o slipped out
of the church, escaped through an oak forest and disappeared. Ned then
made a careful examination of the church, which was quite a strong
building with a supply of water inside and some dried corn. The men had
brought rations also with them, and they were amply supplied for a siege
of several days. But Ned, already become an expert in this kind of war,
judged that it would not last so long. He believed that the Mexicans,
flushed by the taking of the Alamo, would push matters.

King, lacking experience, leaned greatly on young Fulton. The men, who
believed implicitly every word that he had said, regarded him almost
with superstition. He alone of the defenders had come alive out of that
terrible charnel house, the Alamo.

"I suspect," said King, "that the division you saw is under General
Urrea."

"Very probably," said Ned. "Of course, Santa Anna, no longer having any
use for his army in San Antonio, can send large numbers of troops
eastward."

"Which means that we'll have a hard time defending this place," said
King gloomily.

"Unless Fannin sends a big force to our help."

"I'm not so sure that he'll send enough," said King. "His men are nearly
all fresh from the States, and they know nothing of the country. It's
hard for him to tell what to do. We started once to the relief of the
Alamo, but our ammunition wagon broke down and we could not get our
cannon across the San Antonio River. Things don't seem to be going right
with us."

Ned was silent. His thoughts turned back to the Alamo. And so Fannin and
his men had started but had never come! Truly "things were going wrong!"
But perhaps it was just as well. The victims would have only been more
numerous, and Fannin's men were saved to fight elsewhere for Texas.

He heard a rattle of musketry, and through one of the loopholes he saw
that the Mexican cavalry in the wood had opened a distant fire. Only a
few of the bullets reached the church, and they fell spent against the
stones. Ned saw that very little harm was likely to come from such a
fire, but he believed it would be wise to show the Mexicans that the
defenders were fully awake.

"Have you any specially good riflemen?" he asked King.

"Several."

"Suppose you put them at the loopholes and see if they can't pick off
some of those Mexican horsemen. It would have a most healthy effect."

Six young men came forward, took aim with their long barreled rifles,
and at King's command fired. Thre