"Then you soon shall," said Cyril. "I call myself one a dozen times a day. There, I'm a coward."

"But I meant some one else."

"You wait long enough, and you'll hear my father call me one."

"You're not."

"Yes, I am, and I shall deserve all he says--that is, if we ever get back to San Geronimo."

"Don't talk like that," said Perry. "What's to prevent us?"

"Indians," said Cyril mournfully.

"But we've left them behind."

"For a bit. They'll hunt us out again somewhere. They've got all the advantage of us. I daresay there are thirty or forty of them hunting us, and what one doesn't know of the country, another does; and as they spread out, they'll warn every Indian they meet, so as to run us down, for they're sure to feel now that we're after the buried treasures, and they'll give us credit for having found them."

"Why?"

"Because we have escaped. Every pa.s.s will be guarded, and every valley searched, so that they are sure to come across us at last.--Look, they're going to start. Come along." And picking up their guns, the boys joined the colonel and John Manning, who were tightening up the ropes round two of the loads.

"Better trust the leader, Manning," said the colonel.

"Yes, sir. He seems as good as a guide; and if you set his head straight, he'll take us somewhere; and where he goes, the others'll follow. Rum thing, too, sir."

"Oh, I don't know," said the colonel; "these animals have pa.s.sed their lives in the mountains."

"Of course, sir, but I didn't mean that. I meant it was a rum thing for them to follow their leader in this way, for they all hate him like poison, and kick at him whenever they have a chance; and as for the way he kicks at them, I wonder sometimes he doesn't get his heels stuck in their ribs, so that he can't get out no more. 'Tis their natur' to, eh, Master Cyril, sir?--Ah, would yer!"

This to one of the mules, whose heels must have itched, for it was softly turning itself round as if seeking somewhere to administer a good round kick.

Then all was ready for a start; but first the colonel mounted the side among the rocks, to search the valley with his gla.s.s.

He was soon satisfied that the Indians were nowhere within sight, and taking advantage of the high position he occupied, he turned the gla.s.s in the other direction, to scan the way they were about to go.

All there was utterly silent and desolate. There were the rocks everywhere, hardly relieved by a patch of green, and he was about to descend and start the mules, when he caught sight of Cyril hurrying back toward him, and signing to him to stay where he was.

"What is it?" he cried, as he saw the boy's anxious face.

"Look up to your left, sir, just above where that big rock sticks out just as if it must fall."

"Yes, I see," said the colonel; "with another just above."

"That's it, sir. Look just between those two blocks."

"Yes, I have the place."

"Well, sir, there are two Indians there watching us."

"No, my lad, there are no Indians there. Take the gla.s.s and look for yourself."

Cyril s.n.a.t.c.hed the gla.s.s, directed it to the steep, precipitous side of the gorge, and then uttered an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n full of annoyance.

"They're gone, sir, but I'm sure there were two men there."

"Then if so, they must be close to the same spot now. I hope you are wrong, but of course you may be right. Let's go on, and if they are there, we shall be sure to catch sight of them, for they must go forward or backward."

"Would you go on?" said Cyril dubiously.

"At any cost, boy. We cannot go back to that awful chasm to pa.s.s another night. There, back with you, but keep your eyes on the position in which you saw the men."

Cyril was silenced, and half ready to suppose that in his anxiety he had deceived himself; and in a few minutes he was back with the colonel, beside Perry and the mules, but without seeing anything in the direction he had pointed out.

"Ready?"

"Yes, sir, but my eyes are not quite so good as they were, sir, and I fancied I saw some one creeping along the side of the rock, up yonder to the right."

"Left, John Manning," cried Cyril, "and I saw it too."

"You saw something on your left, sir? Then I am right, and my eyes are true. There's Injuns watching us, sir, and if we don't look out, we shall have arrows sticking in our skins."

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

AT THE BIVOUAC.

The boys were heartily glad when, just before nightfall--night, which fell much sooner, shut in there in the deep valleys of the Andes--the colonel s.n.a.t.c.hed at a suggestion made by John Manning.

"Water, sir, coming out of that slit in the rock, plenty o' breastwork, and a bit of green stuff for the mules."

"Yes, we'll halt here. We are not likely to find a better place," said the colonel.

So instead of tramping on for another hour, a halt was called early, the packages formed into a shelter in front of the "slit" in the rock, as John Manning called it, a place which suggested its being a way into a good-sized cavern, and then a fire was lit, and they prepared their meal.

For no more had been seen of the Indians, and though the colonel had a shrewd suspicion that they might still be in chase of them, those which had been seen in the valley were, he concluded, only wanderers, whom they had startled while on some hunting expedition, and whom they would probably see no more.

The fire was only used to heat the water for their coffee, and as soon as this was made, carefully extinguished by John Manning, so as not to attract attention if any one was still about; and then they sat, glad of the rest, eating biscuit and charqui, and sipping coffee from the tin.

Over the meal, John Manning made a report respecting what he called the commissariat department.

"Stores getting low, sir," he said.

"Yes, I must supplement them with one of the guns," said the colonel.

"I have been so much taken up with getting the cinchona seed, that I have hardly thought of anything else."

Very little was said then for some time, the weariness mentally felt by all making them ill disposed for conversation; but just before dark the colonel carefully inspected their surroundings, and with John Manning's help, made a few arrangements for their defence.