We expected the battle on the twentieth, but no!" "The enemy were expecting it also, and were in high spirits and perfect preparation.

Houston thought it prudent to dash their enthusiasm by uncertainty and waiting.

But at dawn, on the twenty-first, we heard the three taps of the drum, and seven hundred soldiers sprang to their feet as one man.

Houston had been watching all night.

He spoke to us with a tongue of fire and then, while we cooked and ate our breakfast, he lay down and slept.