name,
Look proudly to heaven, from the death-bed of fame."

CAMPBELL.

A bloody seal was set upon thee, oh! Goliad. A gory banner bound
around thy name; and centuries shall slowly roll ere thou art blotted
from the memory of man. The annals of the dim and darkened past afford
no parallel for the inhuman deed, so calmly, so deliberately committed
within thy precincts; and the demon perpetrator escaped unpunished!
A perfect appreciation of the spirit of the text--"Vengeance is
mine, saith the Lord; I will repay," alone can sanction the apathy
manifested by one to whom the world looked as the avenger of his
murdered countrymen.

Rumors of the fall of the Alamo, the overwhelming force of Santa Anna,
and his own imminent danger, had reached Colonel Fanning. In vain he
entreated reinforcements, in vain urged the risk hourly incurred. The
Texan councils bade him save himself by flight. "Retreat, fly from the
post committed to my keeping!" The words sounded like a knell on the
ear of the noble man to whom they were addressed. He groaned in the
anguish of his spirit, "I will not leave this fortress--Travis fell
defending with his latest breath the Alamo! Oh, Crocket! Bowie! can
I do better than follow thy example, and give my life in this true
cause?"

An untimely death--the separation and misery of his darling family,
weighed not an atom! "Patria infelici fidelis!" was ever his motto,
and unfaltering was his own step. There came a messenger from
headquarters--"Abandon Goliad, and retreat!"

"Colonel, you will not sound a retreat?" and Dr. Bryant laid his hand
upon his commander's arm.

"My God! it is a fearful thing to decide the destinies of four hundred
brave men! Bryant, if we remain it is certain death--the tragedy of
San Antonio will be reacted in our case!"

"Colonel, you must remember the old saw--'He that fights and runs
away, lives to fight another day,'" said a timeworn ranger, settling
his collar with perfect nonchalance.

"Why, Furgeson, do you counsel flight? My brave comrade, bethink
yourself!"

"Well, Colonel, it is something strange for me to say run; but when I
do say it, I am in earnest. The most hot-headed fellow in our company
dare not say I lack courage: you know as well as I do what they call
me--'Bulldog Furgeson,' but who feels like fighting the grand devil
himself, and his legion of imps to boot? I am a lone man and have
nothing in particular to live for, it's true; but it is some obj