ear: the rest would have to be left to stratagem
and chance.

"Yur ridin' in the Injun hoss," said Rube, "ud niver do: it mout, on the
wust pinch: an ef ee don't git in the t'other way, ee kin still try it;
but ye kud niver git acrosst through the cavayard 'ithout stampeedin'
'em: 'em mustangs ud be sure to make sich a snortin', and stompin', an
whigherin', as 'ud bring the hul campmint about ye; an some o' the
sharp-eyed niggurs 'ud be sartint to find out yur hide wur white.
T'other way es I've desized ur fur the safest--_it_ ur."

I was not long in making up my mind. Rube's counsel decided me, and I
resolved to act accordingly.

CHAPTER NINETY.

TAKING TO THE WATER.

I spent but little time in preparations; these had been made already.
It remained only to tighten my saddle-girths, look to the caps of my
revolvers, and place both pistols and knife in the belt behind my back--
where the weapons would be concealed by the pendent robe of
jaguar-skins. In a few minutes I was ready.

I still loitered a while, to wait for the falling of the water; not
long--my anxiety did not permit me to tarry long. The hour of the
council might be nigh--I might be too late for the crisis. Not long did
I loiter.

It was not necessary. Even by the moonlight, we could distinguish the
dark line of the bank separating the grassy turf from the surface of the
water. The rippling current was shining like silver-lace, and, by
contrast, the brown earthy strip that rose vertically above it, could be
observed more distinctly. It was sensibly broader.

I could wait no longer. I leaped into the saddle. My comrades crowded
around me to say a parting word: and with a wish or a prayer upon their
lips, one after another pressed my hand. Some doubted of their ever
seeing me again--I could tell this from the tone of their leave-taking--
others were more confident. All vowed to revenge me if I fell.

Rube and Garey went with me down the hill.

At the point where the stream impinged upon the hill? there were bushes;
these continued up the declivity, and joined the timber upon the summit.
Under their cover we descended, reaching the bank just at the salient
angle of the bend. A thin skirting of similar bushes ran around the
base of the hill, and we now perceived that by following the path on
which we had come, the ambuscade might have been brought a little nearer
to the camp. But the cover was not so good as the grove upon the
summi