Ned felt an immense joy.  He had seen the attack beaten off at three points.  A force of twenty to one had been compelled to recoil.  His heart swelled with pride in those friends of his.  But they were so few in number!  Even now the Mexican masses were reforming.  The officers were among them, driving them forward with threats and blows.  The great ring of Mexican cavalry, intended to keep any of the Texans from escaping, also closed in, driving their own infantry forward to the assault.

Ned’s heart sank as the whole Mexican army, gathering now at the northern or lower wall, rushed straight at the barrier.  But the deadly fire of the rifles flashed from it, and their front line went down.  Again they recoiled, and again the cavalry closed in, holding them to the task.

There was a pause of a few moments.  The town had been silent for a long time, and the Mexican soldiers themselves ceased to shout.  Clouds of smoke eddied and drifted about the buildings.  The light of the morning, first gray, then silver, turned to gold.  The sun, now high above the earth’s rim, poured down a flood of rays.

Everything stood out sharp and clear.  Ned saw the buildings of the Alamo dark against the sun, and he saw men on the walls.  He saw the Mexican columns pressed together in one great force, and he even saw the still faces of many who lay silent on the plain.

He knew that the Mexicans were about to charge again, and his feeling of exultation passed.  He no longer had hope that the defenders of the Alamo could beat back so many.  He thought again how few, how very few, were the Texans.

The silence endured but a moment or two.  Then the Mexicans rushed forward in a mighty mass at the low northern wall, the front lines firing as they went.  Flame burst from the wall, and Ned heard once more the deadly crackle of the Texan rifles.  The ground was littered by the trail of the Mexican fallen, but, driven by their officers, they went on.

Ned saw them reach the wall and plant the scaling ladders, many of them.  Scores of men swarmed up the ladders and over the wall.  A heavy division forced its way into the redoubt through the sallyport, and as Ned saw he uttered a deep gasp.  He knew that the Alamo was doomed.  And the Mexicans knew it, too.  The shrill screaming of the women began again from the flat roofs of the houses, and shouts burst from the army also.

“We have them!  We have them!” cried Santa Anna, exultant and excited.

Sheets of flame still burst from the Alamo, and the rifles still poured bullets on the swarming Mexican forces, but the breach had been made.  The Mexicans went over the low wall in an unbroken stream, and they crowded through the sallyport by hundreds.  They were inside now, rushing with the overwhelming weight of twenty to one upon the little garrison.  They seized the Texan guns, cutting down the gunners with lances and sabers, and they turned the captured cannon upon the defenders.