Are you game enough to go, Ned?
I'm a Ring Tailed Panther an' a roarin' grizzly bear, but I don't like to follow all by myself." "I'm with you," said Ned, "if I have to go all the way back to the City of Mexico, an' I know that I can speak for Obed, too." "I jest asked as a matter of form," said the Panther.

"I knowed before askin' that you an' Obed would stick to me." There was a sudden gust of wind at that moment and the light of the fire sprang higher.

The flames threw a glow across the faces of the prisoners.

Most of them were asleep, but Ned saw them very distinctly now.

One was a boy but little older than himself, his face pale and worn.