Most of the cactus trees were gorgeous with flowers, ranging from a deep rich crimson through rose and pink to a creamy white.

The green of the plants and the delicate colors of the flowers were wonderfully soothing to the two who had come from the bare and burning desert.  There their eyes had ached with the heat and glare.  They had longed for shade as men had longed of old for the shadow of a rock in a weary land.  In truth they found little shade in the cactus forest, but the green produced the illusion of it.  They expected to find flowing or standing water, but they went on for many miles and the soil remained hard and baked, as it can bake only in the rainless regions of high plateaus.

They found the forest to be fully thirty miles in length and several miles in width.  Everywhere the giant cactus predominated, and on its eastern border they found two Indian men and several women and children gathering the fruit, from which they made an excellent preserve.  The Indians were short in stature and very dark.  All started to run when they saw the white man and boy, both armed with rifles, approaching, but Ned and Obed held up their hands as a sign of amity and, after some hesitation, they stopped.  They spoke a dialect which neither Ned nor Obed could understand, but by signs they made a treaty of peace.

They slept that night by the fire of their new friends and the next day they were fortunate enough to shoot a deer, the greater part of which they gave to the Indians.  The older of the men then guided them out of the forest at the northern end, and indicated as nearly as he could, by the same sign language, the course they should pursue in order to reach Texas.  They had gone too far to the west, and by coming back toward the east they would save distance, as well as pass through a better country.  Then he gravely bade them farewell and went back to his people.

Ned and Obed now crossed a low but rugged range of mountains, and came into good country where they were compelled to spend a large part of their time, escaping observation.  It was only the troubled state of the people and the extreme division of sentiment among them that saved the two from capture.  But they obtained news that filled both with joy.  Fighting had occurred in Texas, but no great Mexican army had yet gone into the north.

Becoming bold now from long immunity and trusting to their Mexican address and knowledge of Spanish and its Mexican variants, they turned into the main road and pursued their journey at a good pace.  They were untroubled the first day but on the second day they saw a cloud of dust behind them.

“Sheep being driven to market,” said Obed.

“I don’t know,” replied Ned, looking back.  “That cloud of dust is at least a mile away, but it seems to me I saw it give out a flash or two.”

“What kind of a flash do you mean?”

“Bright, like silver or steel.  There, see it!”