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"I am cheerful," said Phil, to whom Breakstone wasalways a tonic, "and I believe that we can beat off theComanches any time and every time."
"Jump on your horse," said Breakstone, a little later;"we're all ready."
Phil leaped into the saddle with one bound. Thetrain moved forward, and he and Breakstone joinedMiddleton and Arenberg at its head. Middleton had powerfulglasses, and he swept the plain far ahead, and to rightand left. His gaze finally settled on a point to thesouth-west. The others followed his look with great interest, but the naked eye could see nothing but the rollinggray-green plains and the dim blue horizon beyond. Middletonlooked so long that at last Bill Breakstone asked:
"What do you see?"
"I do not see anything that I can really call living,"replied Middleton, "but I do see a knoll or slightelevation on the plain-what would be called farther north abutte-and on that knoll is a black blur, shapeless andunnamable at this distance."
"Does the black blur move?" asked Bill Breakstone.
"I cannot tell. It is too far even for that, but fromit comes a beam of brilliant light that shifts here andthere over the plain. Take a look, Bill."
Breakstone eagerly put the glasses to his eyes, andturned them upon the knoll.
"Ah, I see it!" he exclaimed. "It's like a ball oflight! There it goes to the right! There it goes to theleft! Now it falls in our direction! What in the nameof Shakespeare's thirty-five or forty plays is it, Cap?"
"Let me have the glasses, I want another look,"replied Middleton.
His second look was a long one taken in silence. Atlast he replied:
"It's a signal, lads. I've seen the Comanches talk toone another in this way before. A Comanche chief issitting on his horse on top of that knoll. He holds arounded piece of looking-glass in the hollow of his hand, and he turns it in such a way that he catches the veryconcentrated essence of the sun's rays, throwing a beama tremendous distance. The beam, like molten gold, nowstrikes the grass on top of a swell off toward the north.It's a secret just how they do it, for not yet has anywhite man learned the system of signals which they makewith such a glass. Ah!"
The "Ah!" came forth, so deep, so long drawn, andso full of meaning that Phil, Arenberg, and BillBreakstone exclaimed together:
"What is it?"
"I would not have known that the black blur on topof the knoll was a chief on horseback if I had not beenon the Texas plains before," replied Middleton, "butnow I can make out the figures of horse and man, as heis riding around and around in a circle and riding veryrapidly."
"What does that mean?" asked Phil.
"It means danger, not to us, but to the Comanches.The warrior is probably signaling to a band of his tribewho are meditating attack upon us that we are toostrong."
"Then it must be some fresh band," said Bill Breakstone,"because the one that had the little encounter withus yesterday knew that already."
"I take it that you're right," said Middleton, smiling and closing the glasses. "The second band won'tmolest us-not to-day."
"That seems to be a very effective way of signaling,"remarked Phil.
"On the plains, yes," said Middleton. "It is astonishinghow far such a vivid beam of light will carry, asthe crest of the knoll was too high for it to be interceptedby the swells."
Middleton told Woodfall what they had seen. Theleader's chin stiffened a little more, and the wagons wenton at the same pace, trailing their brown length acrossthe prairie.
About ten o'clock the march became difficult, as theyentered a town, but such a town! Its inhabitants wereprairie dogs, queer little animals, which darted down intotheir burrows at the approach of the horsemen andwagons, often sharing the home with a rattlesnake. Butthe horsemen were now compelled to proceed with exceedingcare, as the horses' feet often sank deep down in thedens. Stumbles were frequent and there were severalfalls. Wagon wheels, also, sank, and the advancebecame so difficult that Woodfall halted the train and sentPhil and some others to find a way around the town.
They rode five or six miles to the south, and still thesingular town stretched away, apparently endless. Thenthey came back and rode five or six miles to the northwith the same result. Acting upon the advice
"Welcome to our wagon," said Arenberg, as Phil andBreakstone disentangled themselves. "You landed onone of my feet, Phil, and you landed on the other, Bill, but no harm iss done where none iss meant."
Phil cowered down and drew his blanket more closelyaround him, while the hail beat fiercely on the archedcanvas cover, and the cold wind shrieked and moanedmore wildly than ever. He peeped out at the front of thewagon and beheld a scene indescribable in its wild andchilling grandeur. The darkness endured. The hail wasdriven in an almost horizontal line like a sheet of sleet.The wagons showed but dimly in all this dusk. Theanimals, fortunately, had been tethered close to thewagons, where they were, in a measure, protected, butmany of them reared and neighed in terror and suffering.One look satisfied Phil, and he drew back well under cover.