time enough. But we got lots o' time ter figger that; we
won't be ter th' Upper Spring fer two more days. Time enough then ter
talk about it."

"But, eet ees tonight!" exclaimed Pedro. "_Madre de Dios!_ You teenk I
mean near thee Upper Spreeng? No! No!"

"Mebby not; but that's whar _we_ mean," said Tom. "Think we're goin'
pokin' along through this Injun country fer two nights an' a day by
ourselves? Th' caravan gits ter Willer Bar tomorrow night, an' camps at
th' Upper Spring, or Cold Spring, th' next night. That puts us near
fifty miles further on in th' protection of th' caravan."

"No! No!" argued Pedro in despair. "Eet ees too _mucho_ reesk!"

"Of what?" demanded Tom, in surprise.

"Eet may be that Armijo send _soldats_ to meet thee tr-rain, lak other
times. Senores, eet mus' be tonight! Tonight eet mus' be!" He looked
around suddenly. "But where ar-re thee _cargas_, thee packs? I do not
see them. What ees eet you do?"

"We put 'em outside th' corral," chuckled Tom knowingly, "so folks will
git used ter seeing 'em thar. Tomorrow night we'll do th' same, an' do
it ag'in at th' Upper Spring. Somebody shore would see us if we had ter
pack 'em here an' sneak 'em through th' camp. Ye should tell yer friends
ter put thar packs outside th' waggins, too. How we goin' ter git
through th' guards around th' camp?"

"By my fr-riends," answered Pedro. "But eet may be too late at Cold
Spreeng!" he expostulated. "Eef thee _soldats_ ar-re there--ah, senores!
Eet ees ver' bad, Cold Spreeng!"

"We ain't botherin' 'bout that," said Tom reassuringly. "Hank kin scout
on ahead o' us, an' if thar camped up thar we kin drop out o' th' train
behind any bend on th' way, an' take ter th' brush."

Pedro begged and pleaded, but to no avail. He still was arguing when his
two companions rolled up in their blankets and settled down to go to
sleep. Sadly he walked away, hiding his anger until well out of their
sight, and then hastened to his own fire and sent three of his
compatriots to watch the sleeping pair. They had their watch for
nothing, and while they doggedly kept their eyes on the two plainsmen,
Uncle Joe and his two wagoners were busy on the other side of the camp,
stowing merchandise in the wagons and making false packs. This they
found easy to do without calling upon many buffalo rugs, for the goods
had been packed in light boxes, over which had been thrown skins and
canvas. By taking out the contents of the boxes and putting