air."

"Thee customs they ar-re ver' str-rict theese year," commented Pedro,
closely watching his companion. "They ar-re ver' har-rd on my poor
countrymen. They keep thee pr-rices so high on all theese goods."

"Tarnation bother," grunted Hank, beginning to get the reason for the
Mexican's interest in him. "Too bad we don't know somebody that kin git
us past 'em," he suggested, hopefully.

Pedro rubbed his hands complacently and helped to maintain a prolonged
silence; which at last was broken by small talk concerning the caravan
and its various members. After half an hour of this aimless conversation
he arose to leave.

"Thee customs, as you haf so tr-ruly said, ar-re ver' gr-reat bother,
Senor Hank. I know thees ver' much, for I haf a br-rother in thee custom
house. We ar-re ver' close, my br-rother an' me. I weel see you again,
senor. Eet ees good that we get acquaint, weeth so ver' many _milla_ yet
to tr-ravel together. _Buenos noches_, senor."

"Good night," replied Hank, carefully pulling the unburned wood out of
the fire to serve for the cooking of the breakfast. He glanced after the
dapper Mexican and grinned, re-roped the pack, and wandered off to join
his trapper friends at their fire.

"Grease is slippery; an' so is greasers," he chuckled. "Wall, thar's
plenty o' time to figger _jest_ what he's arter. Might be cheatin' th'
customs, an' then ag'in it might not."

CHAPTER X

EN ROUTE

Tom's duties as a lieutenant were to supervise his column, ride ahead of
the train on lookout for possible obstructions or dangers, go on ahead
to creeks and see that the banks sloped enough to permit the wagons to
take them safely, to hunt out and bridge morasses and quagmires that
could not be avoided. If the banks were too steep he and others of the
caravan were to ride ahead with axes, shovels, and mattocks and cut a
sloping road through them; if a morass or a treacherous creek bed had to
be crossed they had to cut great numbers of saplings, branches, and
brush and build up a causeway of alternate layers of wood and dirt. This
would not take long and if properly done, every wagon could cross in
safety.

The caravan in movement should have presented a formation of wagons in
orderly array, preceded by the captain and officers, flanked at a good
distance on both sides by well-armed riders, and followed by a fairly
strong rear-guard; but no such ideal formation could be maintained
except under the discipline of