e
same prairies about a year ago an' game was scarce, but there were some
men. Now the men are all gone an' the game has come back. Cur'us how
quick buffalo an' deer an' antelope learn about these things."

They slept the night through on the open prairie, keeping watch by
turns. The weather was cold, but they had their good blankets with them
and they took no discomfort. They rode forward again early in the
morning, and about noon struck an old but broad trail. It was evident
that many men and many wagons had passed here. There were deep ruts in
the earth, cut by wheels, and the traces of footsteps showed over a
belt a quarter of a mile wide.

"Well, Ned, I s'pose you can make a purty good guess what this means?"
said the Panther.

"This was made weeks and weeks ago," replied Ned confidently, "and the
men who made it were Mexicans. They were soldiers, the army of Cos, that
we took at San Antonio, and which we allowed to retire on parole into
Mexico."

"There's no doubt you're right," said the Panther. "There's no other
force in this part of the world big enough to make such a wide an'
lastin' trail. An' I think it's our business to follow these tracks.
What do you say, Obed?"

"It's just the one thing in the world that we're here to do," said the
Maine man. "Broad is the path and straight is the way that leads before
us, and we follow on."

"Do we follow them down into Mexico?" said Ned.

"I don't think it likely that we'll have to do it," replied the Panther,
glancing at Obed.

Ned caught the look and he understood.

"Do you mean," he asked, "that Cos, after taking his parole and pledging
his word that he and his troops would not fight against us, would stop
at the Rio Grande?"

"I mean that an' nothin' else," replied the Panther. "I ain't talkin'
ag'in Mexicans in general. I've knowed some good men among them, but I
wouldn't take the word of any of that crowd of generals, Santa Anna,
Cos, Sesma, Urrea, Gaona, Castrillon, the Italian Filisola, or any of
them."

"There's one I'd trust," said Ned, with grateful memory, "and that's
Almonte."

"I've heard that he's of different stuff," said the Panther, "but it's
best to keep out of their hands."

They were now riding swiftly almost due southward, having changed their
course to follow the trail, and they kept a sharp watch ahead for
Mexican scouts or skirmishers. But the bare country in its winter brown
was lone and desolate. The trail led straight ahea