THE FALL OFTHE ALAMO ~ page 8
seemed to be at his proper post and perfectly collected. This was an Irish Captain, named Ward, who though generally an inveterate drunkard, was now sober, and stood quietly by the guns of the south battery ready to use them. Yet amid the disorder of that hour no one seemed to think of flight; the first damaging shock, caused by the sight of the enemy, must have been cured by the first shell that he threw; and the threat conveyed by Santa Anna's message seems to have inspired a greater amount of discipline than those men had before been thought capable o possessing. The sobered toper who stood coolly by his guns was the first pustule which foretold a speed inoculation of the whole mass. with that qualification.
The conflict of authority between Bowie and Travis, owing probably to the caution in which neither was deficient, had luckily produced no serious collision; and it was perhaps as fortunate that, at about the second day of the siege, the rivalry was cut short by a prostrating illness of the former, when Bowie was stricken by an attack of pneumonia, which would probably have proved fatal had not its blow been anticipated by the sword. This left Travis in undisputed command.
The investment was not too rigid to admit of the successful exit of couriers by night, and one or two had been sent out, since the enemy appeared, with letters to Colonel Fannin, at Goliad, asking for aid. On the 29th of February it was resolved to send an officer, who in addition to bearing dispatches, might make his own influence and information available to accomplish the object of his mission. Captain Seguin was recommended by most of the officers; for as he was of Spanish race and language, and well acquainted with the surrounding country, it was thought that he would be more likely than any one of his rank to succeed in passing the enemy's lines. Travis wished to retain him in the garrison, but at a council of war, held on the night of the 29th, he yielded to the wishes of the majority. That night Seguin and his orderly, Antonio Cruz Oroche, prepared for the sally. Another of his Mexican recruits, named Alexandro de la Garza, had already been sent ; a courier to the Provisional Government. Having no horse or equipments for himself, the Captain requested and obtained those of Bowie, who was already so ill that he hardly recognized the borrower. To him and the rest Seguin bade what proved to be a last adieu, and sallying from the postern on the northern side, took the high road to the east. As might be expected the rank and file had begun to look with jealousy on and departure from within, though of but one or two; and when Seguin produced the order which was to pass him and his orderly out, the sentinel at the