The sergeant was instructed to keep his men perfectly quiet until the
head of the herd had passed their place of concealment, and then,
under cover of the noise made by the moving animals, to slip down into
the canon, and when the rear of the herd came up make a dash across
the front of the Indians and begin firing, taking care not to hit us.
For myself, I intended to drop into the pass with my detachment when
the Navajo rear had passed, deploy, and bag the whole party and the
booty.
It was a long and tiresome wait before the raiders appeared. The men
had been told that they might sleep, and many of them had availed
themselves of the permission.
The moon rose soon after ten o'clock, and made our surroundings
plainly visible in the rarefied atmosphere peculiar to the arid region
of the plains and Rockies. I sat on a bowlder and watched through the
tedious hours until three o'clock, when Corporal Frank approached from
the direction of the place where his brother was sleeping.
"What sound is that, Mr. Duncan?" he whispered.
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