the half-breeds, while carefully keeping on his guard against any surprise on the part of the man he was following. Domingo was one of those men of whom only too many are met with on the frontiers. Gifted with great qualities and great vices, equally fit for good and evil, capable of accomplishing extraordinary things in either sense; but who, for the most part, are only guided by their evil instincts.
He was at this moment following the stranger, without exactly knowing the motive that made him do so; not, even having decided whether to be for or against him; awaiting, to make up his mind, a little better knowledge of the state of affairs, and the chance of weighing the advantage he should derive from treachery or the performance of his duty. Hence, he carefully avoided letting his presence be suspected, for he guessed that the mystery he wished to detect would, if he succeeded, offer him great advantages, especially if he knew how to work it.
The two men marched thus for nearly an hour, one behind the other, Don Stefano not suspecting for a moment that he was so cleverly watched, and that one of the most knowing scoundrels on the prairie was at his heels.
After numberless turnings in the tall grass, Don Stefano at length arrived at the bank of the Rio Colorado, which at this spot was as wide and placid as a lake, running over a bed of sand, bordered by thick clumps of cottonwood trees, and tall poplars, whose roots were bathed in the water. On reaching the river, the stranger stopped, listened for a moment, and, raising his fingers to his mouth, imitated the bark of a coyote. Almost immediately, the same signal rose in the midst of the mangrove trees, and a little birchbark canoe, pulled by two men, appeared on the bank.
"Eh!" Don Stefano said, in a suppressed voice, "I had given up all hopes of meeting you."
"Did you not hear our signal?" one of the men in the canoe answered.
"Should I have come without that? Still, it seems to me you could have come nearer to me."
"It was not possible."
The canoe ran on to the sand; the two men leaped on lightly, and in a second joined Don Stefano. Both were dressed and armed like prairie hunters.
"Hum!" Don Stefano continued; "it is a long journey from the camp here, and I am afraid that my absence may be noticed."
"That is a risk you must run," the first speaker remarked – a man of tall stature, with a grave and stern face, whose hair, white as snow, fell in long curls on his shoulders.
"Well, as you are here at last, let us come to an understanding; and make haste about it, for time is precious. What have you done since we parted?"
"Not much; we followed you at a distance, that is all, ready to come to your assistance if needed."
"Thanks; no news?"
"None. Who could have given us any?"
"That is true; and have you not met your friend Marksman?"
"No."
"¡Cuerpo de Cristo! That is annoying; for, if my presentiment do not deceive me, we shall soon have to play at knives."
"We will do so."
"I know it, Brighteye. I have long been acquainted with your courage; but you, Ruperto your comrade, and myself, are only three men, after all."
"What matter?"
"What matter? you say, when we shall have to fight thirty or forty hardened hunters! On my word, Brighteye, you will drive me mad with your notions. You doubt about nothing; but remember, that this time we have not to contend against badly-armed Indians, but white men, thorough game for the galleys, who will die without yielding an inch, and to whom we must inevitably succumb."
"That is true; I did not think of that; they are numerous."
"If we fall, what will become of her?"
"Good, good," the hunter said, with a shake of his head. "I repeat to you that I did not think of that."
"You see, then, that it is indispensable for us to come to an understanding with Marksman and the men he may have at his disposal."
"Yes; but where are you going to find in the desert the trail of a man like Marksman? Who knows where he is at this moment? He may be within gunshot of us, or five hundred miles off."
"It is enough to drive me mad."
"The fact is, that the position is grave. Are you, at least, sure this time that you are not mistaken, but are in the right trail?"
"I cannot say with certainty, though everything leads me to suppose that I am not mistaken. However, I shall soon know what I have to depend on."
"Besides, it is the same trail we have followed ever since leaving Monterey; the chances are it is they."
"What do we resolve on?"
"Hang it! I do not know what to say!"
"On my word, you are a most heart breaking fellow! What! cannot you suggest any way?"
"I must have a certainty, and then, as you said yourself, it would be madness for us thus to try a sudden attack."
"You are right. I will return to the camp; tomorrow night we will meet again, and I shall be very unlucky if this time I do not discover what it is so important for us all to know. Do you, in the meanwhile, ransack the prairie in every direction, and, if possible, bring me news of Marksman."
"The recommendation is unnecessary. I shall not be idle."
Don Stefano seized the old hunter's hand, and pressed it between his own.
"Brighteye," he said to him, with considerable emotion,
"I will not speak of our old friendship, nor of the services which I have been several times so fortunate as to render you; I will only repeat, and I know it will be sufficient for you, that the happiness of my whole life depends on the success of our expedition."
"Good, good; have confidence in me, Don José. I am too old to change my friends; I do not know who is right or wrong in this business; I wish that justice may be on your side; but that does not affect me. Whatever may happen, I will be a good and faithful companion to you."
"Thanks, my old friend. Tomorrow night, then."
After uttering these few words, Don Stefano, or, at least, the man who called himself so, made a move as if to withdraw; but Brighteye stopped him, with a sudden gesture.
"What is the matter?" the stranger asked.
The hunter laid a forefinger on his mouth, to recommend silence, and turned to Ruperto, who had remained silent and apathetic during the interview.
"Coyote," he said to him, in a low voice.
Without replying, Ruperto bounded like a jaguar, and disappeared in a clump of cottonwood trees, which was a short distance off. After a few moments, the two men who had remained, with their bodies bent forward in the attitude of listeners, without uttering a syllable, heard a rustling of leaves, a noise of broken branches, followed by the fall of a heavy body on the ground, and after that nothing. Almost immediately the cry of the owl rose in the night air.
"Ruperto calls us," Brighteye then said, "all is over
"What has happened?" Don Stefano asked anxiously.
