The intelligent Yankee soon bethought him of a scheme; and one that
appeared feasible.
My party should make approach in the night; go into covert under the
pine-forest that shrouded the slopes above the place of rendezvous; and
leave Sam himself to come on in the morning--carrying the ransom-money
along with him. That night he could go with us to a certain distance--
as a guide all the way--returning, to return again, at the hour of
daybreak.
The plan seemed excellent. There was but one drawback. Our ambuscade
could only affect the envoy of the robbers, not the robbers themselves--
whose den might be at a distance, among the passes of the mountains.
"Don Samuel" did not see it in this light. With the bandit emissary in
our power, and the dollars of Don Eusebio at our disposal, he did not
apprehend any difficulty. If there were a _salteador_ in all Mexico
proof against gold, Sam Brown did not believe it.
I was satisfied with his reasoning; and consented to act under his
guidance.
But little time was required for preparation. The commander-in-chief--
not so ungenerous after all, and always liberal in the cause of
humanity--had given me _carte, blanche_. I only drew a score of my own
men--Mounted Rifles--with a small supplementary force of the dare-devils
already alluded to.