José — page 213: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

206 JOSE. Bob. Baumann quickly gained his feet and in the same instant felt the hunter seize him by the hand. “Have all your wits about you now, and remem- ber that a stout heart anda watchful eye are of imperious demand!” Bob’s voice was heard, whose deep tones betrayed the excitement raging in his bosom. “ WhatIam going to tell you now I shall say only once; so have your thoughts well on the sub- ject. Weare going straight into the wigwams of the Apaches—two hours are yet wanting till day- break during which a man sleeps soundest. I have already cleared the way. When we enter the vil- lage the freighter will cross the creek—the grass is tall and ‘by observing moderate caution a watchful eye can never detect a man creeping through the grass—take his way in the direction of the mule drove and silence the herder!” The speaker emphasized each word as though by this means in the darkness he intended to substitute the expression of his face. Scarcely a breath was audible from the listeners. “The bodies of thirty wantonly slain men are moldering on the prairie where the caravan was attacked,” Bob continued, after a pause; “and upon one or two lives of the red fiends no higher estimate should be placed, if we mean to snatch the white man from their clutches, and if, moreover, we mean to save our own scalps in the transaction—but not a death groan must betray that the enemy is at hand.” “YT shall think of my murdered comrades,” Bill was heard to say, ina singularly hoarse tone. “It is true, ’tain’t even a man, and in addition he will. doubtless be asleep, but if there’s no alternative I’ll do it.” (e(o) EGomichbooks m