inted along it, as if
it had been his own rifle, his features twisted up into a mathematical
calculation, and his right hand describing in the air all manner of
geometrical figures. At last he was ready; one more squint along the
gun, the match was applied, and the explosion took place. The rattle of
the stones warned us that the ball had taken effect. When the smoke
cleared away, we looked in vain for the third and fourth windows, and a
tremendous hurra burst forth for old Deaf Smith, as he was called, for
the bravest Texian who ever hunted across a prairie, and who
subsequently, with a small corps of observation, did such good service
on the Mexican frontier between Nueces and the Rio Grande.

The restless and impetuous Yankee volunteers were not long in finding
opportunities of distinction. Some Mexican sharpshooters having come
down to the opposite side of the river, whence they fired into the
redoubt, were repelled by a handful of the Greys, who then, carried away
by their enthusiasm, drove in the enemy's outposts, and entered the
suburbs of the town. They got too far, and were in imminent risk of
being overpowered by superior numbers, when Deaf Smith came to their
rescue with a party of their comrades. Several days passed away in
skirmishing, without any decisive assault being made upon the town or
fort. The majority of the men were for attacking; but some of the
leaders opposed it, and wished to retire into winter quarters in rear of
the Guadalupe river, wait for further reinforcements from the States,
and then, in the spring, again advance, and carry St Antonio by a _coup
de main_. To an army, in whose ranks subordination and discipline were
scarcely known, and where every man thought his opinion as worthy to be
listened to as that of the general, a difference of opinion was
destruction. The Texian militia, disgusted with their leader, Burleson,
retreated in straggling parties across the Guadalupe; about four hundred
men, consisting chiefly of the volunteers from New Orleans and the
Mississippi, remained behind, besieging St Antonio, of which the
garrison was nearly two thousand strong. The four hundred melted away,
little by little, to two hundred and ten; but these held good, and
resolved to attack the town. They did so, and took it, house by house,
with small loss to themselves, and a heavy one to the Mexicans. On the
sixth day, the garrison of the Alamo, which was commanded by General
Cos, and which the dead