hout saddle or bridle as well
as he could with them; and he was sure that if he could get but a few
feet the start of the Rancheros, his favorite could easily distance
them. But he remembered the chief's order for the band to "scatter out,"
and knowing that every path that led toward the settlement would be
closely guarded, and fearing that he might run against some of his
enemies in the dark, he decided that the safest plan was to remain upon
the cliffs, where he could not be followed by mounted men. It cost him a
struggle to abandon his horse, which was galloping about the glade, and
neighing disconsolately, but he wisely concluded that twenty thousand
dollars were worth more to his uncle than Sleepy Sam was to him; and
drawing in a long breath, he tightened his sash about his waist, and
again began the ascent.

His progress was necessarily slow and laborious, for, in some places,
the cliff was quite perpendicular, and the only way he could advance at
all, was by drawing himself up by the grass and bushes that grew out of
the crevices of the rocks. Sometimes these gave way beneath his weight,
and then Archie would descend the mountain for a short distance much
more rapidly than he had gone up. He was often badly bruised by these
falls. The bushes and the sharp points of the rocks tore his clothing,
and it was not long before he was as ragged as any beggar he had ever
seen in the streets of his native city.

"By gracious!" exclaimed Archie, stopping for the hundredth time to
rest, and feeling of a severe bruise on his cheek which he had received
in his last fall, "I am completely tired out. And this is all the work
of that Benedict Arnold! Didn't I say that we should see trouble with
that fellow? If I were out on clear ground, and had my horse and gun,
I'd be willing to forgive him for what he has done to me, but I'll
always remember that he struck Johnny over the head, when he was tied,
and could not defend himself."

Wiping the big drops of perspiration from his forehead, and panting
loudly after his violent exertions, Archie again toiled up the mountain,
so weary that he could scarcely drag one foot after the other. He
stumbled over logs, fell upon the rocks, and dragged himself through
bushes that cut into his tattered garments like a knife. Hour after hour
passed in this way, and, finally, just as the sun was rising, Archie,
faint with thirst, aching in every joint, and bleeding from numerous
wounds, stepped up