off the sleeve of my hunting shirt,
and then Rube gave me a bit of a cut on the arm. I let the blood run
till the sleeve was soaked and dripping, then Rube tore off a strip from
his shirt and bandaged my arm up tight. We rolled the sleeve in a ball
and threw it down, then took a turn, made a zigzag or two to puzzle the
brute, and then went on our line again. For another ten minutes we could
hear the barking get nearer and nearer, and then it stopped all of a
sudden. On we went, and it was half an hour again before we heard it,
and then it was a long way off. "I expect we're all right now, Seth,"
Rube said. "I guess we are," I said; "but the sooner we strike water,
the better I shall be pleased." It was nigh another half hour, and we
were both pretty nigh done, when we came upon the stream, and the dog
couldn't have been more than a mile off. It was a bit of a thing five or
six yards wide, and a foot or two deep in the middle. "Which way?" says
Rube. "Up's our nearest way, so we had better go down." "No, no," says
I; "they're sure to suspect that we shall try the wrong course to throw
them off, so let's take the right." Without another word up stream we
went, as hard as we could run. In a few minutes we heard the dog stop
barking, when we might have been half a mile up stream. "We must get out
of this, Rube," I said. "Whichever way they try with the dog, they are
safe to send horsemen both ways." "Which side shall we get out, Seth?"
"It don't matter," I said; "it's all a chance which side they take the
dog. Let's take our own side." Out we got; and we hadn't ran a quarter
of a mile before we heard a tramping of horses coming along by the
stream. We stopped to listen, for we knew if they had the dog with them,
and if he was on our side of the river, we were as good as dead. "If
they take the trail, Seth," Rube said, "it's all up with us. Don't let's
run any more. We are men enough to shoot the four first who come up, and
I only hope one of them may be El Zeres; that'll leave us a pistol each,
and we will keep them for ourselves. Better do that, by a long way, than
be pulled to pieces with hot pinchers." "A long way, Rube," I said.
"That's agreed, then. When I give the word, put the barrel against your
eye and fire; that's a pretty safe shot." As the Mexicans got to the
place where we had got out, we stopped and held our breath. There was no
pause,--on they went; another minute, and we felt certain they had
passed the spot.