straight on for a bit. They won't know how long a start the horses may
have had, and will think we may have had them in the gorge, and have
mounted and ridden down. Yes; there they go. Now we can move on again
without fear of being heard."

Half an hour later they joined Zeke, who was with the horses a hundred
yards over the crest of the hill in a line with the two trees.

"No one hurt?" he asked, as they approached.

"Nary a scratch, Zeke. We have wiped out eight of them. The rest have
just gone tearing down the valley."

"Well, we had best be moving so as to get as far as we can before we
lose the moon."

"That won't be till within an hour of daylight," Zeke said. "Now, which
way shall we go?"

"I think we had better keep along the hillside, Zeke. We can travel fast
here, and can get so far that when they find the trail in the morning,
and follow us, we shall be too far away for them to overtake us before
nightfall."

So day after day they traveled, sometimes in deep ravines, sometimes
high up among the hills, sometimes coming upon a stream and taking in a
supply of water, and sometimes well-nigh mad with thirst. They had cut
up two of the empty water-skins and had made rough shoes for their
horses, and believed that they had entirely thrown their pursuers off
the trail, winding along on what was little more than a goat's track up