y, and they knew just what perils they were likely to encounter; but
they were not formidable enough to turn them from their purpose. While
they were crawling cautiously through the grass, they had been allowed
ample time to make up their minds what they would do, if their flight
should be discovered before they got out of the glade; and,
consequently, when the yells of the sentinel, and the reports of his
pistol, told them that the pursuit was about to begin, they did not
hesitate, but proceeded at once to carry out the plans they had formed.
Archie, the moment he jumped to his feet, darted toward the cliffs,
while Frank and Johnny ran for the ledge by which they had entered the
pass in the morning; and, by the time the Rancheros were fairly awake,
their prisoners had disappeared as completely as though they had never
been in the glade at all.

Archie had chosen the most difficult way of escape, and he had done so
with an object. He believed that, as soon as Pierre and his band became
aroused, they would rush in a body for the path that led toward the
settlement; and Archie did not like the idea of running a race through
the darkness along the brink of that precipice. He might make a misstep,
and fall into the gorge, and that would be infinitely worse than
remaining a prisoner. His enemies, he thought, would not be likely to
follow him up the cliffs; but if they did, and he found that he could
not distance them, there were plenty of excellent hiding-places among
the bushes and rocks, where he could remain in perfect security, with an
army searching for him. Johnny and Frank did not look at the matter in
that way. They thought not of concealment; they took the nearest and
easiest way home, and trusted entirely to their heels.

"Help! help!" shouted the sentinel, discharging the barrels of his
revolver in quick succession. "The boys have gone!"

For a moment, great confusion reigned in the camp. The Rancheros sprang
to their feet, and hurried hither and thither, each one asking
questions, and giving orders, to which nobody paid the least attention,
and the babel of English and Spanish that arose awoke the echoes far and
near. The chief was the only one who seemed to know what ought to be
done. He examined the beds to satisfy himself that the prisoners had
really gone, and then his voice was heard above the tumult, commanding
silence.

The first thing he did, when quiet had been restored, was to swear
lustily at the s