After handing his pouch to the quartermaster-sergeant, his eyes fell upon the boy sergeants.
"I saw Texas Dick and Juan Brincos at Cisternas Negras," he said, addressing them.
"My! Did you, Mr. Baldwin?" exclaimed Henry, springing to his feet and approaching the courier. "Did they have our ponies?"
"You know I never saw your ponies; but Dick was mounted on a black, and Juan on a cream-color."
"Sancho!" said Frank.
"Chiquita!" said Henry.
"Do you know where they were bound?" asked Captain Bayard.
"I did not speak to them, nor did they see me. I dared not hold communication in a lonely place with such desperate characters. I learned from a friend of theirs at Date Creek that they were going to open a monte bank at La Paz."
"Then they are likely to stay there some time."
"Can't something be done, sir, to get the ponies back?" asked Frank.