CHAPTER XXIII.
THE SURRENDER OF THE CITY.
"If only I was at liberty once again!"
Ralph had said this to himself over and over, as he sat on the hardwooden bench which served him both for a seat and a couch in the littlestone cell which he occupied in the San Antonio lockup.
Several days had gone by, and no one had come to see the youth but hisjailer, who delivered food twice a day, morning and afternoon. Thejailer spoke nothing but Spanish, so communications between the twowere limited.
Ralph often wondered what had become of Dan and the white mustang. Washis brother lost in the timber, or had he fallen in with the Indians?
There was a tiny window in the cell, high up over the couch. From thisRalph could get a slight view of the river and of a patch of sky, andthat was all.
But one afternoon, when all was quiet, Ralph noticed a shadow at thewindow, and, gazing up, made out part of an Indian face stationedthere. Quickly he stood on the bench.
"Big Foot,----" he began, when the Indian let out a low hiss ofwarning.
"Soldier hear Raf," said the Indian, in a whisper. "Me come to findyou,--tell fadder and Good Dan would do dat."
"Father and Dan!" returned the boy. "Then they are together?"
"Yes, both in big army outside of dis place. Big Foot say he find Raf.Must go now. Maybe save Raf soon. You watch!"
And then the Indian disappeared as quickly as he had come. By somemeans known only to himself, he had found out where Ralph was located,and had watched for thirty hours on a stretch for a chance tocommunicate with the lad. He had caught a sentinel off guard, and hadmounted to the window by means of a lariat thrown around one of thebars of the opening. As he leaped down, the sentinel turned in time tocatch him winding up his lariat.
"What are you doing there?" demanded the Mexican.
"Indian squaw in dare?" asked Big Foot, meekly.
"No, we do not keep squaws here," answered the Mexican. "Begone, orI'll shoot you;" and then, as the Comanche loped off, he resumed hiscigarette smoking.
The coming of Big Foot comforted Ralph greatly, for he now knew thatDan was with their father, and that both were in the army, outside ofSan Antonio. That night he slept soundly.
He awoke to hear loud firing, showing that a battle of some kind hadstarted. The firing continued, and, before long, the lockup was struckby a cannon-ball, although little damage was done. The attack created agreat confusion, and Ralph was left largely to himself.
At night, while the sounds of firing still kept up, Big Foot appeared,with both his lariat and a short iron bar. Mounting to the window, inthe gloom, he called Ralph, and passed him the bar.
"Break window and drop out," he whispered. "Big Foot wait for you closeto river."
He fell back, and with the bar Ralph set to work to liberate himself.The masonry of the window was old and loosened, and he soon had two ofthe bars out, leaving a space just large enough to admit of the passageof his body.
As he leaped into the window-opening, he heard voices in the corridor,outside of the cell. Then his jailer and a Mexican officer appeared atthe cell door.
"Ha! he is escaping!" roared the jailer, in Spanish. "Stop!" And he ranto Ralph, to detain him, but the boy dropped to the court outside, andscampered off as fast as his feet would carry him.
An alarm at once sounded, and the cry arose that the prisonersthroughout the jail were rising. This, of course, was not so, yet theexcitement was great within the walls, and, for the minute, Ralph wasallowed to depart unmolested.
In the darkness Big Foot joined him, and thrust into his hands a stoutclub. "Club much good, sometime," said the Comanche. "Knock downMexican, maybe, if in way."
He led the way down one street and another, until the vicinity of theplaza was gained.
Suddenly, as they turned an alleyway, a volley from the Mexicangarrison was fired.
"Run! run! or get shot!" shouted the Comanche, and then, as Ralphturned in one direction, the Indian turned in another, and, in a trice,they became separated in the darkness.
Ralph kept on running, he knew not where, only that he might escape thebullets, which appeared to be flying in all directions.
He could not go around by the plaza nor by the church, and so cut intoa gloomy courtyard. Still running, he reached the stone wall of ahouse. A window was close at hand, and he leaped through this, to pitchheadlong on the floor beyond, too exhausted to go another step.
As related before, the firing kept up all this night, and was renewedwith vigour in the morning. In the meantime, the trench across thestreet had been completed, so that the two divisions were incommunication with one another. It was fighting at close quarters, andSan Antonio looked as if in the throes of a big riot.
The Texans had been trying to bring a twelve-pounder into position,but, so far, they had failed. Now, however, it was mounted at acommanding point, and fired several times, with fair effect. In themeantime, Deaf Smith and a party began to do some sharpshooting fromthe top of the vice-governor's residence, but the Mexicans drove themoff, and Smith was severely wounded.
When Ralph came to himself, he found that he was in a room that waspitch-dark. From a distance came a hum of voices, and the steady blowsof some blunt instruments, probably axes or picks. The firing continuedsteadily.
