n
soldier. Every, one makes him a better fighter. If Santa Anna massacres
the men in the Alamo, he seals the freedom of Texas."

"Houston should have come himself."

"Houston is biding his time. He is doing at present the hardest duty
a great man can do: setting an example of obedience to a divided and
incompetent government. Lopez, you said rightly that we had too many
leaders. When those appointed for sacrifice have been offered up--when
we are in the extremity of danger and ruin, then Houston will hear the
word he is waiting for."

"And he will lead you on to victory. Indeed, I know it. I have seen him.
He has the line--the fortunate line on the forehead. He is the loadstone
in the breast of your cause; the magnet who can draw good fortune to it.
If fate be against you, he will force fate to change her mind. If fate
weave you a common thread, he will change it into purple. Victory, which
she gives to others reluctantly, he will take like a master from her
hand HOUSTON! What essence! What existence! What honor! What hope there
is in those seven letters. Consider this: He will find a way or make a
way for freedom."

Subsequent events proved the opinion of Thomas Worth correct with
regard to the garrison in the Alamo. David Crockett! James Bowie! Barret
Travis! The names were a host in themselves; one and all refused to
couple them with retreat.

"Military defeats may be moral victories, young man," said Crockett to
Thomas Worth; "and moral victories make national greatness. The
Roman that filled the gulf with his own body--the men who died at
Thermopylae--they live to-day, and they have been talking with us."

"But if you join Houston you will save many lives."

"That isn't always the point, sir. Jim Bowie was saying there was once a
lover who used to swim two miles every night to see a young woman called
Hero. Now, he might have waited for a boat and gone dry-shod to his
sweetheart; but if he had, who would have cared whether he lived or
died? The Alamo is our Hero. If we can't keep her, we can die for her."

The same spirit moved every soul at Goliad. Fanning was there with
nearly nine hundred men, and he had named the place Fort Defiance, and
asserted his determination to hold it. In the mean time, Houston was
using his great personal influence to collect troops, to make treaties
with the Indians, and to keep together some semblance of a provisional
government.

But it had become evident to all the leadin