the earth, cut by wheels, and the traces of footsteps showed over a
belt a quarter of a mile wide.

"Well, Ned, I s'pose you can make a purty good guess what this means?"
said the Panther.

"This was made weeks and weeks ago," replied Ned confidently, "and the
men who made it were Mexicans. They were soldiers, the army of Cos, that
we took at San Antonio, and which we allowed to retire on parole into
Mexico."

"There's no doubt you're right," said the Panther. "There's no other
force in this part of the world big enough to make such a wide an'
lastin' trail. An' I think it's our business to follow these tracks.
What do you say, Obed?"

"It's just the one thing in the world that we're here to do," said the
Maine man. "Broad is the path and straight is the way that leads before
us, and we follow on."

"Do we follow them down into Mexico?" said Ned.

"I don't think it likely that we'll have to do it," replied the Panther,
glancing at Obed.

Ned caught the look and he understood.

"Do you mean," he asked, "that Cos, after taking his parole and pledging
his word that he and his troops would not fight against us, would stop
at the Rio Grande?"