Santa Anna was to burst suddenly upon the town, and, ere you could receive reinforcements, capture the Alamo at a blow.

Once in his possession, more than one of your people were to be handed over to the tender mercies of my holy confessor.

I warned you of your danger, and happily you heeded the signs of the time; else you, too, would now molder beneath the walls of the Alamo.

His prey escaped him, and with redoubled eagerness he sought to consummate my destruction.

I was made a prisoner in my own home, ere the sod settled on my father's grave! I fled in the midnight hour, and you see me here! Dr.Bryant, I well-nigh cut short the knotted thread of my life; but one thing saved me, else my body would even now whirl along the channel of the river.
When I parted from the blue-eyed, sainted Mary, she gave me this book, and asked me not only to read but follow its teachings.