Hal and Ned were disposed, at first, to imagine that the visitors of the night previous were the creation of a dream; but the sight of their footprints in the sand, soon dissipated that theory, while they plainly told them the necessity of greater caution.

Breakfast dispatched, we got under way once more; and, during the next three or four days crossed several spurs of the Burro and Pelloncillo ranges of mountains, and over that portion of the great Madre Plateau, that lies along the thirty-second parallel,—­but saw no Indians.

This fact gave Hal a good opportunity to laugh at what he termed my vision; nor did he fail to improve the opportunity.

Jerry and I often consulted together, and wondered why it was that we heard nothing more from the spies that had visited us; for, as Jerry wisely said, “If they’d come along and have it out with us, one way or t’other, he wouldn’t keer; but ter keep us always expectin’ ’em, is what wears a feller out.  By’m by, when we git keerless, they’ll ketch us nappin’, and then, God help us, that’s all.”

Our route, the next day, passed through a fertile cienega,[Valley.] thence over an alkali plain.  It was while crossing this latter, that I met with an adventure, the most desperate we encountered on the trip.  Our route carried us over this vast plain, strongly impregnated with alkali, and sparsely covered with dwarfed mesquite with an occasional cluster of yuccas, scarce two feet in height; and was so level, we could see for miles over it in any direction.

The road was thickly covered from five to six inches deep, with an impalpable dust, so fine that the lightest footstep, or breath of air, sent it in clouds above our heads.  So dense was it, that it completely enveloped our whole party, making it impossible for us to distinguish one another, at a distance even of three or four feet.

Jerry and myself had been riding a few rods in advance of the wagons; but he returned to them for the purpose of giving some order, while I continued on.  So open was the plain, that it seemed impossible for any foe to be concealed upon its surface; and we naturally abated somewhat, the vigilance we should have maintained, had we been passing through a rocky canon, or wooded defile.  We therefore rode carefully along, shrouded in dust, but not dreaming of danger.

Suddenly, without the least warning, three or four muskets, and a shower of arrows, were discharged upon us from a spot not twenty yards away.

A clap of thunder from a clear sky would not have astonished me more.

The thought, that Hal or Ned might have been killed, passed like a flash of lightning through my mind; for the dust was so dense, I could not distinguish friend from foe; but I heard Jerry shout, “Adelante!  Adelante hombres!” and forgetting for the moment that I was already in the advance, in obedience to the order, I spurred my horse forward, just as the Apache war-whoop sounded, apparantly upon all sides of me.