"How do you know?"
Her pale face filled with color. It seemed that she, too, at that moment
felt some of the glow that the fall of the Alamo was to suffuse through
Texas.
"Because I saw," she replied. "I was in one of the arched rooms of the
church, where they made the last stand. I saw Crockett fall and I saw
the death of Bowie, too. I saw Santa Anna exult, but many, many Mexicans
fell also. It was a terrible struggle. I shall see it again every day of
my life, even if I live to be a hundred."
She covered her face with her hands, as if she would cut out the sight
of that last inferno in the church. The others were silent, stunned for
the time.
"All gone," said Obed White, at last. "When the news is spread that
every man stood firm to the last I think it will light such a fire in
Texas that Santa Anna and all his armies cannot put it out."
"Did you see a boy called Ned Fulton in the Alamo, a tall, handsome
fellow with brown hair and gray eyes?" asked Obed White.
"Often," replied Mrs. Dickinson. "He was with Crockett and Bowie a great
deal."
"And none escaped?" said Will Allen.
"Not one," she repeated, "I did not see him in the church in the final
assault.
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