As Ned reckoned,
it was about one hundred and fifty miles from San Antonio de Bexar to
Goliad; but, according to Bonham, Fannin had already been five days on
the way, and they should hear soon the welcome thunder of his guns. He
eagerly scanned the southeast, in which direction lay Goliad, but the
only human beings he saw were Mexicans. No sound came to his ears but
the note of a Mexican trumpet or the crack of a vaquero's whip.
He was not the only one who looked and listened. They watched that day
and the next through all the bombardment and the more dangerous rifle
fire. But they never saw on the horizon the welcome flash from any of
Fannin's guns. No sound that was made by a friend reached their ears.
The only flashes of fire they saw outside were those that came from the
mouths of Mexican cannon, and the only sounds they heard beyond the
Alamo were made by the foe. The sun, huge, red and vivid, sank in the
prairie and, as the shadows thickened over the Alamo, Ned was sure in
his heart that Fannin would never come.
* * * * *
A few days before the defenders of the Alamo had begun to scan the
southeast for help a body of 300 men were marching toward San Antonio de
Bexar.
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