h, good
luck, a clump of mesquite growing out of the crumbling wall further down.
She fastened the bridle reins to the mesquite and left the horses
contentedly chewing at it.

Very cautiously she crept up the incline and took a peek at the situation.
She was just in time to see Scott disappear into the cabin where Adams lay
wounded. Polly's face fell. That didn't look very heroic--crawling in by
the back door! No wonder he didn't want her to see him. Then she took
another look. She saw the crowd down by the corral, catching and saddling
unwilling horses. Women were hurrying in and out of cabins, dragging
household goods and children with them.

The little crowd before the store she could not see as the building itself
prevented, but she saw Pachuca with several of his men riding up and down,
and she also saw several unmounted Mexicans who had been looting the
store, carry the goods out and throw them in the car which stood at the
side of the building. Instinctively the girl reconstructed the action of
the bandits.

"A lot of them came on horseback and the rest in the car. They're going to
carry what they've taken in the car and they're taking the horses for the
extra men. Our Mexicans and their women are going with them and are
helping themselves to whatever they want. But where are our men? I didn't
think they'd sit down and be plundered without putting up some kind of a
fight."

She saw the crowd which had been looting the store start for the corral.
The car stood alone. Without doubt they had stopped it a little way from
the street and made a dash on horseback. Polly's eyes shone.

She glanced at the sun; it was going down rapidly. It would soon be dusk.
She crept cautiously out of the arroyo. If only none of the men on
horseback saw her she might manage it, wild as her plan was. She shook
with fear but she did not falter; a girl does not have an obstinate chin
for nothing. She glanced both ways; Pachuca was still riding up and down,
issuing orders which were obeyed noisily but cheerfully. She saw him point
toward the corral and saw the men who had been loading the car with
plunder start toward the corral on a run.

"Going after more horses," thought the girl, stopping and crouching back
of one of the cabins. If they should see her--she held her breath. The
next moment she was running for the car, still sheltered by the cabins. It
was this moment that Scott chose to walk down the street and draw the
attention