The boy resumed his place on the wall, remaining throughout the
afternoon, and watched the coming of the night. Crockett joined him, and
together they saw troops of Mexicans marching away from the main body,
some to right and some to left.
"Stretchin' their lines," said Crockett. "Santa Anna means to close us
in entirely after a while. Now, by the blue blazes, that was a close
shave!"
A bullet sang by his head and flattened against the wall. He and Ned
dropped down just in time. Other bullets thudded against the stone.
Nevertheless, Ned lifted his head above the edge of the parapet and took
a look. His eyes swept a circle and he saw little puffs of smoke coming
from the roofs and windows of the jacals or Mexican huts on their side
of the river. He knew at once that the best of the Mexican sharpshooters
had hidden themselves there, and had opened fire not with muskets, but
with improved rifles. He called Crockett's attention to this point of
danger and the frontiersman grew very serious.
"We've got to get 'em out some way or other," he said. "As I said
before, the cannon balls make a big fuss, but they don't come so often
an' they come at random. It's the little bullets that have the sting of
the wasp, an' when a man looks down the sights, draws a bead on you, an'
sends one of them lead pellets at you, he gen'rally gets you.
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