Valentine stopped and collected his friends.
"I think," Don Miguel observed, "that Red Cedar fancied he had been long enough up a tree, and so went back to the ground."
"You have not got it," he said, "what you assert, my friend, is materially impossible."
"Because the trail, as you see, suddenly ceases over a lake."
"Hum! It is plain that Red Cedar did not swim across it. Let us go on at all hazards, I feel certain that we shall speedily recover the trail; that direction is the only one Red Cedar could have followed. His object is to cross the line of foes who surround him on all sides; if he buried himself in the mountains, we know by experience, and he knows as well as we do, he would infallibly perish; hence he can only escape in this way, and we must pursue him."
"Still remaining on the trees?" Don Miguel asked.
"By Jove! Do not forget, my friends, that the bandits have a girl with them. The poor child is not accustomed like them to these fearful desert journeys; she could not endure them for an hour if her father and brothers were not careful to lead her by comparatively easy roads. Look beneath you, and you will feel convinced that it is impossible for a girl to have passed that way. This is our road," he added peremptorily, "and it is the only one by which we shall discover our enemy."
"Let us go, then," the Mexicans exclaimed.
Curumilla, according to his habit, said nothing; he had not even stopped to listen to the discussion, but walked on.
His friends eagerly hurried up. The chief held in his hand a piece of striped calico, no larger than a shilling.
"You see," Valentine said, "we are in a good direction, so we will not leave it."
This discovery stopped all discussion. The day gradually passed away, the red globe of the sun appeared in the distance between the stems of the trees, and after marching two hours longer, the darkness was complete.
"What is to be done?" Don Miguel asked; "We cannot spend the night perched up here, like parakeet. Let us choose a convenient spot to camp; tomorrow, at daybreak, we will ascend again and continue the chase."
"Yes," Valentine said, with a laugh, "and during the night, while we are quietly asleep down there, if any incident occurs that compels Red Cedar to turn back, he will slip through our fingers like a snake, and we know nothing about it. No, no, my friend, you must make up your mind to perch here for the night like a parrot, as you say, if you do not wish to lose the fruit of all your trouble and fatigue."