He saw at once that their former inhabitants had not yet returned to them, and here he believed was his chance.
When they stood beside the first house he called the attention of his guards to some Mexican women who were decorating a doorway across the street.

When they looked he darted into the first of the houses in the Zambrano Row.

He entered a large room and at the corner saw a stairway.
He knew this place.

He had been here in the siege of San Antonio by the Texans, and now he had the advantage over his guards, who were probably strangers.
He rushed for the staircase and, just as he reached the top, one of the guards, who had followed as soon as they noticed the flight of the prisoner, fired his musket.

The discharge roared in the room, but the bullet struck the wall fully a foot away from the target.