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Several days passed, with much anxiety on both sides, and then Colonel Bowie and Colonel James W. Fannin were ordered to take a band of scouts with them and reconnoitre the enemy's position, with a view to moving the Texan army still closer to San Antonio. "We'll do it," said both officers, without hesitation, and hurried off, taking about ninety men with them.
When they reached Refugio they found there Captain King with less than thirty men who had been sent by Fannin, as Jackson had said, to bring away the people. Ned was taken at once to King, who had gathered his men in the little plaza.
"But accordin' to what I hear, Kane ain't goin' to marry no ignoramus exactly, for he's took a shine to Ruth Hamlin, Willets' school teacher. She's got a heap of brains, that girl, an' I reckon she'd lope alongside of Kane, wherever he went." The woman frowned. "Is Mr. Lawler going to marry Ruth Hamlin?" Corwin looked sharply at her. "What do you suppose he's fannin' up to her for?" he demanded.
The only flashes of fire they saw outside were those that came from the mouths of Mexican cannon, and the only sounds they heard beyond the Alamo were made by the foe. The sun, huge, red and vivid, sank in the prairie and, as the shadows thickened over the Alamo, Ned was sure in his heart that Fannin would never come.
He was to go to Goliad, where Fannin had 300 men and four guns, and bring them in haste. When Bonham was gone Ned returned to his place on the wall. For hours he heard the noises without, the distant sound of voices, the heavy clank of metal against metal, and he knew full well that Santa Anna was planting his batteries. At last he went to his place in the long room of the hospital and slept.
Then came another squad, eighty-two young Tennesseeans, who, reaching Texas by water, had been surrounded and captured by an overwhelming force the moment they landed. A piece of white cloth had been tied around the arms of every one of these men to distinguish them from the others. But they were very cheerful over the news that Fannin had brought.
They did not dare to light a fire, knowing it would draw the Indian bullets at once, or perhaps cannon shots. The wounded in their blankets lay on the ground. A few of the unhurt slept, but most of them sat in silence looking somberly at one another. Fannin lay against the breech of one of the cannon, blankets having been folded between to make his position easy.
"You cannot tell me so!" he exclaimed. "I'm afraid that they will all be taken," said Ned. "They had no ammunition when I slipped away, and the Mexicans were following them. There was no possibility of escape." Fannin paled. But he pressed his lips firmly together for a moment and then said to Ned: "Keep this to yourself, will you? Our troops are young and without experience.
He grinned down into Barbara's face, his own alight with a triumph that made a shiver run over her. Later only a few minutes, it seemed she heard a man call to Deveny again, telling him that a lone rider was "fannin' it" up the valley. "Looks like that guy, Linton," said the man. "Two of you drop back and lay for him!" ordered Deveny. "Make it sure!" he added, after a short pause.
"But I noticed that we were surrounded by a double row of soldiers, and that made me suspicious. In a few moments, Fannin was marched into the centre, and told to sit down on a low stool. He felt that his hour had come. He took his watch and his purse, and gave them to some poor woman who stood outside lamenting and praying for the poor Americans.
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