wagon, and gave my message. As I came back something seemed to slip away
before me and disappear somewhere. I dived into our wagon and crouched
down, waiting with beating heart for Uncle Esmond to come back. Once I
thought I heard the sound of a horse's feet on the trail to the
eastward, but I was not sure.

All was still and black in the little camp for a long time, and then
Esmond Clarenden and Rex Krane crept into the wagon and dropped the flap
behind them.

"Krane, have you decided about this trip yet?" Uncle Esmond asked. "If
not, you'd better get right up into town and forget us. You can't be too
quick about it, either."

"Ain't we going to stay here a few days? Why do you want to know
to-night?"

Rex Krane, Yankee-like, met the query with a query.

"Because there's a pretty strong party of Mexican desperadoes here who
are going on east, and they mean trouble for somebody. I shouldn't care
to meet them with our strength alone. They are all pretty drunk now and
getting wilder every minute. Listen to that!"

A yell across the river broke the night stillness.

"There is no telling how soon they may be over here, hunting for us. We
must get by them some way, for I cannot risk a fight with them here.
Which chance will you choose, the possibility of being overtaken by that
Mexican gang going east, or the perils of the plains and the hostility