not
disturb him.

"If any boy has been through more than he has," said Obed, "I haven't
heard of him."

"An' I guess that he an' all of us have got a lot more comin'," said the
Ring Tailed Panther grimly. "Cos ain't goin' to give up here without the
terriblest struggle of his life. He can't afford to do it."

"Reckon you're right," said Obed.

Ned awoke the next morning with the taste of gunpowder in his mouth, but
the Texans, besides finding food in the houses, had brought some with
them, and he ate an ample breakfast. Then ensued a day that he found
long and monotonous. Neither side made any decided movement. There was
occasional firing, but they rested chiefly on their arms. In the course
of the second night the Mexicans opened another trench, from which they
began to fire at dawn, but the Texan rifles quickly put them to flight.

The Texans now began to grow restless. Cooped up in two houses they were
in the way of one another and they demanded freedom and action. Henry
Karnes suggested that they break into another house closer to the plaza.
Milam consented and Karnes, followed closely by Ned, Obed, the Ring
Tailed Panther and thirty others, dashed out, smashed in the door of the
house, and were inside before the astonished Mexicans could open an
accurate fire upon them. Here they at once secured themselves and their
bullets began to rake the plaza. The Mexicans were forced to throw up
more and higher intrenchments.

Again the combat became intermittent. There were bursts of rifle fire,
and occasional shots from the cannon, and, now and then, short periods
of almost complete silence. Night came on and Ned, watching from the
window, saw Colonel Milam, their leader, pass down the trench and enter
the courtyard of the Veramendi house. He stood there a moment, looking
at the Mexican position. A musket cracked and the Texan, throwing up his
arms, fell. He was dead by the time he touched the ground. The ball had
struck him in the center of the forehead.

Ned uttered a cry of grief, and it was taken up by all the Texans who
had seen their leader fall. A half dozen men rushed forward and dragged
away his body, but that night they buried it in the patio. His death
only incited them to new efforts. As soon as his burial was finished
they rushed another house in their slow advance, one belonging to
Antonio Navarro, a solid structure only one block from the great plaza.
They also stormed and carried a redoubt which the