You two couldn't keep me from going." The Panther smiled back.
"You are shorely the right stuff, Obed White," he said.

"We're only three in this bunch, but two of 'em besides me are ring-tailed panthers.
Now we'll just draw off, before it's day, an' hide in the chaparral up there." They rode a mile to the north and remained among dense bushes until daylight.

At dawn they saw a column of smoke rise from Urrea's camp.
"They are cookin' breakfast now," said the Panther.

"It's my guess that in an hour they'll be ridin' south with their prisoners." The column of smoke sank after a while, and a couple of hours later the three left the chaparral.

From one of the summits they dimly saw a mass of horsemen riding toward Mexico.
"There's our men," said the Panther, "an' now we'll follow all day at this good, safe distance.