The mulatto and zambo--Manuel and Pepe were their respective names--in
half-an-hour after were ready for the road. Their preparations did not
cost them half that time; but a quarter of an hour was spent on the
_guisado_, and each smoked a husk cigarrito, while their horses were
grinding up the half-dozen heads of green maize that had been thrown
them.
Having finished their cigars, the hunters leaped into their saddles, and
rode off.
The mulatto was armed with a long rifle, of the kind used by American
hunters, and a knife of the sort since known as a "Bowie," with a strong
thick blade keenly pointed and double-edged for some inches from the
point--a terrible weapon in close combat. These arms he had brought
with him from the Mississippi valley, where he had learnt how to use
them.
The zambo carried an escopeta strapped in a slanting direction along the
flap of his saddle, a machete upon his thigh, and a bow with a quiver of
arrows hung over his back. The last of these weapons--for certain
purposes, such as killing game, or when a silent shot may be desirable--
is preferred to any sort of fire-arms. Arrows can be delivered more
rapidly than bullets, and, should the first shot fail, the intended
victim is less likely to be made aware of the presence of his enemy.
In addition to these weapons, both had pistols stuck in their belts, and
lazos hanging coiled from their saddle-bows.
Behind them on the croup each carried his provisions--a few strips of
tasajo with some cold tortillas tied in a piece of buckskin. A
double-headed calabash for water, with sundry horns, pouches, and bags,
completed their equipment. A pair of huge gaunt dogs trotted behind
their horses' heels, fierce and savage-looking as their masters. One
was the wolf-dog of the country, the other a Spanish bloodhound.
"What road, Man'l?" inquired the zambo as they parted from the hut;
"straight down to the Pecos?"
"No, Pepe boy: must climb, go round. Seen making down valley, somebody
guess what we're after--send him word we're coming. He suspect--we not
grow rich so easily. No--must get up by old track--cross to dry gully--
down that to Pecos. Take longer--make things surer, boy Pepe."
"Carrambo!" exclaimed Pepe. "It's a murderous climb. My poor beast's
so jaded with the buffalo running, that he'll scarce get up. _Carrai_!"
After a short ride through the thicket and along the bottom of the
cliffs, they arrived at a point where a ravine sloped to the upper
plain. Up the bottom of this ravine was a difficult pass--difficult on
account of its steepness. Any other horses than mountain-reared
mustangs would have refused it, but these can climb like cats. Even the
dogs could scarcely crawl up this ascent. In spite of its almost
vertical slope, the hunters dismounted, crawled up, and, pulling their
horses after them, soon reached the table-land above.
After breathing themselves and their animals, they once more got
astride, and, heading northward, rode rapidly off over the plain.
"Now, boy Pepe," muttered the mulatto, "chance meet any sheep-keepers,
going after antelope; you hear?"
"Ay, Man'l; I understand."
These were the last words exchanged between them for ten miles. They
rode in file--the mulatto in the lead, the zambo in his tracks, and the
dogs following in the rear. These two went also in file, the bloodhound
heading the wolf.
At the end of ten miles they reached a dry river channel, that ran
transversely across their route. It was the same which Carlos and his
party had followed on the day of their escape after the affair at the
Presidio. The hunters entered it, and, turning downward, as Carlos had
done, followed it to its mouth upon the banks of the Pecos. Here was a
grove of timber, which they entered, and, having dismounted, tied their
horses to the trees. These animals, though lately arrived from a long
journey, and now having passed over more than thirty miles at a brisk
rate, showed no symptoms of being done up. Lean though they were, they
possessed the tough wiry strength of their race, and either of them
could have gone another hundred miles without breaking down.
This their masters well knew, else they would have gone upon their
man-hunt with less confidence of success.
"May gallop away on his fine black," remarked the mulatto, as he glanced
at the mustangs. "Soon overhaul him again--won't we, boy Pepe?"
"_Chinga_! we will."
"Brace of hacks tire out racer,--won't they, boy Pepe?"
"_Chingara_! So they will, Man'l."
"Don't want to try that game though--do the job easier; won't we, boy
Pepe?"
"I hope so, Man'l."
"Cibolero in the cave sure--stays there--no better place for him. Won't
be caught sleeping,--troopers never follow him up the pass. Convenient
to valley. Goes back and forward spite of spies. Tracks could lead
nowhere else--sure in the cave, horse and all. When? that the trouble,
boy Pepe."
"_Es verdad_! if we knew when he was in, or when he was out, either."
"Ay, knew that, no difficulty,--set our trap easy enough, boy Pepe."
"He must surely be there in daytime?"
"Just been thinking--goes to the settlements--must be by night, that's
clear--goes there, boy Pepe, maybe not to rancho, somewhere near. Must
go to meet Anton. Not like Anton meet him at cave--guero too sharp for
that--goes out to meet Anton, sure!"
"Might we not track Anton?"
"Might track Anton--no good that--would have to deal with both together.
Besides, don't want kill Anton--no ill-will to Anton--make things worse
if find Anton with him. Never do, boy Pepe--have hands full with guero
himself--plenty do capture him. Must not forget capture--not kill--
leave that to them. No use track Anton--know where t'other keeps. If
didn't know that, then might track Anton."
