He gave what
rumor said, and rumor told that the Mexican army numbered ten or twelve
thousand men with fifty or sixty guns. Santa Anna's force was so great
that already he was sending off large bodies to the eastward to attack
Texan detachments wherever they could be found.
Fannin held an anxious council with his officers. It was an open talk on
the open prairie, and anybody who chose could listen. Will Allen and
Obed White said nothing, but the Panther was vehement.
"We've got to get there!" he exclaimed. "We can't leave our people to
die in the Alamo! We've got to cut our way through, an', if the worst
comes to the worst, die with them!"
"That would benefit nobody," said Fannin. "We've made every human effort
to get our cannon across the river, and we have failed. It would not
profit Texas for us to ride on with our rifles merely to be slaughtered.
There will be other battles and other sieges, and we shall be needed."
"Does that mean we're not goin' on?" asked the Panther.
"We can't go on."
Fannin waved his hand at the yellow and swollen river.
"We must return to Goliad," he said, "I have decided. Besides, there is
nothing else for us to do. About face, men, and take up the march.
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