“You were informed wrongly,” said Obed.  “The man who escaped was short and fat, and he had yellow hair.  The boy was very dark with black hair and black eyes.  But the statement that they were drowned in the bay is correct.”

“One might get five hundred good silver pesos for bringing in their bodies.”

“One might, but one won’t, and you, amigo, are just concluding an excellent bargain.  You get this fine, unloaded musket, and we get the food and the serapes for which we have so courteously asked.  The entire bargain will be completed inside of two minutes.”

The blue eyes and the black eyes met again and the owner of each pair understood.

“It is so,” said the Mexican, evenly, and he brought what they wished.

“Good-day, amigo,” said Obed politely.  “I will repeat that the musket is unloaded, and you cannot find ammunition for it any nearer than Vera Cruz, which will not trouble you as you are here at home in your castle.  But our pistols are loaded, and it is a necessary fact for my young friend and myself.  We purpose to travel in the hills, where there is great danger of brigands.  Fortunately for us we are both able and willing to shoot well.  Once more, farewell.”

“Farewell,” said the Mexican, waving his hand in dignified salute.

“That fellow is no fool,” said Obed, as they strode away.  “I like a man who can take a hint.  A word to the wise is like a stitch in time.”

“Will he follow us?”

“Not he.  He has that musket which he craved, and at half its value.  He does not desire wounds and perhaps death.  The chances are ninety-nine out of a hundred that he will never say a word for fear his government will seize his musket.”

“And now for the wildest country that we can find,” said Ned.  “I’m glad it doesn’t rain much down here.  We can sleep almost anywhere, wrapped in our serapes.”

They ate as they walked and they kept on a long time after sunset, picking their way by the moonlight.  Two or three times they passed peons in the path, but their bold bearing and the pistols in their belts always gave them the road.  Brigands flourished amid the frequent revolutions, and the humbler Mexicans found it wise to attend strictly to their own business.  They slept again in the open, but this time on a hill in a dense thicket.  They had previously drunk at a spring at its base, and lacking now for neither food nor water they felt hope rising continually.

Ned had no dreams the second night, and both awoke at dawn.  On the far side of the hill, they found a pool in which they bathed, and with breakfast following they felt that they had never been stronger.  Their food was made up in two packs, one for each, and they calculated that with economy it would last two days.  They could also reckon upon further supplies from wild fruits, and perhaps more frijoles and tortillas from the people themselves.  When they had summed up all their circumstances, they concluded that they were not in such bad condition.  Armed, strong and bold, they might yet traverse the thousand miles to Texas.