"

"Wise men," said Obed.

The Ring Tailed Panther looked his companions in the eye, one by one.

"We come out here for business," he said. "What we want to acquire is
learnin', learnin' about the new defenses of San Antonio, an' we'd feel
cheap if we went back without it. Now, I don't care to feel cheap
myself. Good, careful, quiet fellows could slip between them sentinels,
an' get into San Antonio. I mean to do it. Are you game to go with me?"

"I am," said Urrea, speaking very quickly and eagerly.

"And I," said Ned.

"To turn back is to confess one's weakness," said Obed.

The Ring Tailed Panther roared gently, and with satisfaction.

"That's the talk I like to hear an' expected to hear," he said. "You
boys ain't afraid of rippin' an' tearin', when it's in a good cause.
There's pretty good grass here. We'll just kneel down in it, an' crawl."

The Panther marked a point about midway between the nearest two lights
and they advanced straight for it on hands and knees, stopping at
intervals of a hundred yards or so to rest, as that method of locomotion
was neither convenient nor comfortable. As they drew near to the fires
they saw the sentinels some distance back of them, and entirely in the
shadow, pacing up and down, musket on shoulder. The four were now near
enough to have been seen had they been standing erect, but they lay very
close to the earth, while they conferred a moment or two.

"There's a patch of bushes between those two sentinels," whispered the
Ring Tailed Panther, "an' I think we'd better creep by in its shelter.
If either of the sentinels should look suspicious every one of us must
lay flat an' hold his breath. We could handle the sentinels, but what we
want to do is to get into San Antonio."

They continued their slow and tiresome creeping. Only once did they
stop, and then it was because one of the sentinels paused in his walk
and took his musket from his shoulder. But it was only to light a
cigarette and, relieved, they crept on until they were well beyond the
fires, and within the ring of sentinels. Then at the signal of the Ring
Tailed Panther they rose to their feet, and stretched their cramped
limbs.

"It is certainly good," whispered Obed, "to stand up on two legs again
and walk like a man."

They were now very near to the town and they saw the dark shapes of
houses, in some of which lights burned. It was the poorer portion of San
Antonio, where the Mexican homes were mostly huts