Ned ate and drank in silence.  His nerves were quite steady, and he had become so used to battle that he awaited whatever they were going to attempt, almost without curiosity.

“Ain’t you wantin’ to know what we’re goin’ to do, Ned?” asked the Ring Tailed Panther.

“I’m thinking that I’ll find out pretty quick,” replied Ned.

“Now this boy is shorely makin’ a fine soldier,” said the Panther to Obed.  “He don’t ask nothin’ about what he’s goin’ to do, but just eats an’ waits orders.”

Ned smiled and ate another corn cake.

“Maybe,” said Obed, “we’ll meet our friend Urrea in the attack we’re going to make.  If so, I’ll take a shot at him, and I won’t have any remorse about it, either, if I hit him.”

They did not wait long.  A strong body of the Texans gathered on the lower floor, many carrying, in addition to their weapons, heavy iron crowbars.  The doors were suddenly thrown open and they rushed out into the cool morning air, making for a series of stone houses called the Zambrano Row, the farthest of which opened upon the main plaza, where the Mexicans were fortified so strongly.  Scattering shots from muskets and rifles greeted them, but as usual, when any sudden movement occurred, the Mexicans fired wildly, and the Texans broke into the first of the houses, before they could take good aim.

Ned was one of the last inside.  He had lingered with the others to repel any rush that the Mexicans might make.  He was watching the Mexican barricade, and he saw heads rise above it.  One rose higher than the rest and he recognized Urrea.  The Mexican saw Ned also, and the eyes of the two met.  Urrea’s were full of anger and malice, and raising his rifle he fired straight at the boy.  Ned felt the bullet graze his cheek, and instantly he fired in reply.  But Urrea had quickly dropped down behind the barricade and the bullet missed.  Then Ned rushed into the house.

The boy was blazing with indignation.  He had spared Urrea’s life, and yet the Mexican had sought at the first opportunity to kill him.  He could not understand a soul of such caliber.  But the incident passed from his mind, for the time being, in the strenuous work that they began now to do.

They broke through partition wall after wall with their powerful picks and crowbars.  Stones fell about them.  Plaster and dust rained down, but the men relieving one another, the work with the heavy tools was never stopped until they penetrated the interior of the last house in the row.  Then the Texans uttered a grim cry of exultation.  They looked from the narrow windows directly over the main plaza and their rifles covered the Mexican barricades.  The Mexicans tried to drive them out of the houses with the guns, but the solid stone walls resisted balls and shells, and the Texan rifles shot down the gunners.