"I'm afraid you'll think the idea too wild, sir."

"I will say so if it is, my boy. Let's have it."

"I thought this, sir," said Cyril hesitatingly: "we're well-armed; the Indians are afraid of you, and they are most likely retreating back to their camp with our mules and baggage, along with the seed we worked so hard to get."

He stopped again, and looked from one to the other, very red in the face all the time.

"Well, go on," said the colonel encouragingly.

"Why not show them we're not a bit afraid, and go on in pursuit of them at once? I don't believe they'd fight, and if they did--well, we should have to do the same."

"Hooray!" shouted John Manning, throwing up his cap, catching it again, and then drawing himself up stiffly as he glanced at the colonel: "Beg pardon, sir."

The colonel merely nodded, but said to himself: "I wish Percy had spoken like that." Then turning to Cyril: "You said, why not go in pursuit?"

"Yes, sir," said Cyril, throwing off his hesitation, and speaking now with his eyes sparkling, and cheeks flushed with excitement. "Why not?"

"Exactly, my boy, why not?" said the colonel. "We were caught unawares, and I have blamed myself, an old soldier, severely for the greatest lapse of which an officer can be guilty--eh, John Manning?--sleeping on duty in face of the enemy."

"Awful bad, sir, in time of war."

"Yes, but there are bounds to human nature's endurance, John Manning; and though I would not own it to myself, I was utterly exhausted."

"All was, sir."

"Then now we must make up for it.--Cyril, my lad, you have proposed exactly what I intended to do. Fortunately, we made a good meal last night. To-day we must feast again when we have retaken the baggage.-- All ready? Fall in."

The boys followed the colonel's example, and leaped to their feet.

"Light marching order," said the colonel, "so we ought to get along fast. That mule we saw, Cyril, shows that the others have been taken down the valley toward the great fall. There is no choice of road here, so I take it that the Indians are making their way straight back to their camp. Now, one word more. See that your weapons are ready for immediate use; no talking, but keep all your energies devoted to making observations in every direction. No rift or ravine likely to hide the enemy must be pa.s.sed, if it is one possible for mules to climb. Now, forward."

Then with a feeling of exhilaration that the boys could hardly comprehend, the little party started off with the colonel leading, and John Manning with his gun over his shoulder marching last, with a look in his face that suggested his feeling that he was guarding the rear of a column of advance once again.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

A MILITARY MOVEMENT.

At the first spot which gave him an opportunity to examine the gorge, the colonel mounted to a narrow shelf and made good use of his gla.s.s, descending at last to say: "They have got a good start of us, but there is something about a quarter of a mile on that I can't make out.

Forward cautiously."

Five minutes later the colonel halted again and sent Perry to the left, close up under that side of the gorge; Cyril to the right, with orders to advance in a line with him, and be ready to fire if there were any need.

It was quite a military movement, and the boys' hearts beat heavily at what seemed like the first initiation in real warfare; but before they had gone far Cyril uttered a shout, and pointed forward to something now hidden from the colonel by a cl.u.s.ter of rocks in the lowest part of the ravine, close to where the river ran with a deep-toned roar far below.

A minute later they were alongside the object, which proved to be the leader, lying as near as it could get to the deep gash in which the water was foaming. The poor wounded beast had in its struggles broken the long arrow nearly level with its skin, and in its agony of thirst it had been trying to reach the water, but fallen upon its side.

As Cyril came close up, the mule raised its head and uttered a piteous whinnying noise, looking up in the face of one who had many a time broken off some green spray of juicy growth to feed it as it trudged along with its load; but its eyes were already glazing, and it was the poor creature's last effort, for the head fell back heavily: there was a curious quivering of the legs, which struck out once as if their owner were galloping, and then all was still.

"Poor brute," said the colonel. "We cannot bury it, for there is no soil here, even if we had tools. Forward, my lads."

He led on, and the boys followed, feeling low-spirited; but they soon had something else to think about, for just as they were approaching one of the narrowest parts of the gorge, Perry stopped short.

"Where's John Manning?" he said.

Cyril followed suit, but no sign of the old soldier met his eyes, and they communicated with the colonel, who looked very anxious and much disturbed.

"We must return," he said. "Why, boys, you ought to have kept in touch with him. Double."

