The lancers grinned. No; they had killed at least thirty, out of some two hundred. Officer? H'm! Nobody was quite sure. The two men with the heads were _supposed_ to be something in that line; but really they couldn't say for certain. "All right; pray go on. I and my troop will follow you," said Steel. There was one advantage in having fallen in with these ragamuffins; two at least of their number were half-bloods, with eyes like hawks for a trail; and this put an end to all doubt as to the way which must be followed now that the plain was reached. Some of the lancers had more terrible tales of the Indians to add to what the travellers already knew. A priest and a farmer had been murdered two days before; and, only that morning, three ladies had been found speared to death near an _estancia_ (farm). The track wound in serpentine fashion, now skirting a town, now going straight through a _rancho_ whence the occupants had fled. By late afternoon the pursuers were within half a dozen miles of Durango; but here the track--more visible than ever now, in the long grass to which they had come--broke away at an obtuse angle, towards the more hilly ground on their right. The doctor pulled up, and he and von Tempsky began to confer with the soldiers. Horses and mules and men were all jaded, urged Steel; and the trail might lead them on through another all-night journey; and to no purpose. Why not ride for the town, take a short rest, and beat up recruits? The question was being argued and re-argued, when a series of whistles, followed by one concerted and unearthly yell, proceeded from the hills; and, like a pack of wolves, the Indians for whom they had been hunting came charging down the slope; full three hundred of them, stark naked, their bodies painted scarlet and black, their hair and their horses decked with feathers. Steel looked glumly at his own little army. Oh for a couple of dozen well-armed men who had learned the virtues of obedience and combination! "You lancers prepare to receive their charge," he shouted; and motioned to his own men to draw off and be ready to attack the Seris in the rear. He was obeyed indifferently; further urged by von Tempsky and Jago, the guides and _rancheros_ were wheeling slowly northwards; but the lancers were evidently more than half minded to charge wholesale at the oncoming savages.