n be gushing,
And stain our knives with rust;--
But not thy banner, Freedom.
While stars and stripes are flying,
Our blood we'll freely shed;
No groan will 'scape the dying,
Seeing thee o'er his head;--
Up with your banner, Freedom."

For the next nine days, Crockett gives an account of their privations
and sufferings, their brave and successful defense, and the marked
execution they were able to make among the Mexicans who showed
themselves within range. On the third of March they had given up all
hopes of receiving assistance from without, and had promised to fight to
the last extremity, and in dying kill as many of their foes as possible.

His entry for the fourth of March is substantially as follows: "Shells
have been falling into the fort like hail during the day, but without
effect. About dusk this evening we saw a man running toward the fort
pursued by about a dozen Mexican cavalry. The bee hunter immediately
recognized him as the old pirate who had gone to Goliad for assistance,
and calling to two others, the bee hunter sallied out of the fort to the
relief of the old man, I following close after. Before we reached him
the Mexicans were close upon his heels. He stopped suddenly, turned
short upon his pursuers, discharged his rifle, and saw one of his
enemies fall from his horse. After running a short distance again, the
old pirate, finding that he would be taken and cut to pieces, turned
fiercely, and to the amazement of the enemy clubbed his gun and dashed
among them like a wounded tiger. By the time we reached him, his
pursuers had fled like sparrows, and in the ardour of the moment we
followed them some distance, not seeing that our retreat was cut off by
another detachment of cavalry. Nothing was to be done but to fight our
way through. We were all of the same mind. They were about twenty in
number and stood their ground while we dashed among them, and for about
five minutes a bloody conflict ensued. Then a detachment was seen coming
from the fort to our relief, and the Mexicans scampered away, leaving
eight of their men dead upon the field. We did not escape unscathed, for
both the pirate and the bee hunter were mortally wounded, and I received
a saber cut across the forehead.

"The old man died without speaking as soon as we entered the fort. We
bore my young friend to his bed, dressed his wounds, and I watched
beside him. He lay without complaint or manifesting pain,