He tore out the leaf, crawled down the mountain as non-apparently as a
python, and pinned it high on an outstanding redwood, then returned and
told his sentinels to sleep, replacing them with others.

IX

That evening Anastacio called Roldan to him.

"I fear treachery," he said. "Who can trust five hundred men that have
learned too much? And the white men, they have better brains than mine.
I watch to-night. Will you watch with me, senor?--that I can sleep
before morning and rest for the fight."

"I will," said Roldan, enthusiastically. "And Adan also?"

"It matters not."

When the dusk was so thick in the aisles that every moving frond looked
like a man looming suddenly, one of the sentinels returned with the news
that the paper had been taken from the tree, and that the Californians
had pitched tents, and to all appearance were at rest for the night.

It was not likely that the enemy would venture into the forest at night.
They were not a large body, they were not pressed for time, nor were
they the heroes of many wars. The Indians were comparatively safe until
morning; nevertheless, Anastacio was too good a general to relax
vigilance. When night came he and the two boys went down the mountain
and sent the outpost back to sleep. They ventured out where the trees
grew far apart, and the brilliant stars of California illumined the
great valley like so many thousand watch-fires.