y, and it is
too dark to see clearly. Do you understand, senor?"

Anastacio made a loud exclamation, caught Roldan in his arms and
kissed him, much to that haughty young gentleman's disgust, then tied
the first bunch himself. Roldan, Adan, and some forty of the quicker
Indians rapidly manipulated the straw, and in little more than ten
minutes had cast a hundred round compact bundles into the hurrying
tide. As they sailed away they certainly looked, under the heavy shadow
of the banks and the black-blue of the sky, like an army of men
swimming with the desperate haste of terror, their heads alone above
water.

"Now!" cried Anastacio, "to the mountains."

They had brought only pack-horses. There was nothing to do but run, and
Anastacio, driving his entire following ahead of him, sped to cover. It
was not twenty minutes before they heard a sharp volley of musketry,
and if their breath had not been short they would have laughed aloud at
the success of Roldan's strategy. The sky was turning grey as they
reached the straggling outposts of the forest on the mountain. The
firing had ceased. Their ruse had doubtless been discovered.

"We will hide for twenty-four hours and rest," Anastacio said to
Roldan, who was the only person he condescended to hold converse with,
although he allowed Adan to sun himself in his presence. "By that time,
too, I shall know their numbers. If they are many I'll draw them into
the mountains and fire from ambush. If few, they shall have open fight."

"You will let us see it?" asked Roldan, eagerly. "Of course I cannot
fight my own people; but I don't want to be sent to the pueblo, and I
do want to see a fight."

Anastacio hesitated. "Bueno," he said, "I owe you much. You give me the
word of the California don that unless I am killed you will not run
away?"

"I promise. There is nothing else to do. That is to say, I promise not
to run away before this battle is over."

"That is what I mean," said Anastacio, curtly. "Now we will sleep."

He disposed his men in the forest above a narrow, rocky canon into
which the enemy would hardly venture. Roldan volunteered to keep watch
with the two sentinels, and returned with them to the outskirts of the
forest. The enemy was marching steadily across the valley. After a time
they halted, and lay down for a time. Early in the afternoon they
resumed march, then halted again within a mile of the mountain, sending
two scouts ahead. By this time Anastacio ha