General Castrillon, a brave man, sought to drive
them back, but neither blows nor oaths availed. Santa Anna himself came
and made many threats, but the men would not stir. They preferred
punishment to the sure death that awaited them from the muzzles of the
Texan rifles.
The light puffs of rifle smoke were quickly gone, and once more the town
with the people watching on the flat roofs came into full view. A wind
burst out the folds of the red flag of no quarter on the tower of the
church of San Fernando, but Ned paid no attention to it now. He was
watching for Santa Anna's next move.
"That's a bridge that will never be built," said Davy Crockett. "'Live
an' learn' is a good sayin', I suppose, but a lot of them Mexicans
neither lived nor learned. It's been a great day for 'Betsy' here."
Travis, the commander, showed elation.
"I think Santa Anna will realize now," he said, "that he has neither a
promenade nor a picnic before him. Oh, if we only had six or seven
hundred men, instead of less than a hundred and fifty!"
"We must send for help," said Bowie. "The numbers of Santa Anna
continually increase, but we are not yet entirely surrounded. If the
Texans know that we are beleaguered here they will come to our help.
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