , and no more help could be expected before the Mexicans came the next day .