Excerpt from The Lone Star: Or, the Texas Bravo; A Tale of the Southwest
The first beams of the morning sun were I saluting the "Lone Star." A man of about forty years of age, -wearing the uniform of a Texan officer, was standing motionless upon the margin of a prairie, not far from the Colorado river; it was the general-in-chief of the forces raised to repel the invasions of the "Napoleon of the West," and shake off a despotism revolting to men deeply imbued with republican sentiments. The general had received tidings from Colonel Travis, in command of Fort Alamo, San Antonio de Bexar, that he was besieged by overwhelming numbers, and could not long maintain his position unless reinforcements were speedily sent to his relief; and he had added that while the Alamo held out and successfully resisted the enemy, signal guns should be filled at sunrise every morning.
The colonel had redeemed his promise, and for many consecutive days the booming of distant cannon had been heard rolling over the prairies with a mournful sound, as if heralding the fate of the devoted garrison. General Houston, after accepting the command, which had been tendered him for the second time, and addressing a patriotic speech to the convention (which took the place of the provisional government) at Washington, mounted his horse, and without loss of time rode towards Bexar.
For several mornings he had heard the signal guns which were to assure the friends of the cause of Texas that the Alamo was yet in the hands of Travis and his men. At the juncture to which we have referred, he was in the act of listening with intense interest to catch the low thunder of the distant ordnance.
It was in vain that he bent forward and placed his ear to the ground; the sounds which would have been so welcome did not reach him. It was the hour when he had been bidden to expect the signal guns, and lie felt assured that his sense of hearing, rendered acute by long practice, had not failed in this instance. With a dejected countenance he returned to the spot where he had left his party, mounted his horse and went forward in the direction of Bexar as fast as practicable.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Lone Star (J. H. Robinson)