But he was neither a soldier nor a frontiersman, and since the retreat into the Alamo he had done all that man could do.
He rose at last and went out.

Then Crockett said to Ned, knowing that it was now time to speak the full truth: "He has given up all hope of help." "So have I," said Ned.
"But we can still fight," said Crockett.
The day that followed was always like a dream to Ned, vivid in some ways, and vague in others.

He felt that the coil around the Alamo had tightened.

Neither he nor any one else expected aid now, and they spoke of it freely one to another.

Several who could obtain paper wrote, as Ned had done, brief wills, which they put in the inside pockets of their coats.