unding clearly amid the duller crash of musketry and cannon from the
Mexicans. The Texans in the lower part of the Veramendi house were also
at work with their rifles. Every man was a sharpshooter, and, whenever a
Mexican came from behind a barricade, he was picked off. But the
Mexicans had also taken possession of houses and they were firing with
muskets from windows and loopholes.

"We must shoot down the cannoneers," shouted the Ring Tailed Panther to
"Deaf" Smith.

Smith nodded. The men on the roof were fifteen in number and now they
devoted their whole attention to the battery. Despite the drifting smoke
they hit gunner after gunner. The fever in Ned's blood grew. Everything
was red before him. His temples throbbed like fire. The spirit of battle
had taken full hold of him, and he fired whenever he caught a glimpse of
a Mexican.

"Deaf" Smith was on Ned's right, and he picked off a gunner. But to do
so he had lifted his head and shoulders above the coping. A figure rose
up behind the Mexican barricade and fired in return. "Deaf" Smith
uttered a little cry, and clapped his hand to his shoulder.

"Never mind," he said in reply to anxious looks. "It's in the fleshy
part only, and I'm not badly hurt."

The bullet had gone nearly through the shoulder and was just under the
skin on the other side. The Ring Tailed Panther cut it out with his
bowie knife and bound up the wound tightly with strips from his hunting
shirt. But Ned, although it was only a fleeting glimpse, had recognized
the marksman. It was Urrea who had sent the bullet through "Deaf"
Smith's shoulder. He was proving himself a formidable foe.

But the men on the roof continued their deadly sharpshooting, and now,
the battery, probably at Urrea's suggestion, began to turn its attention
to them. Ned was seized suddenly by Obed and pulled flat. There was a
roaring and hissing sound over his head as a twelve pound cannon ball
passed, and Ned said to Obed: "I thank you." The cannon shot was
followed by a storm of bullets and then by more cannon shots. The
Mexican guns were served well that day. The coping was shot away and the
Texans were in imminent danger from the flying pieces. They were glad
when the last of it was gone.

But they did not yet dare to raise themselves high enough for a shot.
Balls, shell, and bullets swept the roof without ceasing. Ned lay on his
side, almost flat. He listened to the ugly hissing and screaming over
his head until it bec