"Can't we get near the cave in daylight, Man'l? I don't have a good
memory of the place."
"Mile--no nearer--unless he sleep--when sleep? Tell me that, boy Pepe!"
"And suppose he be awake?"
"See us enter the canon, mile off--jump into saddle, pass up to plain
above--maybe three days before find him again--maybe not find at all,
boy Pepe."
"Well, brother Man'l--I have a plan. Let us get near the mouth of the
canon, and hide outside of it till night--then as soon as it is dark
creep into where it narrows. He will come down that way to go out.
What then? we can have a shot at him as he passes!"
"Pooh, boy Pepe! Think lose chance of half reward--risk whole by shot
in dark? Dam! no--have whole or none--set us up for life--take him
alive, take him alive, sure."
"Well then," rejoined the zambo, "let him pass out of the canon, and
when he's gone clear out of reach we can go up, get into the cave, and
wait his return. What say you to that?"
"Talk sense now, boy Pepe--something like plan about that--what we do--
but not go inside canon till guero clear away. Only near enough see him
go out, then for cave--right plan to take him. Sun near dawn, time we
start--come!"
"_Vamos_!"
Both mounted, and rode forward to the bank of the river. There was no
ford at the spot, but what of that? With scarce a moment's delay they
plunged their horses into the stream and swam across. The dogs followed
their example, and all came out dripping on the opposite bank. The
evening was chill, but what was heat or cold to such men? Nothing
signified their wet clothes to them; and without halting they rode
straight forward to the ceja of the Llano Estacado, and having reached
it turned to the right, and rode along the base of the bluffs.
After following the line of the ceja for two or three miles they
approached a spur of the cliff that ran out into the plain, and
gradually tapered to a point, sinking lower as it receded from the
Llano. It ended in a clump, or rather several clusters, of isolated
rocks and boulders that stood near each other. The place was not
timbered, but the dark rocks irregularly piled upon each other gave it a
shaggy appearance; and among their crevices, and the spaces between
them, was ample room for even a large party both of men and horses to
lie concealed.
The end of this rocky promontory was the point towards which the mulatto
was steering. It formed one side of the ravine in which lay the cave,
while another similar ridge bounded the ravine on its southern side.
Between them a deep bay indented the cliff, from which a narrow
difficult pass opened up to the high plain above. It was the same
ravine in which the cattle of the young ranchero Don Juan had been
slaughtered! These were no longer to be seen, but their bones were
still visible, scattered over the plain, and already bleached white.
The wolves, vultures, and bears, had prepared them for that.
The man-hunters at length reached their destination; and, having led
their horses in among the loose boulders, fastened them securely. They
then crept up through crevices in the rocks, until they had reached the
crest of the ridge. From this point they commanded a view of the whole
mouth of the land-bay, about three hundred yards in width, so that no
object, such as a man or horse, could pass out or in without their
observing it--unless the night should chance to be very dark indeed.
But they expected moonlight, by the help of which not even a cat could
enter the ravine without their seeing it.
Having found a spot to their liking, they lay down, with their bodies
concealed from any one who might be passing on the plain below either in
front of or behind them. Their horses were already hidden among the
large masses of rock.
To the minds of both their purposed plan of action was clearly
understood. They had their reasons for believing that the cibolero,
during his period of outlawry, was dwelling in a cave that opened into
this ravine, and which was well-known to the mulatto; that Carlos came
out in the night, and approached the settlements--the place was but ten
miles from his own rancho--and that he was met somewhere by Antonio, who
gave him information of what was going on, bringing him provisions at
the same time.
It was their intention to wait until Carlos should pass out, then occupy
the cave themselves, and attack him on his return. True they might have
waylaid him on his going forth, but that might result in a failure.
Catch him they could not while mounted. They might have crept near
enough to get a shot at him, but, as the mulatto had said, that would
have risked their losing him altogether.
Moreover, neither wanted to take only his scalp. The mulatto in
particular had resolved on earning the double price by _taking him
alive_. Even though it cost them some additional risk, his capture
would doubly reward them, and for money these desperadoes were ready to
venture anything. Withal, they were not so daring as to have cared for
an open encounter. They knew something of the mettle of "el guero," but
they trusted to the advantage they should obtain over him by stratagem.
On starting out they had resolved to follow him up, and steal upon him
when asleep--and the plan which they had now formed had been the result
of cogitations by the way. In Manuel's mind it had been developed long
before the suggestion of the zambo.
They rested their hopes upon the belief that their victim would not know
that they were after him--he could not have heard of their return from
the buffalo-hunt, and therefore would be less on the alert. They knew
if Carlos became aware that they were upon his trail he would pursue a
_very_ different course from that observed towards his soldier-pursuers.
From these he could easily hide at any time upon the Llano Estacado,
but it was different with men like the hunters, who, though they might
not overtake him at the first burst, could follow on and find him again
wherever he should ride to.
But both mulatto and zambo believed that their presence would be
unsuspected by the guero, until they had laid hands upon him. Hence
their confidence of success.
They certainly had taken measures that promised it, supposing their
hypothesis to be correct--that is, supposing the cibolero to be in the
cave at that moment, and that during the night he should come out of the
ravine.
They were soon to know--the sun had already gone down. They would not
have long to watch.