This mission of deathless fame was even then more than a century old.

Its name, the Alamo, signified "the Cottonwood tree," but that has long since been lost in another of imperishable grandeur.
The buildings of the mission were numerous, the whole arranged, according to custom, in the form of a cross.

The church, which was now without a roof, faced town and river, but it contained arched rooms, and the sacristy had a solid roof of masonry.

The windows, cut for the needs of an earlier time, were high and narrow, in order that attacking Indians might not pour in flights of arrows upon those who should be worshipping there.

Over the heavy oaken doors were images and carvings in stone worn by time.
To the left of the church, beside the wing of the cross, was the plaza of the convent, about thirty yards square, with its separate walls more than fifteen feet high and nearly four feet thick.
Ned noted all these things rapidly and ineffaceably, as he and Crockett took a swift but complete survey of their fortress.