CHAPTER 10

 The minute they crossed

the river the Captain struck southeast in a long trot, and in no time the land darkened and they were riding by moonlight,

still in a long trot. Since he had never been allowed in Mexico, except once in a while in one of the small villages down the

river when they were buying stock legitimately, he didn’t really know what to expect, but he hadn’t expected it to be

quite so dark and empty. Pea Eye and Mr. Gus were always talking about how thick the bandits were, and yet the seven of

them rode for two hours into country that seemed to contain nothing except itself. They saw no lights, heard no

sounds—they just rode, across shallow gullies, through thinning chaparral, farther and farther from the river. Once in a

while the Captain stepped up the pace and they traveled in a short lope, but mostly he stuck with the trot. Since Mouse

had an easy trot and a hard lope, Newt was happy with the gait.