The city of San Antonio de Bejar――The crumbling monuments of Spanish supremacy――A place of surpassing interest to travellers――The spirit of revenge――The morning of Washington’s Birthday, 1836――Davy, the scout once more, watches the coming of Santa Anna and four thousand men――The Alamo prepares for the last struggle――The Bee-Hunter salutes the Lone Star flag――The Pirate goes for help to Goliad――But one man deserts the garrison of the Alamo――The beginning of the siege on February 24th――Thimblerig is struck by a bullet, and takes revenge――The Pirate is seen returning, pursued by Mexicans, and the Bee-Hunter leads a party to his relief――The Pirate dies of a bullet wound at the gates of the fort, and the Bee-Hunter is fatally injured――The Bee-Hunter’s death――Farewell to Kate of Nacogdoches!――The Red Flag on the walls of the San Fernando church――Orders to the Mexican Army for the assault. It is not possible here to repeat the history of San Antonio de Bejar. As the site of crumbling monuments of early American history, it has no rival. The Alamo, last remnant of the Mission that was at one time at San Ildefonso, near Santa Fé, is the restored chapel of its Brotherhood. Its massive walls are the same that have met the many shocks of battle for two hundred years. There the wild Apaches and Comanches found a stronghold to check their ravages, and there the equally savage men of fairer skins slaughtered each other with grim delight. When the Missions of the Concepcion, of San José, of San Juan, of San Francis of the Sword, now crumbling to inevitable decay, shall be only mounds in the midst of stunted trees and matted vines, when the exquisite carvings of their broad façades shall have turned to dust again, the traveller will stand before the Alamo with reverence, and enter, with uncovered head, the dim recesses of this altar-place of liberty. When Davy Crockett and his recruits first saw its walls, the spirit of revenge was rife. The butchery at Tampico of thirty American adventurers, captured in the schooner _Mary Jane_, in spite of the one hundred thousand dollar ransom offered, and the murder of Governor Salcedo, two other Mexican Governors, and a dozen officers and hidalgos, by Gutierrez and Delgado, Mexican rebels who were allied with a force of Americans camped about the Alamo, had wrought the racial hatred to a frenzy. Every man longed for battle, and the extinction of the last vestige of the power of the enemy. When news came that Santa Anna and four thousand Mexicans were on the way, the cowards faded from sight, knowing that war was to be under the Red Flag, and without quarter.