"Now," said he briskly, "Munroe, you go to the lower trail, near the big oak at the second crossing. Wait there. If the express messengers have not passed by to-morrow morning at ten o'clock, return here. If they do come by, stop them, and tell them to proceed by the cut-off to the place they know of, and to wait there for me. Understand?" To each of the other four men he assigned a different watching on other trails, giving them the same instructions. "Now git!" he finished. After informing Yank of my projected absence, I waited at the appointed place until the appointed time, then returned to the Bella Union. "That's all right," Danny greeted my report; "they came across the Hog's Back, and are now safely in hiding. Here," he gave me a slip of paper. "During the day contrive to see these men. Make it casual and easy, as though you just happened to see them. Chat a few minutes and tell them this: 'Danny Randall calls a secret miners' meeting at the upper horse flat at nine o'clock to-night. Slip up there without being seen.' Be sure to let them understand that it is _I_ who am issuing the call. Get them to tell you whether they will or will not come." I took the slip of paper and read over the half dozen names it contained. They were all known to me; so I nodded my comprehension and went out. All the rest of the day I loafed about, chatting with dozens of people, among the others with Morton himself. That individual professed great zeal for law and order, and told of the wonderful things he, as sheriff, intended to accomplish. Among the lot I contrived to include the six men whose names were on my paper, and to deliver my message. I explained as far as I knew, and got from each a definite and emphatic promise to be present. "It's time this thing was brought to a head," said one man. "If Danny Randall is taking hold of it, I enlist." I returned to report these facts, received an indifferent nod, and, under further instruction, went quietly to camp to await the agreed hour. We started up the trail about eight o'clock. Yank insisted that he was going, if he had to roll all the way; but after a little we simultaneously remembered that the Morenas had owned horses. One of these I caught, and on it Yank rode to the place of rendezvous. The night was very black. After we had entered the woods its darkness seemed at first to hang in front of my eyes like a filmy curtain, so that I fairly groped, as one would when blindfolded. In the open a faint starlight helped us, but after we had entered the pines we had fairly to proceed by instinct. I remember feeling a shock of surprise once, when we skirted the river, at seeing plainly the whiteness of the rapids, as though the water were giving off a light of its own. Straight overhead were scattered patches of stars with misty abysses of blackness between them. Only after an interval did I appreciate that these apparent abysses were in reality the tops of trees!