ations. Tyope and most of the others breathed on
their war-fetiches, and then group after group stealthily moved onward.
The plan, which had been communicated to every one in its main points,
consisted in reaching before sunrise the very ground which the Tehuas
had selected for their operations; passing the following day in the
woods of that vicinity in concealment, and creeping up to the Puye the
following night; then, after sunrise, when the Tehuas would begin to
scatter, unarmed and unsuspecting, pouncing upon them and making a
general slaughter. Tyope had under his direction more than two hundred
men, and they extended over a wide front. About twenty experienced
warriors, mostly uakanyi, glided in advance as scouts. Behind them came
at a suitable distance either single warriors or small bands. The main
body came last. It was divided into several groups. Near the centre were
Tyope and the shaman.

Every one knew that his duty for the present consisted in searching for
traces of the enemy without exposing himself to discovery. Should a
single Tehua be observed, and it became possible for a scout to
overpower and kill him without noise, he might do it. In case a number
of foes were noticed, the spy was to give quiet warning to the man
nearest to him, that one to those in his rear; and they were to send a
runner to inform Tyope. In the mean time all were to halt until orders
came to move in a new direction. For Tyope, although he did not in the
least suspect that the Tehuas were forewarned, and still less on the
alert so close by the Rito, used every possible precaution in order that
the surprise might be complete and the blow as crushing as possible.

It was dark in the timber, and the main body of the Queres approached
the brink of the first canon north of the Rito while the advance were
cautiously descending into the bottom and the scouts were already
farther on. Tyope and the medicine-man were standing a short distance
from the descent of the south side and listening to the news which a
runner had just brought in from the front.

"Are you sure you have noticed a man?" the Chayan asked in a whisper.

"I am sure of it. He crouched at the foot of a juniper-bush," replied
the messenger, positively.

"Has he seen you?" demanded Tyope.

"I believe not."

"When you left was he there still?"

"I could not see any more of him."

"How far is it from here? Where stands the tree?" the Chayan asked.

"It is on the ot