was satisfactory, because when he returned his face was in a
broad grin. Bowie, moreover, came with him, and his blue eyes were
lighted up with the fire of battle.

"We're goin' to teach 'em the lesson, Ned, beginnin' with a b c," said
Crockett, "an' Jim here, who has had a lot of experience in Texas, will
lead us. Come along, I'll watch over you."

A force of seventy or eighty was formed quickly, and hidden from the
view of the Mexicans, they rushed down the plaza, climbed the low walls
and dropped down upon the plain. The Mexican cavalry outnumbered them
four or five to one, but the Texans cared little for such odds.

"Now, boys, up with your rifles!" cried Bowie. "Pump it into 'em!"

Bowie was a product of the border, hard and desperate, a man of many
fierce encounters, but throughout the siege he had been singularly
gentle and considerate in his dealings with his brother Texans. Now he
was all warrior again, his eyes blazing with blue fire while he shouted
vehement words of command to his men.

The sudden appearance of the Texan riflemen outside the Alamo look Urrea
by surprise, but he was quick of perception and action, and his
cavalrymen were the best in the Mexican army. He wheeled them into line
with a few words of command and shouted to them to charge. Bowie's men
instantly stopped, forming a rough line, and up went their rifles.
Urrea's soldiers who carried rifles or muskets opened a hasty and
excited fire at some distance.

Ned heard the bullets singing over his head or saw them kicking up dust
in front of the Texans, but only one of the Texans fell and but few were
wounded. The Mexican rifles or muskets were now empty, but the Mexican
lancers came on in good order and in an almost solid group, the yellow
sunlight flashing across the long blades of their lances.

It takes a great will to face sharp steel in the hands of horsemen
thundering down upon you, and Ned was quite willing to own afterward
that every nerve in him was jumping, but he stood. All stood, and at the
command of Bowie their rifles flashed together in one tremendous
explosion.

The rifles discharged, the Texans instantly snatched out their pistols,
ready for anything that might come galloping through the smoke. But
nothing came. When the smoke lifted they saw that the entire front of
the Mexican column was gone. Fallen men and horses were thick on the
plain and long lances lay across them. Other horses, riderless, were
galloping away