“That is James Bonham,” Travis called. “I told him to tie a handkerchief around his hat so we would know it was him. Get ready to fire at the enemy.”
The men loaded the cannon and raised their rifles. The enemy was gaining on Bonham when the defenders opened fire on them. The fire from the Alamo caused the enemy to stop chasing Bonham and ride back to their own lines. The Alamo gate opened, and Bonham raced into the courtyard.
Travis and Davy climbed down from the wall and walked with Bonham to Travis’s office. The children stood to one side, listening as Bonham made his report.
“Bad news, Colonel. Fannin is not coming. He started, but his wagons broke down and his oxen wandered away, and then he changed his mind about coming. He went back to Goliad.”
“Is anybody else coming?” Travis asked.
Bonham shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
“Thank you, Jim,” Travis said. “Go get some food and some rest.”
Travis and Davy watched him leave the office. Travis sat down in his chair. He looked very tired.
“Well, Davy. I guess it is just going to be us. I really believed that people would come to help us.”
“So did I,” Davy agreed.
The enemy cannon were getting louder. Travis looked at Davy.
“I need to tell the men. They should know that no one is coming.”
Davy nodded. “Yes. They should know.”
In a short period of time, the men were lined up in the courtyard. The children stood to one side and watched. Susannah Dickinson and the other women watched from the chapel door. Travis left his office and stood in front of the men.
“James Bonham brought bad news today,” Travis said. “There are no more reinforcements coming.” A low murmur rose from the men. Travis continued. “I have deceived you by telling you that help would come. I did not mean to. I was also deceived by others, who told me that they would come to our aid when the time came. I am here today to give you a choice, to stay or try to escape.
“My own choice is to stay and fight as long as I can. The longer we hold Santa Anna here, the more time it gives General Houston to raise an army to fight him later. But if you choose to leave, you go with my blessings and my thanks. You have done all that was asked of you. All that can be expected of you. Texas should be proud to have men such as you to fight for her.”
The men watched as Travis pulled his sword from his scabbard and drew a line in the dirt. When he had drawn the line, he returned to the center of the men.
“All those who are willing to stay and fight with me for Texas, let them now cross the line.”
There was silence as the men considered Travis’s words. The children looked at Davy. Slowly a smile crossed his face. He walked across the line and stood next to Travis. A young man named Tapley Holland was the next to cross. Others followed. Slowly at first, then in a rush men crossed Travis’s line. Daniel William Cloud, Gregorio Esparza, Isaac Millsaps, Antonio Fuentes, and all the others crossed.
Jim Bowie had been brought out on his cot. He raised his head and called to those on the other side of the line. “Boys, I can’t get up. I would appreciate it if you would give me a hand in getting across that line.”
Four men ran to the cot and lifted it up. The men cheered as Bowie was carried across the line. The children looked and saw one man still on the other side of the line. His name was Moses Rose. Bowie called out to him.
“Are you not willing to stay with us, Rose?”
Rose shook his head. “No. I am not.”
“You might as well stay,” Davy said. “You cannot get away.”
Rose looked at the brave men standing next to Travis. He turned and looked at the wall. “I have done worse than to climb that wall,” he said.
He walked over and picked up his things. He climbed to the top of the wall and looked back at the men who were watching him. He waved to them, and then jumped down from the wall.
Travis took a few steps out in front of the men.
“Thank you. Now everyone should get back to their posts. We don’t know when the enemy will attack.”
Travis walked back into his office as the men walked quietly to their places. The children walked quietly next to Davy. They reached the wooden fence and sat down.
Addie turned to Davy. “Why did you stay, Davy? You could have made it through the enemy lines.”
Davy smiled. “I must admit I considered it. There is a possibility that I would have escaped. But you know, I have always said, ‘Be sure you are right.’ It would not have been right for me to do that. Texas needs me here. I must be willing to do what I can for Texas independence, or I am not worthy to live here. All those other brave men stayed. My place is here with them. Remember, when you are back in school, some things are worth fighting for. Freedom is one of those things.”
Davy sat quietly, leaning against the fence. The children were quiet too. They had learned a lesson that could not be taught in school.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“That was quite a speech.” Davy looked across the table at Travis.
“I am glad the men decided to stay. I don’t know what I would have done if they had all left.”
The children sat watching Travis and Crockett talk. The men were at their posts. Most of them were sleeping. The enemy cannon had stopped firing, and the band was not playing.
“Why do you think they stopped firing at us?” Travis asked.
Davy rubbed his eyes. “I think they want us to go to sleep so when they attack we will not be alert.”
“Do you think they will attack soon?”
“I don’t know. It seems like they have been out there a long time. I don’t even know what day this is.”
Travis looked at a little book that was sitting on his desk. “March 6, 1836. It will be the thirteenth day of the siege.”
Davy stood up. “I think I will get some sleep. Who knows how long this quiet will last?”
Davy and the children walked outside. Travis lay down on a cot and pulled a blanket around his shoulders. Soon he was asleep.
Outside the Alamo, two thousand enemy soldiers lay on the cold ground. They were waiting for the signal to attack the fort. The soldiers had moved quietly into position several hours before. Now they shivered in the darkness and wished the signal would come. The hours passed, and the soldiers could wait no longer.
One of the soldiers shouted, “
Viva
, Santa Anna!” The cry was repeated throughout the army. Santa Anna turned to his bugler and ordered him to blow the charge on his trumpet. The bugle notes carried through the darkness. The army rose to its feet and ran toward the Alamo, cheering and yelling.
