The man of wild and
desperate life seemed at this moment to be clothed about with the mantle
of the seer.
The Mexican batteries fired very little that day, and Santa Anna's
soldiers kept well out of range. They had learned a deep and lasting
respect for the Texan rifles. Hundreds had fallen already before them,
and now they kept under cover.
The silence seemed ominous and brooding to Ned. The day was bright, and
the flag of no quarter burned a spot of blood-red against the blue sky.
Ned saw Mexican officers occasionally on the roofs of the higher
buildings, but he took little notice of them. He felt instinctively
that the supreme crisis had not yet come. They were all waiting,
waiting.
The afternoon drew its slow length away in almost dead silence, and the
night came on rather blacker than usual. Then the word was passed for
all to assemble in the courtyard. They gathered there, Bowie dragging
his sick body with the rest. Every defender of the Alamo was present.
The cannon and the walls were for a moment deserted, but the Mexicans
without did not know it.
There are ineffaceable scenes in the life of every one, scenes which,
after the lapse of many years, are as vivid as of yesterday.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267