mbush.

Antonio then took the trail, and guided them through the chapparal; not
as they had come to La Nina, but by a path that led to the upper plain
by another pass in the cliffs. From a point in this pass they obtained
a distant view of the chapparal and the plain beyond. Though now full
three miles from their place of ambush, they could see the valiant
troopers still figuring on the open ground in front of it. They had not
yet ventured to penetrate the dangerous underwood which they believed to
be alive with ferocious savages!

Carlos, having reached the upper plain, struck off with his band in a
direction nearly north. His object was to reach a ravine at some ten
miles distance across the plain, and this was gained without a single
pursuer having appeared in the rear.

This ravine led in an easterly direction as far as the Pecos bottom. It
was the channel of a stream, in which water flowed in the rainy season,
but was now quite dry. Its bed was covered with small pebbles, and a
horse-trail upon these was scarcely to be followed, as the track only
displaced the pebbles, leaving no "sign" that could be "read" to any
advantage. Old and new foot-marks were all the same.

Into this ravine the party descended, and, after travelling down it for
five or six miles, halted. Carlos called the halt for a special
object--to detail a plan for their future proceeding, which had been
occupying his attention during the last hour or two.

As yet, none of the party were compromised but himself. It would not
advantage him that they should be, but the contrary. Neither Don Juan
nor Antonio had shown themselves out of the thicket; and the other dusky
faces, seen but for an instant through the brambles, could not have been
recognised by the frightened troopers. If, therefore, Don Juan and his
peons could get back to their home without observation, for them all
would still be well.

This was a possible event. At starting Carlos had cautioned secrecy as
to the expedition. It had left at an early hour, before any one was
abroad, and no one knew of it. Indeed, no one in the valley was aware
that the cibolero had returned before the news of the affair at the
Presidio. His mules had been quietly unpacked, and were herded at a
distance from the rancho by one of his men. If, then, the _troopers_
should not visit that neighbourhood before the following day, Don Juan
and his people could go back in the night and engage in the