All this being beyond me, and then some, I proceeded methodically to carry out my complicated plan; which was, it will be remembered, to eat supper and then to go and see about it in person.  I performed the first part of this to my entire satisfaction but not to that of the rest.  They accused me of unbecoming secrecy; only they expressed it differently.  That did not worry me, and in due time I made my escape.  At the corral I picked out a good horse, one that I had brought from the Gila, that would stay tied indefinitely without impatience.  Then I lighted me a cigarette and jogged up the road.  I carried with me a little grub, my six-gun, the famous black bag, and an entirely empty head.

The night was only moderately dark, for while there was no moon there were plenty of those candle-like desert stars.  The little twinkling lights of the Box Springs dropped astern like lamps on a shore.  By and by I turned off the road and made a wide detour down the sacatone bottoms, for I had still some sense; and roads were a little too obvious.  The reception committee that had taken charge of my little friend might be expecting another visitor—­me.  This brought my approach to the blank side of the ranch where were the willow trees and the irrigating ditch.  I rode up as close as I thought I ought to.  Then I tied my horse to a prominent lone Joshua-tree that would be easy to find, unstrapped the black bag, and started off.  The black bag, however, bothered me; so after some thought I broke the lock with a stone and investigated the contents, mainly by feel.  There were a lot of clothes and toilet articles and such junk, and a number of undetermined hard things like round wooden boxes.  Finally I withdrew to the shelter of a barranca where I could light matches.  Then I had no difficulty in identifying a nice compact little hypodermic outfit, which I slipped into a pocket.  I then deposited the bag in a safe place where I could find it easily.

Leaving my horse I approached the ranch under cover of the willows.  Yes, I remembered this time that I left tracks, but I did not care.  My idea was to get some sort of decisive action before morning.  Once through the willows I crept up close to the walls.  They were twelve or fifteen feet high, absolutely smooth; and with one exception broken only by the long, narrow loopholes or transoms I have mentioned before.  The one exception was a small wicket gate or door.  I remembered the various sorties with torches after the chirping frogs, and knew that by this opening the hunting party had emerged.  This and the big main gate were the only entrances to the enclosure.