abandon the expedition."

The word "Prieto," in opposition to the phrase "abandon the expedition,"
put the hunters to their wits' end for invention, and plan after plan
was proposed; all, however, ending in the probability--in fact,
certainty--that if adopted, our trail would be discovered by the enemy,
and followed up before we could escape back to the Del Norte. They
were, therefore, one after another rejected.

During all this discussion, old Rube had not said a word. The earless
trapper was sitting upon the prairie, squat on his hams, tracing out
some lines with his bow, and apparently laying out the plan of a
fortification.

"What are ye doin', old hoss?" inquired one of his comrades.

"My hearin' ain't as good as 'twur afore I kim into this cussed country;
but I thought I heerd some o' 'ees say, jest now, we cudn't cross the
'Pash trail 'ithout bein' followed in two days. That's a dod-rotted
lie. It are."

"How are ye goin' to prove it, hoss?"

"Chut, man! yur tongue wags like a beaver's tail in flood-time."

"Can you suggest any way in which it can be done, Rube? I confess I see
none."

As Seguin made this appeal, all eyes were turned upon the trapper.

"Why, cap, I kin surgest my own notion o' the thing. It may be right,
an' it mayn't be right; but if it wur follered out, there'll be neither
'Pash nor Navagh that'll smell where we go for a week. If they diz, 'ee
may cut my ears off."

This was a favourite joke with Rube, and the hunters only laughed.
Seguin himself could not restrain a smile, as he requested the speaker
to proceed.

"Fust an' fo'most, then," said Rube, "thur not a-gwine to come arter
that nigger in less than two days."

"How can you tell that?"

"This way: 'Ee see he's only second chief, an' they kin go on well
enough 'ithout him. But that ain't it. The Injun forgot his bow; white
at that. Now 'ee all knows as well as this child, that that's a big
disgrace in the eyes o' Injuns."

"You're right about that, hoss," remarked one.

"Wal, so the ole 'coon thinks. Now, 'ee see, it's as plain as Pike's
Peak that he kim away back 'ithout tellin' any o' the rest a syllabub
about it. He'd not let 'em know if he kud help it."

"That is not improbable," said Seguin. "Proceed, Rube!"

"More'n that," continued the trapper, "I'll stake high thet he ordered
them not to foller him, afeerd thet some on 'em mout see what he kim
for. If he'd a-thought they knew or suspected, he'