ere both plaguey anxious, and couldn't pretend we warn't, for at any
moment that rascal El Zeres might arrive, and then it would be all up
with us. At last we agreed that we could not stand it any longer, and
made up our minds to go outside and sit down against the wall of the hut
till it was safe to make a start, and then if we heard horses coming in
the distance we could make a move at once. We each took a hat and cloak,
a brace of pistols, and a rifle, and went out. There we sat for another
hour, till the camp got quiet enough to make the attempt. Even then we
could hear by the talking that many of the men were still awake, but we
dared not wait any longer, for we calculated that it must be near eleven
o'clock already. We chose a place where the fires had burned lowest, and
where everything was quiet, and, crawling along upon the ground, we were
soon down among the horses. We had been too long among the Indians to
have a bit of fear about getting through these fellows; and, lying on
our faces, we crawled along, sometimes almost touching them, for they
lay very close together, but making no more noise than two big snakes.
A quarter of an hour of this and we were through them, and far enough
out on the plain to be able to get up on to our feet and break into a
long stride. Ten more minutes and we broke into a run: there was no fear
now of our steps being heard. "Done them, by thunder!" Rube said; "won't
El Zeres curse?" We might have been a mile and a half from the camp,
when in the quiet night air we heard the sound of the howl of a dog. We
both stopped as if we were shot. "Thunder!" Rube exclaimed furiously,
"if we haven't forgot the bloodhound." I knew what Rube meant, for it
was a well-known matter of boast of El Zeres that no one could ever
escape him, for that his bloodhound would track them to the end of the
world. "There's only one thing to be done," I said; "we must go back and
kill that critter." "Wait, Seth," Rube said; "we don't know where the
darned brute is kept. He warn't up at the hut, and we might waste an
hour in finding him, and when we did, he ain't a critter to be wiped out
like a babby." "We must risk it, Rube," I said. "It's all up with us if
he's once put on our track." Rube made no answer, and we turned towards
the camp. We hadn't gone twenty yards, when Rube said, "Listen." I
listened, and sure enough I could hear out on the plain ahead a low
trampling. There was no need of any more talk. We ran