to no one you may chance to meet passing out from the settlements. Give
it to Barbato, or hand it to the Horned Lizard himself. He'll know who
it's for. You are to ride night and day, as fast as the animals can
carry you. When you've delivered it you needn't wait, but come back--
not here, but to the Alamo. You know the place--where we met the
Tenawas some weeks ago. You will find me there. _Vaya_!"

On receiving these instructions Pedrillo vanishes from, the room; a
strange sinister glance in his oblique Indian eyes telling that he knows
himself to be once more--what he has often been--an emissary of evil.

Uraga takes another turn across the floor, then, seating himself by the
table, seeks rest for his passion-tossed soul by drinking deep of the
_mescal_ of Tequila.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.

THE STAKED PLAIN.

The elevated table-land known as Llano Estacado is in length over three
hundred miles, with an average width of sixty or seventy. It extends
longitudinally between the former Spanish provinces of New Mexico and
Texas; their respective capitals, Santa Fe and San Antonia de Bejar,
being on the opposite side of it. In the days of vice-royal rule, a
military road ran across it, connecting the two provincial centres, and
mule trains of traders passed to and fro between. As this road was only
a trail, often obliterated by the drifting sands of the desert, tall
stakes were set up at intervals to indicate the route. Hence the name
"Llano Estacado"--literally, Staked Plain.

In those days Spain was a strong, enterprising nation, and her Mexican
colonists could travel over most parts of their vast territory without
fear of being assaulted by the savages. At a later period, when Spanish
power began to decline, all this became changed. Cities fell to ruin,
settlements were deserted, mission establishments abandoned, and in the
provinces of Northern Mexico white travellers had to be cautious in
keeping to the most frequented roads, in some districts not daring even
to venture beyond the walls of their haciendas or towns. Many of these
were fortified against Indian attack, and are so to this day.

Under these circumstances the old Spanish trail across the Staked Plain
fell into disuse; its landmarks became lost, and of late years only
expeditions of the United States army have traversed it for purposes of
exploration.

In physical aspect it bears resemblance to the table lands of Abyssinia
and Souther