ADVENTURE ON THE HIGHWAY 221 



Out of the compressed jumble of the final sentence 

 I got but the one word ' buckshot.' 



The Spaniards mounted, and the sound of their spurs 

 and horses' hoofs soon died away in the north, and I 

 lay for half an hour revolving all sorts of plans. The 

 safest course seemed to be to slip out in the darkness 

 and fly on foot to the mountains, abandoning my good 

 Kaweah ; but I thought of his noble run, and it seemed 

 to me so wrong to turn my back on him that I resolved 

 to unite our fates. I rose cautiously, and, holding my 

 watch up to the moon, found that twelve o'clock had 

 just passed ; then taking from my pocket a five-dollar 

 gold piece, I laid it upon the stand by my bed, and in 

 my stockinged feet, with my clothes in my hand, started 

 noiselessly for the corral. A fierce bulldog, which had 

 shown no disposition to make friends with me, bounded 

 from the open door of the proprietor to my side. 

 Instead of tearing me, as I had expected, he licked 

 my hands and fawned about my feet. 



Reaching the corral gate, I dreaded opening it at 

 once, remembering the rusty hinges ; so I hung my 

 clothes upon an upper bar of the fence, and cautiously 

 lifting the latch, began to push back the gate, inch 

 by inch, an operation which required eight or ten 

 minutes ; then I walked up to Kaweah and patted 

 him. His manger was empty ; he had picked up the 

 last kernel of barley. The creature's manner was full 

 of curiosity, as if he had never been approached in. 

 the night before. Suppressing his ordinary whinny- 

 ing, he preserved a motionless, statue-like silence. I 

 was in terror lest by a neigh or some nervous move- 

 ment he should waken the sleeping proprietor and 

 expose my plan. 



