le Texan force was now manning the walls
and the heavy cedar palisade at many points, but Ned saw that for the
present all their dealings would be with the cannon.

Earthworks had been thrown up to protect the Mexican batteries, and the
Texan cannon were posted for reply, but Ned noticed that his comrades
seemed to think little of the artillery. In this desperate crisis they
fondled their rifles lovingly.

He was still watching the batteries, when a gush of smoke and flame came
from one of the cannon. There was a great shout in the Mexican lines,
but the round shot spent itself against the massive stone walls of the
mission.

"They'll have to send out a stronger call than that," said Davy Crockett
contemptuously, "before this 'coon comes down."

Travis went along the walls, saw that the Texans were sheltering
themselves, and waited. There was another heavy report and a second
round shot struck harmlessly upon the stone. Then the full bombardment
began. A half dozen batteries rained shot and shell upon the Alamo. The
roar was continuous like the steady roll of thunder, and it beat upon
the drums of Ned's ears until he thought he would become deaf.

He was crouched behind the stone parapet, but he looked up often enough
to see what was going on. He saw a vast cloud of smoke gathering over
river and town, rent continually by flashes of fire from the muzzles of
the cannon. The air was full of hissing metal, shot and shell poured in
a storm upon the Alamo. Now and then the Texan cannon replied, but not
often.

The cannon fire was so great that for a time it shook Ned's nerves. It
seemed as if nothing could live under such a rain of missiles, but when
he looked along the parapet and saw all the Texans unharmed his courage
came back.

Many of the balls were falling inside the church, in the convent yard
and in the plazas, but the Texans there were protected also, and as far
as Ned could see not a single man had been wounded.

The cannonade continued for a full hour and then ceased abruptly. The
great cloud of smoke began to lift, and the Alamo, river and town came
again into the brilliant sunlight. The word passed swiftly among the
defenders that their fortress was uninjured and not a man hurt.

As the smoke rose higher Ned saw Mexican officers with glasses examining
the Alamo to see what damage their cannon had done. He hoped they would
feel mortification when they found it was so little. Davy Crockett knelt
near h