He felt his way along from the room in which he found himself to theone adjoining. From this a stairs led upward, and he went to the upperfloor. Here, from a window, he saw part of the fighting, and as themorning came, he saw still more.
The noise below kept on steadily, and as daylight advanced, the firingon all sides became almost incessant. In the midst of this, there camea loud hurrah, and a detachment of Texans, under Lieutenant W.McDonald, ran out into the street, and battered down the door of thevery house where Ralph was in hiding.
"Hullo, a boy!" shouted one of the Texans, as he caught sight of Ralph.And then he continued, quickly, "By George! ain't you Amos Radbury'syoungster?"
"I am," answered Ralph. "And you are Mr. Martin, from the Pecan GroveRanch."
"Right, my lad. How in the world did you come here?"
"I just escaped from the lockup, and was trying to reach the Texanlines. Do you know anything of my father?"
"Do I? Why, he's in the house just below here, along with your brother.We came---- Back, or you'll be shot!"
Ralph retreated, and none too soon, for a second later several bulletsentered the window and buried themselves in the wall opposite. TheMexicans were firing from several roofs in the neighbourhood. This firewas returned with such good interest that soon the Mexicans were asglad to get out of sight as those who opposed them.
Ralph wished to join his father and Dan without delay, but Mr. Martinheld him back.
"Wait until dark," said the settler. "You are fairly safe here, and itwould be foolhardy to expose yourself."
"Do you think we will win out?" asked the lad, anxiously.
"I do,--but it is going to be a tougher struggle than any of usexpected."
On the morning of the third day of the attack matters were at firstquiet, but then came a fierce fire by the Mexicans on the Texans'trench. The sharpshooters were called again to the front, and in anhour the enemy had stopped almost entirely.
"Here goes for another dash!" came the cry at noon, and sure enoughanother dash was led to a house still closer to the plaza, and thebuilding was soon in the possession of the Texans. They were gainingtheir victory slowly but surely.
At evening Colonel Milam attempted to leave his own position to consultwith Colonel Johnson, still at the Veramendi house. "You must becareful, colonel," came the warning, as the gallant fighter stood inthe courtyard. The words had scarcely been spoken when a bullet tookMilam in the head, killing him instantly.
The loss at this critical moment was a severe one, and the officerswere called into hasty consultation, the result of which was thatColonel Johnson was placed at the head of the expedition.
The battle was now growing fiercer a
nd fiercer, and, angered over theloss of Colonel Milam, the Texans forced their way to another house,which fronted the Military Plaza and was but a block from the MainPlaza.
"Down with the Mexicans! Hurrah for the liberty of Texas!" were thecries, and the Texans grew more enthusiastic than ever. In the midst ofthis uproar Ralph discovered his father and Dan at the doorway to oneof the houses, and ran to join them.
"Ralph, my son!" cried Amos Radbury, and caught the lad to his breast,and Dan hugged his brother with a bear-like grip. "You are quite well?"
"Yes, father. But what a fight this is!"
"Yes, and it will be worse before it is over."
"Did you see Big Foot?" questioned Dan.
"Yes, he helped me to get out of prison."
There was no time just then to say more, for the Texans were fightinghotly, holding several houses and endeavouring to keep the Mexicans outof such buildings where they might have an advantage.
On the fourth day of the attack the Texans fought their way to what wascalled the Zambrano Row, which line of stone buildings reached to oneend of the Main Plaza. "Let us get to the Main Plaza, and Cos will bedone for!" was the cry.
From one house the Texans cut their way through the thick stone wallsto the next, until at last the whole row was theirs, and the Mexicanswere driven in every direction.
The Main Plaza could now be covered in part, but during the comingnight the Texans captured still another building, called the Priest'sHouse, which fronted directly on the great square. As soon as this wascaptured, the Texans barricaded doors and windows, and made of thehouse a regular fort.
"We've got 'em on the run," said more than one Texan, after thePriest's House had been barricaded, and this proved to be true. Withboth the Military Plaza and the Main Plaza swept by the fire of theenemy, the Mexicans knew not what to do. The citizens of the town werein a panic, and men, women, and children ran the streets as if insane.Then the cry went up in Spanish: "To the Alamo! To the Alamo!" and awaywent the civilians, some with their household effects on their backs.Seeing this, the Mexicans also withdrew, meaning at first to protectthe inhabitants (which was unnecessary, for the Texans did not wish tomolest them), and then to reorganise at the Alamo for an attack onGeneral Burleson's camp. But at the Alamo things were in the utmostconfusion, and before General Cos could call his troops together, someof them fled, making straight for the Rio Grande River.
This wound up the fighting, and it was not long before the Mexicangeneral sent out a flag of truce, asking upon what terms the Texanswould receive his surrender. The Texans were very lenient, and thematter was quickly settled. The loss to the Texans had been aboutthirty killed and wounded; the loss to the Mexicans was six or eighttimes greater.