d already made them friends.
But they scarcely saw the faces of one another. The little valley was
filled with the smoke of their firing. They breathed it and tasted it,
and it inflamed their brains.

Ned's experience had made him a veteran, and when he heard the thunder
of the horse's hoofs and saw the lance points so near he knew that the
crisis had come.

"One more volley. One for your lives!" he cried to those around him.

The volley was forthcoming. The rifles were discharged at the range of
only a few yards into the mass of Mexican cavalry. Horses and men fell
headlong, some pitching to the very feet of the Texans and then one of
the cannon poured a shower of grape shot into the midst of the wavering
square. It broke and ran, bearing its general away with it, and leaving
the ground cumbered with fallen men and horses.

The Mexican infantry was also driven back at every point, and retreated
rapidly until they were out of range. Under the cloud of smoke wounded
men crept away. But when the cloud was wholly gone, it disclosed those
who would move no more, lying on every side. The defenders had suffered
also. Fannin lay upon the ground, while two of his men bound up a severe
wound in the thigh that he had sustained from a Mexican bullet. Many
others had been wounded and some had been killed. Most alarming of all
was the announcement that the cannon could be fired only a few times
more, as there was no water for the sponges when they became heated and
clogged. But this discouraged only the leaders, not the recruits
themselves, who had ultimate faith in their rifles.

Ned felt an extreme dizziness. All his old strength had not yet
returned, and after such furious action and so much excitement there was
a temporary collapse. He lay back on the grass, closed his eyes, and
waited for the weakness to pass. He heard around him the talk and murmur
of the men, and the sounds of new preparations. He heard the recruits
telling one another that they had repulsed four Mexican attacks, and
that they could repulse four more. Yet the amount of talking was not
great. The fighting had been too severe and continuous to encourage
volubility. Most of them reloaded in silence and waited.

Ned felt that his weakness had passed, opened his eyes, and sat up
again. He saw that the Mexicans had drawn a circle of horsemen about
them, but well beyond range. Behind the horsemen their army waited.
Fannin's men were rimmed in by steel, and Ned