Free Juan Seguin by Robert E. Hollmann

sent several messengers to him telling him to come to Gonzales.
    When we arrived in Gonzales, we learned that thirty-two men from the town had ridden to reinforce the Alamo. This was good news. Maybe more men had gone to the Alamo and the old mission would be all right after all.
    Some of our men served as scouts for the army. They rode out onto the prairies searching for any sign that Santa Anna’s army was coming to us. As the days passed, Juan worried more and more about the men in the Alamo. Each day he would talk to Houston about taking the army and marching to San Antonio. Houston would shake his head and tell Juan that the army was not ready yet.
    Sometimes when I was out riding on the prairie, I would hear the far-off sound of a cannon being fired. The sound made me glad, because it meant that the men in the Alamo were still alive. As we rode through the countryside, we saw many empty houses. The families had left and were hurrying toward the United States border. They were afraid that Santa Anna would win the war, and they wanted to be out of Texas before that happened.
    One day Juan and I were sitting in a small tent. We were talking about the war and wondering how our friends in the Alamo were doing. We heard the sound of horse’s hooves pounding down the dusty street. The rider stopped his horse in front of our tent and hurried inside. I recognized him as one of our scouts.
    “Juan, come with me at once,” he said.
    Juan stood up and looked at the man. “Where are we going, Jose?”
    The rider pointed to the outskirts of town. “There are two men over there that want to talk to you.”
    “Bring them here,” Juan said.
    The rider shook his head. “I think it’ll be better if you talk to them out there first.”
    We followed the rider to a tree outside of town. Two men waited for us under the tree. Juan recognized them as men who had ranches near San Antonio.
    “Hello, my friends,” Juan said. “Why do you want to see me?”
    The two men looked at each other. One of them stepped forward. “We have news of the Alamo. A few days ago Santa Anna attacked the mission.”
    Juan listened carefully to the man. “What happened?” he asked.
    The man took a deep breath. “All of the defenders were killed. The Alamo has fallen.”

Chapter Twenty-Three
    JUAN STARED AT THE MAN. “What did you say?” he asked.
    “The Alamo was attacked by Santa Anna’s army. The men fought as hard as they could but they were all killed.”
    “Did you see this?”
    “My friend and I were looking for lost cattle. We heard the firing and rode to see what was happening. We watched the battle from a small hill. When the battle was over, we rode into San Antonio and the mayor told us that Santa Anna ordered him to gather the bodies of the Texans and burn them. He told us that all the Texans had died.”
    Juan looked down at the ground. I knew he was thinking about all the friends we had left at the Alamo. Finally he looked at the men.
    “Come with me. We must tell General Houston what happened.”
    The men followed us to General Houston’s tent. Juan and I listened as the men told him their story. When they had finished, General Houston dismissed them. The men left and Houston turned to us.
    “We can’t let this story be spread around the camp,” he said quietly. “It would be bad for the men to hear about this until I check it out.”
    “Don’t you believe these men?” Juan asked.
    Houston sat on his bed and rubbed his eyes. “I’m afraid that their story is true. But we must be sure. They could be spies sent from Santa Anna to hurt the morale of the men.”
    He turned to a man who was standing in a corner of the tent. “Deaf, come here,” he said.
    The man walked toward Houston. Deaf Smith was one of the best scouts in the Texan army. He stopped in front of Houston.
    “Deaf, ride toward San Antonio. See if you can find out what really happened. I find it hard to believe that everyone was killed. Maybe you can find