“Nothing!” was the impressive reply.
“Nothing!” echoed everyone.
“Why, what could we do?”
“Take them prisoners—every one of them.”
“Whom prisoners?”
“These Mexicans—these before us.”
“Ha! before you they are—a long way, too. Bah! they are ten miles off, and, even if we could ride straight down the bluff with winged horses, what could our hundred men do in that jungle below? Look yonder!—there are a thousand of them crawling over the rocks?”
“And what signify numbers?” asked I, now speaking for the first time. “They are already defeated and flying—half of them, I’ll wager, without arms. Come, Major, let us go! We can capture the whole party without firing a shot.”
“But, my dear Captain, we cannot reach them where they are.”
“It is not necessary. If we ride up the cliffs, they will come to us.”