eight the
gate was suddenly thrown open and the sixty dashed out. Fortunately the
drifting smoke hid them partially, and they were almost upon the jacals
before they were discovered.

A great shout came from the Mexicans when they saw the daring Texans
outside, and bullets from the jacals began to knock up grass and dust
about them. But Crockett himself, waving a torch, led them on, shouting:

"It's only a step, boys! It's only a step! Now, let 'em have it!"

The Texans fired as they rushed, but they took care to secure good aim.
The Mexicans were driven from the roofs and the windows and then the
Texans carrying the torches dashed inside. Every house contained
something inflammable, which was quickly set on fire, and two or three
huts made of wood were lighted in a dozen places.

The dry materials blazed up fast. A light wind fanned the flames, which
joined together and leaped up, a roaring pyramid. The Mexicans, who had
lately occupied them, were scuttling like rabbits toward their main
force, and the Texan bullets made them jump higher and faster.

Crockett, with a shout of triumph, flung down his torch.

"Now, boys," he cried. "Here's the end of them jacals. Nothin' on earth
can put out that fire, but if we don't make a foot race back to the
Alamo the end of us will be here, too, in a minute."

The little band wheeled for its homeward rush. Ned heard a great shout
of rage from the Mexicans, and then the hissing and singing of shells
and cannon balls over his head. He saw Mexicans running across the plain
to cut them off, but his comrades and he had reloaded their rifles, and
as they ran they sent a shower of bullets that drove back their foe.

Ned's heart was pumping frightfully, and myriads of black specks danced
before his eyes, but he remembered afterward that he calculated how far
they were from the Alamo, and how far the Mexicans were from them. A
number of his comrades had been wounded, but nobody had fallen and they
still raced in a close group for the gate, which seemed to recede as
they rushed on.

"A few more steps, Ned," cried Crockett, "an' we're in! Ah, there go our
friends!"

The Texan cannon over their heads now fired into the pursuing Mexican
masses, and the sharpshooters on the walls also poured in a deadly hail.
The Mexicans recoiled once more and then Crockett's party made good the
gate.

"All here!" cried Crockett, as those inside held up torches. He ran over
the list rapidly himself