Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/110

 Unto her question: "Where is James, thy brother? Oh! I shall never, nevermore return; My fate is sealed in his ; I, too, shall die. Despair not, faithful friend! If he is dead. His blood, shed in the cause of Liberty, Will rise like incense to the heavenly throne; Who in return will pour His comfort's balm Into thine mother's heart with angel's voice. But if alive, trust that thou shalt behold His face again; for cruel though they be, The enemy will hardly disregard The laws of human mercy as to lay Their hands on one so young, so fair, so brave. Wilt thou not ascertain through flag of truce, If he be 'mong the living or the dead?  This was the subject which in coming here We were discussing. Hard as it may seem, '"Twere meanwhile scarcely prudent to expose More precious lives to Mexican revenge. The more, as they have raised since their defeat A jet-black flag,—I know not, if to show That all seems black to them, or that they bear Black marks from all the blows received through us. The only means to mend this " casus belli," As we in Congress styled such knotty point,