"Well," answered Tubby, grinning, "even if that did happen, I wouldn't be the first feller who'd gone and lost his head, would I? I'd like to have ten dollars for every time you have, Andy Bowles."
Finally everything was in readiness, and they started; but there were no cheers wafted after them on this occasion. The boys, acting under the advice of the general, had been very careful not to tell a single person other than Mardo Lopez what they intended doing. The rebels had many secret sympathizers on that shore of the Rio Grande; and perhaps one of these might think it worth while to transmit the news across that a little party of gringo boy soldiers contemplated invading the sacred soil of Mexico.
Leaving the lively town of El Paso behind, the little party struck along the river, and continued to gallop for several hours, until they came to the place where the ford mentioned by Lopez lay.
The cautious native guide was very careful to keep a bright lookout, not wishing to have his charges fired on from either bank of the stream while crossing.
"Better you wait here, young señors," he observed, as they pulled up in the shelter of some scrub trees that grew on a rise; "as for me, I will go over and take a look around on the other side. When you hear me call, and I wave my hand, it is a sign that you cross safely."
"All right, Lopez, we're on to what you mean," Andy told him.
They watched him crossing the stream, taking note of what he did, so as to keep the current from pushing his mount from the shelf that made the water so shallow.
"We must copy exactly that way of doing," Rob directed the rest. "I never crossed a river at a ford in my life; and certainly not on horseback. But it seems easy enough once you've got the hang of things."
"Huh! won't be any trouble at all," Tubby assured him, being confident of his ability to keep his horse headed right; and Andy also declared that it looked "just as easy as falling off a log."
Lopez, after pulling out on the other side, rode some distance up and down, as well as back from the river, in order to make sure that there might not be a party of natives, whether Federals, rebels, or bandits, lying in ambush. Should such a party open fire upon the boys while they were in the middle of the stream, they would be next to helpless to return the shots.