A sentry on the walls heard the shouts and the pounding of thousands of feet. He turned and yelled, “The enemy is attacking!”
In his room, Travis heard the shout and grabbed his shotgun. He rushed outside and raced toward the weak north wall. “Never surrender, boys!” he yelled as he reached the top of the wall.
Davy jumped to his feet. He looked over the top of the wooden fence. He could see the shapes of the enemy soldiers as they ran toward the Alamo. He raised Betsy to his shoulders and fired. He cheered as he reloaded. The children huddled against the wall. All around them men were firing and yelling. The ground shook when the cannons were fired. The flashes from the cannons and the rifles lit up the Alamo.
The enemy was firing now. The bullets flew over the children’s heads. Addie covered her ears. She had never heard such a sound. The boys lay on the ground.
“They are pulling back,” someone yelled.
Davy lowered Betsy and wiped the powder from his face. He watched the enemy soldiers pull back out of range of the Texans’ rifles. The men were cheering.
“It is not over. They will be back,” Davy warned.
Just then the bugle sounded and the enemy rushed toward the Alamo once again. The firing was just as loud as it was the first time. Screams and cheers blended with the sound of guns as the defenders fought to keep the enemy out of the Alamo. The children watched Davy. He yelled at the enemy as he reloaded. He had a fierce look in his eye. He dared the enemy to charge his fence.
Once more the enemy pulled back. Once more the Alamo defenders cheered. One of the men turned to Davy. “If we can keep them out a little longer, maybe they will quit,” he said.
Davy nodded, but did not say anything. The bugle sounded once again.
“Here they come!” a man yelled.
Once more the enemy raced toward the Alamo. Davy and his men fired as fast as they could. Some of the enemy moved toward other parts of the walls. Soon there was a great mob of enemy soldiers at the foot of the north wall. Travis shot down into the mass of soldiers. The enemy at the foot of the wall fired back. Addie looked across the courtyard toward the north wall. She saw Travis fall from the wall and lay still on the ground.
“They are climbing over the wall,” Dylan said.
Some enemy soldiers had climbed the wall and were now racing across the courtyard. The men on the walls turned to fire at them. This allowed other soldiers to climb up the walls, and soon the enemy was inside the fort. The enemy soldiers opened the gates, and more men rushed inside the Alamo.
Braden watched as a group of soldiers entered the room where Jim Bowie was lying on his bed. He heard two pistol shots and the sound of a struggle. Soon the enemy soldiers came walking out of the room. One of them carried Bowie’s knife.
“We have to pull back to the chapel,” Davy called to his men.
The children stayed close to Davy as he and his men fought their way through the enemy toward the Alamo chapel. There was not time to reload now, so Davy swung Betsy like a club. The enemy soldiers tried to stay out of Davy’s way as he moved across the courtyard. Davy looked down and saw the children.
“You must go now,” he said.
“How?” Addie asked.
“Back through the tunnel of light,” Davy answered.
The children turned and saw a tunnel of light in the middle of the courtyard.
“Run for the tunnel,” Davy said as he swung Betsy at the charging enemy.
Addie looked at Davy. “Good-bye, Davy.” She turned and ran after Dylan and Braden, who were entering the tunnel. She could see enemy soldiers running all around the courtyard. She looked behind her. A soldier was running after her, his arm reaching for her. Just before she reached the tunnel she felt a hand grab her shoulder and pull her back. She saw the tunnel closing as she fought the hand on her shoulder.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Addie. Wake up.”
Addie felt the hand on her shoulder, shaking her. She looked up expecting to see the face of an enemy soldier. Instead she saw her mother looking at her. She looked at the other people standing in the room. There were two people in uniform who must be security. Another lady looked over her mother’s shoulder. Dylan and Braden stood next to the lady.
“Are you all right?” her mother asked.
Addie nodded her head. She looked around the room. It was the storeroom she and the boys had entered. The one where they had met Davy.
“I am fine,” she said. “What happened?”
Her mother helped her stand up. “You and the boys must have fallen asleep. I guess you came in here and the door locked when it shut. You should not have gone into strange buildings.”
The lady who was watching Addie said, “This is an old storeroom. Nobody comes in here. You are lucky that we found you. It is nearly time to close the Alamo. You could have been here all night.”
Addie looked at Dylan and Braden. They were smiling at her. “Mother, we met Davy Crockett. He was right here in this room. He took us through a tunnel of light and we saw his whole life. We were here in the Alamo when the enemy attacked. I was running to get back to the light tunnel when a soldier grabbed my shoulder. I thought that was him shaking me. I am so glad it was you.”
Addie’s mother stroked her hair. “You just had a dream. We found all of you sleeping here. I was so worried when I came to pick you up and you were not here. This nice lady and these guards helped me look for you. We were about to give up when we found this building.”
Addie looked around. “You mean there was no tunnel of light and no Davy? But I saw him. Dylan, Braden, didn’t you see him?”
The boys nodded.
The grownups laughed. Addie’s mother took her hand. “You were here to find information on Davy Crockett for a school paper. You all just dreamed about what you were trying to find.”
“But it was so real,” Addie said as she walked out of the building with her mother.
“We will go home and have a nice dinner. Then tomorrow you and the boys can work on your paper.”
Addie walked away with her mother and the others. She stopped and looked back at the small building. The door was cracked open. She saw a shadowy figure smiling at her from behind the door. The figure took off his coonskin cap and waved to her. Addie turned to tell the others, but they had walked around a corner. She turned back to the building, but the door was shut and the building was dark and quiet.