do you think?" inquired Jack eagerly, as the
cowpuncher at length set down the glasses.

"That we're in Dutch," was the expressive rejoinder.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DARK FACE OF DANGER.

"Are we in actual danger?"

It was Ralph who put the question. The Eastern lad looked rather white
under his tan. Walt, however, seemed as imperturbable as ever, and
gazed out at the approaching horsemen with no more sign of emotion than
a tightening of the lips.

Coyote Pete's reply was a curious one. He handed the boy the glasses,
and said curtly:

"Take a squint fer yourself."

Ralph gazed long and earnestly. Pete talked the while in low undertone.

"Do you recognize him--that fellow on the big black horse? I'd know
that horse ten miles away, even if I didn't know the man. He's----"

"Black Ramon de Barros!" burst from the Eastern lad's astounded lips,
while the others gave a sharp gasp of surprise.

"That's the rooster. Here, Jack; take a look."

The boy, as you may suppose, lost no time in applying the glasses to
his own eyes. Viewed through the magnifying medium, a startling
moving-picture swung into focus.

Surrounding a big, covered wagon, of the prairie-schooner type, were
from ten to a dozen wild-looking Mexicans, their straggling elf-locks
crowned by high-peaked sombreros, and their serapes streaming out
wildly about them, whipped into loose folds by the pace at which they
rode. As Coyote Pete had said, there was little difficulty for any one
who had seen him once, in recognizing Black Ramon de Barros. His
magnificent black horse--the same on which he had escaped from the old
mission--made him a marked man among a thousand. The wagon was drawn
by six mules, and driven by a short, stocky, little Mexican. The
horsemen seemed to act as escort for it. Evidently they had no fear of
being observed by hostile eyes, for, as they advanced, they waved their
rifles about their heads and yelled exultingly.

Fortunately for the party on the summit of the mesa, their stock was
tethered on the opposite side of the formation to that on which the
cavalcade was approaching. Thus, Black Ramon and his men could not see
that the mesa was occupied. Jack caught himself wondering, though, how
long it would be before, and what would happen when, they did.

"Have you got any plan in your head?" he asked, turning to Pete, as he
laid the glasses down. But for once, to his dismay, the old plainsman
seemed fairly stum