Then I crawled to the edge of the ridge, and looked down through a tangle of vines on the little valley.
Our precautions had been none too soon, for a host was passing below, as stealthily as if it had been an army of the sheeted dead.

Most were mounted, and it was marvellous to see the way in which they managed their horses, so that the beasts seemed part of the riders, and partook of their vigilance.

Some were on foot, and moved with the long, loping, in-toed Indian stride.

I guessed their number at three hundred, but what awed me was their array.

This was no ordinary raid, but an invading army.