Many
others had been wounded and some had been killed. Most alarming of all
was the announcement that the cannon could be fired only a few times
more, as there was no water for the sponges when they became heated and
clogged. But this discouraged only the leaders, not the recruits
themselves, who had ultimate faith in their rifles.
Ned felt an extreme dizziness. All his old strength had not yet
returned, and after such furious action and so much excitement there was
a temporary collapse. He lay back on the grass, closed his eyes, and
waited for the weakness to pass. He heard around him the talk and murmur
of the men, and the sounds of new preparations. He heard the recruits
telling one another that they had repulsed four Mexican attacks, and
that they could repulse four more. Yet the amount of talking was not
great. The fighting had been too severe and continuous to encourage
volubility. Most of them reloaded in silence and waited.
Ned felt that his weakness had passed, opened his eyes, and sat up
again. He saw that the Mexicans had drawn a circle of horsemen about
them, but well beyond range. Behind the horsemen their army waited.
Fannin's men were rimmed in by steel, and Ned believed that Urrea, after
his great losses in the charges, would now wait.
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