rife of man with
fellow-man be ended? And oh! when shall desolating war forever cease,
and the bloody records of the past be viewed as monster distortions of
a maddened brain? These things shall be when the polity of the world
is changed. When statesmen cease their political, and prelates their
ecclesiastical intrigues; when monarch, and noble, and peasant, alike
cast selfishness and dissimulation far from them; when the Bible is
the text-book of the world, and the golden rule observed from pole to
pole.

The 11th of December is marked with a white stone in the calendar of
the Texans. During the fortnight which elapsed from the engagement of
Conception, the Alamo had been closely invested by General Burleson,
and brief though bloody struggles almost daily occurred. The besiegers
numbered only eight hundred, while the fortress was garrisoned by
twenty-five hundred Mexican troops. Yet well-directed valor has ever
proved more than a match for numerical superiority. On the morning of
the 11th a desperate assault was made, a violent struggle ensued,
and ere long victory declared for the "Lone Star." With unutterable
chagrin General Cos was forced to dispatch a messenger bearing the
white banner of submission to the Texan commander, and night saw the
Alamo again in Texan hands, and General Cos and his disheartened band
prisoners of war.

Dr. Bryant had received, during the engagement, a wound in the arm,
which he caused to be dressed, and, placing the injured member in a
sling, strove to soothe the dying and relieve the wounded. Early
he dispatched tidings of his safety to his anxious sister, and now
devoted himself to the suffering soldiery. Midnight found him beside
the couch of pain, and even as he bent to administer a sedative, a
hand was lightly laid on his shoulder. Looking up, Frank perceived the
muffled form of a female, though unable to determine who stood beside
him, for the face was entirely concealed by the mantilla.

"Can I do anything for you, Senora?"

"Dr. Bryant, will you leave your people here to see a dying
Mexican--one who fell fighting against you?"

"Most assuredly, if I can render relief; but, Inez, you should not
have ventured here on such an errand; could no messenger be found? It
was imprudent in you to come at this hour."

"No matter; I felt no fear of your people, and mine would not molest
me. But I have little time to wait. Manuel is sorely wounded: we bore
him from the Alamo, and he lies