they penetrated the interior of the last house in the row.
Then the Texans uttered a grim cry of exultation. They looked from the
narrow windows directly over the main plaza and their rifles covered the
Mexican barricades. The Mexicans tried to drive them out of the houses
with the guns, but the solid stone walls resisted balls and shells, and
the Texan rifles shot down the gunners.

Then ensued another silence, broken by distant firing, caused by another
attack upon the Texan camp outside the town. It was driven off quickly
and the Texans in the houses lay quiet until evening. Then they heard a
great shouting, the occasion of which they did not know until later.
Ugartchea with six hundred men had arrived from the Rio Grande to help
Cos. But it would not have made any difference with the Texans had they
known. They were determined to take San Antonio, and all the time they
were pressing harder on Cos.

That night, the Texans, Ned with them, seized another large building
called the Priests' House, which looked directly over the plaza, and now
their command of the Mexican situation was complete. Nothing could live
in the square under their fire, and in the night Ned saw the Mexicans
withdrawing, leaving their cannon behind.

Exhaustion compelled the boy to sleep from midnight until day, when he
was roused by Obed.

"The Mexicans have all gone across the river to the Alamo," said the
Maine man. "San Antonio is ours."

Ned went forth with his comrades. Obed had told the truth. The great
seat of the Mexican power in the north was theirs. Three hundred daring
men, not strongly supported by those whom they had left behind, had
penetrated to the very heart of the city through house after house, and
had driven out the defenders who were five to their one.

The plaza and Soledad Street presented a somber aspect. The Mexican
dead, abandoned by their comrades, lay everywhere. The Texan rifles had
done deadly work. The city itself was silent and deserted.

"Most of the population has gone with the Mexican army to the Alamo,"
said Obed. "I suppose we'll have to attack that, too."

But Cos, the haughty and vindictive general, did not have the heart for
a new battle with the Texans. He sent a white flag to Burleson and
surrendered. Ned was present when the flag came, and the leader of the
little party that brought it was Urrea. The young Mexican had lost none
of his assurance.

"You have won now," he said to Ned, "but bear in