Still they did not conceal from themselves the difficulties of this final struggle, in which the squatter would escape the fate reserved him by death, unless they managed to deceive him by trickery. In such a state of mind, we may easily suppose that they said nothing, and reached the foot of the mountain without exchanging a syllable. Here they stopped.
"Caballeros," the gambusino said, "before going further, we shall not do badly, I fancy, by making some indispensable arrangements."
"What do you mean, my friend?" Don Pablo asked.
"We are going to enter regions," Andrés replied, "where our horses will become more injurious than useful; in the mountains a footman passes anywhere, a horseman nowhere."
"That is true; let us leave our horses here, then; the noble brutes will not stray beyond the spot where they can find provender. When we require them; we shall be sure to find them again, with a little search."
"Is that the señorita's opinion also?" the gambusino asked respectfully.
"Then let us dismount, remove saddle and bridle, and leave them to their instinct."
They removed everything that could trouble the horses, and then drove them away. The intelligent animals, accustomed to this, only went a few yards, and began quietly nibbling the thick prairie grass.
"That is all right," the gambusino said; "now let us think of ourselves."
"But the harness," White Gazelle remarked; "the moment will come when we shall be glad to have it ready to hand."
"Perfectly true," said Andrés; "so we will put it in a safe place; for instance, this hollow tree will form a famous storeroom."
"Caramba! that is an original idea," Don Pablo said, "and deserves being followed."
The three saddles were placed in the tree, and so covered with dead leaves, that it would be impossible to suspect their presence.
"Now," said White Gazelle, "let us look after a place to bivouac: the nights are cold at this season, especially in the mountains; day is rapidly departing, and we shall soon be in darkness."
Our three scouts had left the camp at a rather late hour: hence, while they were unsaddling their horses, and hiding the harness, the sun had gradually sunk down beneath the horizon: the short period of twilight had begun, during which day finishes, and night begins, in which darkness and light, struggling desperately together, spread over the landscape a mixed haze, through which objects are regarded as through a prism.