t as he turned away. It had been so plump
and dimpled and white. It was now very thin and white with exposure.
It told him far better than complaining, how much the poor woman had
suffered. He went with a sigh to his patient.

"Stabbed with a bayonet through the shoulder--hard riding from
Goliad--no food--no rest--that tells the whole story, doctor."

It was all he could say. A fainting fit followed. Antonia procured some
stimulant, and when consciousness returned, assisted her father to dress
the wound. Their own coffee was gone, but she begged a cup from some one
more fortunate; and after the young man had drunk it, and had eaten
a little bread, he was inclined to make light of his wound and his
sufferings.

"Glad to be here at all," he said. "I think I am the only one out of
five hundred."

"You cannot mean that you are of Fannin's command?"

"I WAS of Fannin's command. Every man in it has been shot. I escaped by
a kind of miracle."

The doctor looked at the Senora. She seemed to be asleep. "Speak low,"
he said, "but tell me all."

The man sat upon the floor with his back against the wall. The doctor
stooped over him. Antonia and Isabel stood beside their father.

"We heard of Urrea's approach at San Patricio. The Irish people of that
settlement welcomed Urrea with great rejoicing. He was a Catholic--a
defender of the faith. But the American settlers in the surrounding
country fled, and Fannin heard that five hundred women and children,
followed by the enemy, were trying to reach the fortress of Goliad.
He ordered Major Ward, with the Georgia battalions, to go and meet the
fugitives. Many of the officers entreated him not to divide his men for
a report which had come by way of the faithless colony of San Patricio.

"But Fannin thought the risk ought to be taken. He took it, and the five
hundred women and children proved to be a regiment of Mexican dragoons.
They surrounded our infantry on every side, and after two days'
desperate fighting, the Georgia battalions were no more. In the
meantime, Fannin got the express telling him of the fall of the Alamo,
and ordering him to unite with General Houston. That might have been a
possible thing with eight hundred and sixty men, but it was not possible
with three hundred and sixty. However, we made the effort, and on the
great prairie were attacked by the enemy lying in ambush there. Entirely
encircled by them, yet still fighting and pressing onward, we defended
ou