"
"The others will have to look out for themselves," replied
Brooks. "They are able to do it."
The words had hardly left his lips ere there came the sound of a
single shot away to the left.
"There they are!" cried Billie. "Come on!"
The little cavalcade started forward, but ere they had gone a
dozen rods they could hear the sound of approaching horsemen,
crashing through the woods to their right.
"The Mexicans!" said Adrian.
"To cover, every man!" cried the corporal.
A minute later every horse lay flat on the ground with his rider
concealed behind him.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A DINNER AND ITS RESULT.
With a shout the Mexicans broke into the clearing which the
Americans had just left. They were a motley crowd, not much like
the cavalry that forms such a great part of Uncle Sam's army.
"It seems a shame to hurt them," muttered the corporal. "They
look as though they would run if you said boo!"
Seeing no one, the Mexicans, some twenty or twenty-five in
number, came to a halt and their leaders held a council of war.
The Americans, a couple of rods back in the woods, partly
concealed by the trees and partly by the deepening twilight,
watched them silently.
After a couple of minutes' confab, the captain of the band gave
an order which the boys could not hear and a couple of Mexicans
dismounted and began carefully to examine the ground.
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