He knew Santa Anna. He
would show no quarter to those who had humbled Cos and his forces at San
Antonio.
The boy was not assigned to the watch that night, but he could not sleep
for a long time. Among these borderers there was discipline, but it was
discipline of their own kind, not that of the military martinet. Ned was
free to go about as he chose, and he went to the great plaza into which
they had driven the cattle. Some supplies of hay had been gathered for
them, and having eaten they were now all at rest in a herd, packed close
against the western side of the wall.
Ned passed near them, but they paid no attention to him, and going on he
climbed upon the portion of the wall which ran close to the river. Some
distance to his right and an equal distance to his left were sentinels.
But there was nothing to keep him from leaping down from the wall or the
outside and disappearing. The Mexican investment was not yet complete.
Yet no such thought ever entered Ned's head. His best friends, Will
Allen, the Panther and Obed White, were out there somewhere, if they
were still alive, but his heart was now here in the Alamo with the
Texans.
He listened intently, but he heard no sound of any Mexican advance.
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