f
deep beds and hot suppers on the ranchos of their respective parents,
but they shut their teeth and raided the larder. There they found
well-cured meats and dried fruits, which appeased their mighty
appetites; then they went into Anastacio's hut, and wrapping themselves
in the Mission blankets were soon asleep.

It was Adan who awoke Roldan violently in the morning.

"The soldiers!" he whispered hoarsely.

Roldan, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, peered through a rift between
the wall of the hut and the shrunken hide which formed the door. A half
dozen soldiers stood in the plaza, glancing speculatively about.

"I see no trace of them," said one. "I cannot believe they would come
back to this place. Surely it was, as I said, more natural for them to
hide at the edge of the forest until we had gone."

"That dog said there was food here, and that they were more afraid of
us than of a long walk at night. Wherever they are, we find them. They
are a prize second only to the head of Anastacio. Search the huts."

Roldan sprang to his feet, pulling Adan with him. "Come," he said;
"follow me, and run as if you were as lean as a coyote. Remember they
won't shoot."

He flung aside the hide door. The two boys flashed out and round the
corner of the hut before the tired eyes and brains of the soldiers had
time to grasp the happening. A moment later they were in hot pursuit,
firing in the air, shouting terrific threats. But the rested and agile
legs of the boys had a good start, and plunged into narrow ways where
horses could not follow; and doubling, twisting, following paths but
recently beaten by Anastacio in pursuit of deer, Roldan and Adan were
soon far beyond the reach or ken of the men of war. It was an hour,
however, before they thought it wise to arrest their flight and pause
to recuperate in a redwood tree hollowed by fire. Two weeks of exposure
and unwonted exertions had hardened Adan's superfluous flesh, and he
was scarcely more spent than his clean-limbed friend, although every
step had been taken with protest.

"Caramba!" he said, in a hoarse whisper at length. "When I am back on
the rancho I won't walk for a year."

"You will have the habit by that time, my friend, and will walk in your
sleep. When I am governor you will be generalissimo of all the forces
and will keep your army as lively as an ant-hill."

"That is too long ahead, and we have not enough wind to argue about it.
What are we going to do now?