In less than an hour, Houston, with a few companions, was on his way to the Alamo.

At the same time he sent an express to Fannin, urging him to meet him on the Cibolo.

Houston will be here to-morrow." "Then he will learn that all help is too late." But Houston had learned it in his own way before he reached Gonzales; for Travis had stated that as long as the Alamo could be held, signal guns would be fired at sunrising; and it is a well-authenticated fact that these guns were heard by trained ears for more than one hundred miles across the prairie.

Houston, whose senses were keen as the Indians with whom he had long lived knew when he was within reach of the sound; and he rose very early, and with his ear close to the ground waited in intense anxiety for the dull, rumbling murmur which would tell him the Alamo still held out.

His companions stood at some distance, still as statues, intently watching him.