it."

So the talk ran on, man and boy hardly knowing how to put in their time
when not on guard duty. At first the mission had proved of much
interest, with its quaint carvings and curious decorations, but now
even this was beginning to pall.

On Saturday Santa Anna called a counsel of war, and at this it was
decided that a general assault should be made upon the Alamo at
daybreak on Sunday. The assaulting troops numbered twenty-five hundred
against a pitiful one hundred and eighty-two Texans!--and were divided
into four columns, the first of which was under the command of General
Cos, the same Mexican who had surrendered to the Texans but a short
time before.

Each column of the attacking party was furnished with ropes,
scaling-ladders, crowbars, and axes, as well as with their ordinary
military weapons. As the soldiers advanced, the cavalry were drawn up
in a grand circle around the Alamo, so that no Texans might escape. In
the meantime the blood-red flag of "no quarter" was still flying high
from the Mexican camp, and now the band struck up the Spanish
quickstep, "Deguelo," or "Cut-throat," as an inspiration to the
soldiers to have no mercy on the rebels!

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE FALL OF THE ALAMO.

"The enemy are upon us!"

This cry, ringing clearly throughout the Alamo, aroused everybody to
action, and hither and thither ran the soldiers to their various points
of duty,--some in uniform, and others just as they had leaped up from
their couches.

"Are they really coming?" demanded Henry Parker, who had been sleeping
beside Dan, in one of the rooms of the convent.

"I reckon they are, Henry," was the quick response, and up leaped the
youth, and ran, gun in hand, to where Poke Stover was doing guard duty.

"Are they coming, Poke?"

"Yes, Dan, and plenty of 'em, too. They are divided into several
divisions."

There was no time to say more, for already one of the divisions,
commanded by Colonel Duque, was attacking the northern wall. Here
Lieutenant-Colonel Travis commanded in person. The commander was
bareheaded, and carried a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.

"Now, boys, give it to them hot!" he shouted. "Don't let them get over
the wall. Fire to kill! Fire to save your own lives!" And then the
cannon belched forth, followed by a crack-cracking of the smaller
firearms. The aim of the Texans was so deadly that the column was
repulsed for the moment, and Colonel Duque was seriously woun