gry, and with this empty
feeling came one of desperation. He must escape, be the cost what it
might.

"If only I could collar one of their mustangs, and get away on it," he
thought. "Perhaps I might find those soldiers and have the Mexicans
made prisoners."

The more he thought of this plan the more did it appeal to him, and
then he cast about for some means of putting it into operation.

The chance came shortly before sundown. A distant shot was heard, and
the two Mexicans in the cave hurried to join their companions, to learn
what it might mean. Dan had cast himself down as if asleep, and one of
the soldiers did not, therefore, pick up his gun as he hurried past the
entrance of the cave.

No sooner were the men out of sight, than Dan leaped upon the back of
the nearest mustang, and turned him straight for the entrance. He made
the animal do his best from the start, yet, as he passed the entrance
to the cave, he hung out from the saddle and managed to pick up the gun
that rested against the wall.

"He is escaping!" cried one of the Mexicans, in Spanish, and leaped in
front of the mustang. The next instant the horse knocked him flat and
galloped over his body.

The Mexicans were bewildered, for, on the brink of the ravine, one of
them had caught sight of several Texan soldiers in the distance. If
they fired on Dan, they would betray themselves, and, if they did not,
the youth would surely escape.

"After him!" cried the captain, and two of the soldiers made a dash for
the boy. But they might have as well tried to catch the wind, for the
mustang was fresh from his rest, and Dan made him do his level best.

Then along the ravine sped animal and boy, Dan riding as never before,
and expecting a shot at any moment. He knew not where he was going, and
hardly cared, so long as he made his escape from the Mexicans.

CHAPTER XX.

FLIGHT AND PURSUIT.

Lieutenant Radbury's party had come up to the ravine at a point
opposite to the cave, about half an hour before Dan attempted to make
his escape.

"I see nothing of the Mexicans here," he remarked to Poke Stover, as he
swept the ravine from one end to the other with his well-trained eye.

"No more do I see anything," answered the old frontiersman. "But they
may be behind yonder rocks, leftenant. If ye say the word, I'll climb
down and scout around a bit."

"There is a cave among yonder rocks," put in another of the Texans. "It
is called Haunted Rock by the