"
They brought spades and shovels from the wagons, and began to throw up
an earthwork, toiling in the almost pitchy darkness. They reinforced it
with the bodies of the slain oxen, and, while they toiled, they saw the
fires where the Mexican officers rested, sure that their prey could not
break from the trap. The Texans worked on. At midnight they were still
working, and when they rested a while there was neither food nor drink
for them. Every drop of water was gone long since, and they had eaten
their last food at supper. They could have neither food nor drink nor
sleep.
Ned had escaped from many dangers, but it is truth that this time he
felt despair. His feeling about the hand of fate striking them down
became an obsession. What chance had men without an ounce of food or a
drop of water to withstand a siege?
But he communicated his fears to no one. Two or three hours before day,
he became so sore and weary from work with the spade that he crawled
into one of the half-wrecked wagons, and tried to go to sleep. But his
nerves were drawn to too high a pitch. After a quarter of an hour's vain
effort he got out of the wagon and stood by the wheel. The sky was
still black, and the heavy clouds of fog and vapor rolled steadily past
him.
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