They all started back, but before they had gone a hundred yards the colonel cried "Halt;" for there in the distance was the missing man coming on at a rate which meant that he would soon overtake them.

"Did you see what he has been doing?" said Cyril, as they were once more on the march.

"Been stopping to get something," said Perry, "but I could not see what.

Could you?"

"Ugh! Yes," said Cyril, with a shudder of disgust. "He doesn't want for us to be starved, but who's going to eat mule?"

The tramp was long and tedious, but being no longer controlled by the pace of the baggage animals, the little party made far better progress than when they were making their way up the valley; yet the distance they had come was far greater than they had antic.i.p.ated, and for long enough there was no sign of the Indians having pa.s.sed that way. But they kept on, the colonel feeling convinced that they had pa.s.sed no side ravine up which the mules could have been driven; while, having these animals at their command, the colonel felt certain that the Indians would not carry the loads.

At last, during the hottest part of the afternoon, a halt was called, and they made for a huge rock which overhung on one side, offering a tempting shade from the burning sun; but before they reached it Cyril uttered an eager cry.

"Look! look!" he said excitedly, and he pointed to where there were marks about a patch of herbage where the mules had been cropping the coa.r.s.e stuff, as well as browsing upon some tufts of bushes, whose green twigs were bitten and broken off, and here and there leaves which had been dropped were still so fresh that it was evident that they could not long have been left.

This discovery, and a faint trace or two of the Indians having been with the mules, had a better effect upon the party than hours of rest. For they knew now that the treasured packs, containing not only the necessities upon which they depended for life, but the carefully-collected seed, were only a short distance ahead, and that if they pushed on with energy they ought to overtake them.

The rest depended upon the strong arms of the two men.

They went on then at once, but no fresh sign encouraged them, and at last the closing in of the ravine and the piled-up mountain in front warned them that they were approaching the gloomy chasm into which the river plunged. In fact, half an hour after, the deep booming roar of the fall began to be audible, as if coming from somewhere high up on the mountain-side.

"If it's coming to a fight," said Perry, "I hope it will not be in that deep cavernous place near the fall. I feel as if I hardly dare go down to it after what happened."

"Nonsense; you'll feel plucky enough when it comes to the point. Come along."

"Steady, young gentleman. Halt," growled John Manning. "You should keep your eyes open for what's going on in front. Look at the colonel."

They gazed forward, and saw that the last-named gentleman was signing to them to stop and follow his example of crouching down; and directly after they saw him creeping on toward the spot, from which so short a time before they had seen the Indians come out from behind the veil of mist, and amidst the roar of the falls point upward, making signs to each other, and then disappear.

It was now so gloomy, that it was hard to make out their leader's movements, for the light only reached them from the narrow opening high overhead, and where the little river raced onward toward the fall it was rapidly growing black; but in a few minutes the colonel signed to them to come on, and at a word from John Manning they advanced quickly, stooping in obedience to a sign from the colonel's hand, and reached him at last where he crouched behind a stone.

He did not speak, but pointed, and first John Manning, then Perry, and lastly Cyril peered cautiously over the stone, the latter being only in time to see that they were quite right in their surmises, for there below was a party of about thirty well-armed Indians, slowly making their way down the last of the many zigzags of the path toward where the mist rose like a dark veil, the wind which blew down the gorge keeping it, as it rose from the great gulf, from spreading in their direction, but beating it back into a dense cloud, to float slowly out into the valley beyond.

There they were walking very cautiously, some ten in front, and next, to Cyril's great joy, the remainder of their train of pack-mules, well loaded with the treasures taken from the cave. The rest of the party followed about a dozen yards behind.

Cyril remained watching till the head of the little column readied the veil of mist, went on, and was completely blotted out the next minute, one by one, the Indians being visible in the gloom, and then gone.

Next it was the turn of the animals, and as Cyril watched, it was very curious to note how a mule would be visible for a time, then its head and shoulders would disappear, and lastly it would be entirely swallowed up. The remainder of the Indians followed, one by one, till the last man, who seemed to be their chief, was alone, and he turned back to gaze upward, narrowly scrutinising the zigzag path by which his party had descended for a few minutes before he followed the rest. Then the gloomy place was utterly deserted, and momentarily growing blacker, so that the way down could not be seen.