ke Dick
think well of me. What would Jim Williams say of a trick like that? The
thought of the Texan banished what little hesitation I felt. Glancing
round the bright circle, I made my plan; it was to crawl far back into
the darkness, go around to the other side of the camp, and then slip
up behind Dick. Already his head was nodding on his breast. It made me
furious to see him sitting so uncomfortably, sagging in the lasso.

I tried to beat down my excitement, but there was a tingling all over
me that would not subside. But I soon saw that I might have a long wait.
The Mexican did not go to sleep, so I had time to cool off.

The campfire gradually burned out, and the white glow changed to red.
One of the men snored in a way that sounded like a wheezy whistle.
Coyotes howled in the woods, and the longer I listened to the long,
strange howls the better I liked them. The roar in the wind had died
down to a moaning. I thought of myself lying there, with my skin
prickling and my eyes sharp on the darkening forms. I thought of the
nights I had spent with Hal in the old woods at home. How full the
present seemed! My breast swelled, my hand gripped my revolver, my eyes
pierced the darkness, and I would not have been anywhere else for the
world.

Greaser smoked out his cigarette, and began to nod. That was the signal
for me. I crawled noiselessly from the tree. When I found myself going
down into the hollow, I stopped and rose to my feet. The forest was so
pitchy black that I could not tell the trees from the darkness. I groped
to the left, trying to circle. Once I snapped a twig; it cracked like
a pistol-shot, and my heart stopped beating, then began to thump. But
Greaser never stirred as he sat in the waning light. At last I had half
circled the camp.

After a short rest I started forward, slow and stealthy as a creeping
cat. When within fifty feet of the fire I went down on all-fours and
began to crawl. Twice I got out of line. But at last Dick's burly
shoulders loomed up between me and the light.

Then I halted. My breast seemed bursting, and I panted so hard that I
was in a terror lest I should awaken some one. Again I thought of what I
was doing, and fought desperately to gain my coolness.

Now the only cover I had was Dick's broad back, for the sapling to which
he was tied was small. I drew my hunting-knife. One more wriggle brought
me close to Dick, with my face near his hands, which were bound behind
him. I slipp