ly there would be moonlight!

Well thought of was that disguise--well spent our labour in making it so
perfect. Under the moonlight, to it only could I trust; by it only
might I expect to preserve my incognito.

But the eye of the Indian savage is sharp, and his perception keen--
almost as instinct itself. I could not rely much upon my borrowed
plumes, should speech be required from me. Just on account of the
cunning imitation, the perfectness of the pattern, some friends of the
original might have business with me--might approach and address me. I
knew but a few words of Comanche--how should I escape from the colloquy?

Such thoughts were troubling me as we rode onward.

Night was near; the sun's lower limb rested on the far horizon of the
west: the hour was an anxious one to me.

The scouts had been for some time in the advance, without returning to
report: and we had halted in a copse to wait for them. A high hill was
before us, wooded only at the summit; over this hill the war-trail led.
We had observed the scouts go into the timber. We kept our eyes upon
the spot, waiting for their return.

Presently one of them appeared just outside the edge of the wood--Garey,
we saw it was. He made signs to us to come on.

We rode up the hill, and entered among the trees. After going a little
farther, we diverged from the trail. The scout guided us through the
trunks over the high summit. On the other side, the wood extended only
a little below; but we did not ride beyond it; we halted before coming
to its edge, and dismounting, tied our horses to the trees.

We crept forward on our hands and knees till we had reached the utmost
verge of the timber; through the leaves we peered, looking down into the
plain beyond. We saw smokes and fires, and a skin-lodge in their midst;
we saw dark forms around--men moving over the ground, and horses with
their heads to the grass: we were looking upon the camp of the
Comanches.

CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX.

THE COMANCHE CAMP.

We had reached our ground just at the moment I desired. It was
twilight--dark enough to render ourselves inconspicuous under the
additional shadow of the trees--yet sufficiently clear to allow a full
reconnoissance of the enemy's position. Our point of view was a good
one--under a single _coup-d'oeil_ commanding the encampment, and a vast
extent of country around it. The hill we had climbed--a sort of
isolated _butte_--was the only eminence of any c