The four were now near
enough to have been seen had they been standing erect, but they lay very
close to the earth, while they conferred a moment or two.
"There's a patch of bushes between those two sentinels," whispered the
Ring Tailed Panther, "an' I think we'd better creep by in its shelter.
If either of the sentinels should look suspicious every one of us must
lay flat an' hold his breath. We could handle the sentinels, but what we
want to do is to get into San Antonio."
They continued their slow and tiresome creeping. Only once did they
stop, and then it was because one of the sentinels paused in his walk
and took his musket from his shoulder. But it was only to light a
cigarette and, relieved, they crept on until they were well beyond the
fires, and within the ring of sentinels. Then at the signal of the Ring
Tailed Panther they rose to their feet, and stretched their cramped
limbs.
"It is certainly good," whispered Obed, "to stand up on two legs again
and walk like a man."
They were now very near to the town and they saw the dark shapes of
houses, in some of which lights burned. It was the poorer portion of San
Antonio, where the Mexican homes were mostly huts or jacals, made of
adobe, and sometimes of mere mud and wattles.
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