At seven o'clock we commenced our final preparations before emerging from the room. This was to remove the shell of the wall yet upon the outside, then to make one end of the rope fast inside of the room, and pass it through, by which we would have to let ourselves down to the bottom of the moat. When this was done, it was found that the breach was too small upon the outside to admit of any but the smallest of our men passing through it, and required two hours hard work to scale some pieces of stone and mortar from one side of it, so as to permit the larger ones to pass. This required until nine o'clock.

All things being now ready, John Toowig,10 a gallant son of the Emerald Isle, got into the breach feet foremost, and, drawing his bundle after him, inch by inch squeezed out, and let himself down hand over hand about thirty feet to the bottom of the moat. [318] The depth and smallness of the hole rendered this operation exceedingly slow. Another and another followed, and at half past twelve, after three hours and a half hard labour, all of the sixteen had safely landed.

As Isaac Allen (Ike, for short) made his appearance upon the outer aperture, he said, "Stand from under, boys; I can't say whether these hands are gwine to hold;" and no sooner said than the laws of gravity landed Ike in the midst of us. The sand being about ankle-deep, it was an easy fall, and he rose as if nothing unusual had occurred.

Ike previously had the contents of his gun passed through both hands, which weakened his hold, and was the cause of his falling. He had seen much service fighting for liberty in Texas, had been in many Indian hunts, and had met danger with as little fear as any man. It was one of his chief delights to hate the Mexican nation, and if he had a greater pleasure, it was in telling the Mexicans of it. On account of the crippled condition of his hands, he had been separated from his partners, as he told them that "his hands would not pack stones," and he was permitted to wear his chain single. He, on one of the days when it was positively forbidden by the governor to sell us aguardiente, had paid his devotions too assiduously to a certain bladder we have had occasion to speak of, when, feeling keenly his own and his country's wrongs, he strutted forth in front of the governor's quarters, singing at the top of [319] his voice, "Viva la Texas!" (long live Texas!) The old governor came out in the greatest rage, and sent for "Guts" to know what that land robber meant by insulting him in that manner; and threatened "Guts" severely on account of his getting brandy. Old "Guts," full of wind and wrath, brought out his guard at a charge bayonet, and rushed Ike off to the solitary calaboose [see plate facing page 129].

"Now," says Guts to Ike, "you bloody robber! I will keep you here until you rot, unless you tell me where you got your brandy from."

"Well," says Ike, "I got it from you."

"You audacious rascal!" says Guts, "how dare you say so? Don't you know it is false?"

"Yes," says Ike, "I know it is false, Guts; but I will tell the governor I got it