No suspicion will
therefore at any future time arise against him, which there might
be if we met in any other way. The papers are very important, and
the affair must not be suffered to slip through. The country
between this and San Miguel is peaceful enough, but we hear that El
Zeres' band is out somewhere in that direction. He has something
like two hundred cutthroats with him of his own, and there is a
rumor that other bands have joined him. Now I want you to go on
tomorrow to San Miguel. Go in there after dusk, and take up your
quarters at this address; it is a small wine-shop in a street off
the market. Get up as Mexicans; it only requires a big cloak and a
sombrero. You can both speak Spanish well enough to pass muster.
Stay all next day, and till daybreak on the morning afterward, and
then ride back on this road. You will find cut in the first place
whether Cabra has arrived, and in the next place whether El Zeres
is in the neighborhood. I shall only bring forty men, as I do not
wish it to be supposed that I am going on more than a mere scouting
expedition. You understand?'
"'All right, Cap; we'll do it,' I said, and we went off to our
quarters.
"I can't say I altogether liked the job. It was a long way from
headquarters, and, do what they may, two men can't fight more than,
say, ten or a dozen.
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