"To-morrow, then, we shall march," added the chief. "Go now and make
your preparations; we start by daybreak."

As Seguin ceased speaking, the hunters departed, each to look after his
"traps and possibles"; a duty soon performed, as these rude rangers were
but little encumbered with camp equipage.

I sat down upon a log, watching for some time the movements of my wild
companions, and listening to their rude and Babel-like converse.

At length arrived sunset, or night, for they are almost synonymous in
these latitudes. Fresh logs were flung upon the fires, till they blazed
up. The men sat around them, cooking, eating, smoking, talking loudly,
and laughing at stories that illustrated their own wild habits. The red
light fell upon fierce, dark faces, now fiercer and more swarthy under
the glare of the burning cotton-wood.

By its light the savage expression was strengthened on every
countenance. Beards looked darker, and teeth gleamed whiter through
them. Eyes appeared more sunken, and their glances more brilliant and
fiend-like. Picturesque costumes met the eye: turbans, Spanish hats,
plumes, and mottled garments; escopettes and rifles leaning against the
trees; saddles, high-peaked, resting upon logs and stumps; bridles
hanging from the branches overhead; strings of jerked meat drooping in
festoons in front of the tents, and haunches of venison still smoking
and dripping their half-coagulated drops!

The vermilion smeared on the foreheads of the Indian warriors gleamed in
the night light as though it were blood. It was a picture at once
savage and warlike--warlike, but with an aspect of ferocity at which the
sensitive heart drew back. It was a picture such as may be seen only in
a bivouac of guerilleros, of brigands, of man-hunters.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

EL SOL AND LA LUNA.

"Come," said Seguin, touching me on the arm, "our supper is ready; I see
the doctor beckoning us." I was not slow to answer the call, for the
cool air of the evening had sharpened my appetite. We approached the
tent, in front of which was a fire.

Over this, the doctor, assisted by Gode and a pueblo peon, was just
giving the finishing touch to a savoury supper.

Part of it had already been carried inside the tent. We followed it,
and took our seats upon saddles, blankets, and packs.

"Why, doctor," said Seguin, "you have proved yourself a perfect _maitre
de cuisine_ to-night. This is a supper for a Lucullus."

"Ach! me