“Stabbed with a bayonet through the shoulder—hard riding from Goliad—no food—no rest—that tells the whole story, doctor.”
It was all he could say. A fainting fit followed. Antonia procured some stimulant, and when consciousness returned, assisted her father to dress the wound. Their own coffee was gone, but she begged a cup from some one more fortunate; and after the young man had drunk it, and had eaten a little bread, he was inclined to make light of his wound and his sufferings.
“Glad to be here at all,” he said. “I think I am the only one out of five hundred.”
“You cannot mean that you are of Fannin’s command?”
“I WAS of Fannin’s command. Every man in it has been shot. I escaped by a kind of miracle.”
The doctor looked at the Senora. She seemed to be asleep. “Speak low,” he said, “but tell me all.”
The man sat upon the floor with his back against the wall. The doctor stooped over him. Antonia and Isabel stood beside their father.
“We heard of Urrea’s approach at San Patricio. The Irish people of that settlement welcomed Urrea with great rejoicing. He was a Catholic—a defender of the faith. But the American settlers in the surrounding country fled, and Fannin heard that five hundred women and children, followed by the enemy, were trying to reach the fortress of Goliad. He ordered Major Ward, with the Georgia battalions, to go and meet the fugitives. Many of the officers entreated him not to divide his men for a report which had come by way of the faithless colony of San Patricio.
“But Fannin thought the risk ought to be taken. He took it, and the five hundred women and children proved to be a regiment of Mexican dragoons. They surrounded our infantry on every side, and after two days’ desperate fighting, the Georgia battalions were no more. In the meantime, Fannin got the express telling him of the fall of the Alamo, and ordering him to unite with General Houston. That might have been a possible thing with eight hundred and sixty men, but it was not possible with three hundred and sixty. However, we made the effort, and on the great prairie were attacked by the enemy lying in ambush there. Entirely encircled by them, yet still fighting and pressing onward, we defended ourselves until our ammunition gave out. Then we accepted the terms of capitulation offered by Urrea, and were marched back to Goliad as prisoners of war. Santa Anna ordered us all to be shot.”
“But you were prisoners of war?”