They picked their way through the sleeping village, which was now dark as the moon had long since finished its journey across the sky. All seemed quiet in the Mexican houses, but when they got up close a figure slipped from a shadow and challenged them.
“No further this way!” the order came in quiet yet determined English. Bob recognized in the speaker one of the extra watchmen Boss Taylor had put on.
“Right,” answered the boy and the trio moved on, only to be stopped again a hundred feet further on and the same order passed.
“Gee whiz!” Bob exclaimed. “Guess Taylor has gotten wise and stuck a bunch around here to sit on the Mexicans if they start anything. Didn’t think he had it in him!”
“That will help us a heap,” was Ted’s idea. “We won’t have to worry about their taking a hand in our game!”
Feather-in-the-Wind only grunted and led the way swiftly towards the place where he had come on the Mexican bandits. The dark seemed to bother him little, if at all, for he walked with long strides, missing obstructions as if by intuition. The boys had difficulty in keeping up with him and it was a relief to them when he finally slowed down and stopped. Telling them by gestures to use the greatest caution against making a noise, on he went, the boys following.
They had crossed the river and were going down stream. Here there was a gentle rise in the ground. About halfway to the top of this hill the Indian motioned them to stay where they were and then, taking their obedience for granted, dropped on hands and knees and started to crawl rapidly the remainder of the way.
The excitement was too much for Bob. To stay still while serious events might be happening was not what he had bargained for and as soon as Feather-in-the-Wind was out of sight in the underbrush, he too started off, using the same manner of locomotion.
So cleverly had Feather-in-the-Wind secreted himself at the top of the rise that Bob was about to crawl over him, thinking it was a fallen log that obstructed his path. Stifling an exclamation, he lay still. The Indian did not show any signs of annoyance that his orders had been disobeyed and when he started to wriggle into a position from which he could see the other side of the hill, by a move of the hand he invited the boy to follow.
At first glance there seemed nothing amiss. To Bob’s untrained eye, the shadows that lay heavily in the dark of the night were only scrub pine and underbrush. But as he looked these shadows took form and substance. They were men, sitting or lying relaxed, in attitudes of waiting. A faint nicker and trampling of hoofs told that horses were hobbled in the vicinity.