A mile farther on, and even this slender formation had to be changed to one still more extended. The path was only possible for "single file;" and into this we fell. Another mile of marching, and it was not possible for cavalry, or horsemen of any kind. Only a pedestrian could pursue it, and he, too, one accustomed to climbing. I muttered the command to halt, which had become indispensable. It was earned in _sotto voce_ to the rear; and the horses, strung out for a hundred yards, came to a stand--one behind the other. "There is no road beyond?" I said, interrogating the guide, who had squeezed up alongside of me. "For horses, no. Only a footpath; an' scace that eyther. Thar air a horse track further up; but it comes in from t'other side o' the ridge-- on the left. It strikes off o' the National Road, close to the place whar the coach got stopped. Thet's why I hev the suspicion the fellurs may be found at the house as lies up hyar." "But why have we not gone along the main road, and then taken that you speak of? We could have ridden on to the house?" "No--not to the house. Thar's a bit o' it too--the last hundred yards or so--impossible for bosses." "Still it would have been better than to leave them here? I don't like separating the men from their saddles--especially as we know nothing of the ground." "Thar's another reezun for our not goin' the other way," pursued the guide, without replying to my remarks. "If I'd taken you by the road we might a made a mess o' it." "How?" "If they're up at the big house there'll be one o' 'em on the watch down below--near the joinin' o' the roads. They allers keep a sentry there. He'd be sartin to a seen us--whereas, by comin' this way, we may have a chance o' stealin' close to the shanty afore any o' 'em sets eyes on us." "You propose that we dismount, then, and go forward afoot?" "Thar's no other way, cap'n." "How far is it to the house?" "As to distance, nothin'; not over six hundred yards, I shed say. I've only been there once. It's the steepness o' the track that takes up the time." I did not much like the idea of dismounting my men, and leading them away from their horses. Not but that the individuals I had selected were equal to good fighting afoot; but it occurred to me that it was possible for us to have been seen, as we marched along the lower road-- seen, too, by those who might have a fancy to follow us. There were guerilleros along the mountain foot, as well as robbers in its ravines. In short, every peasant and small proprietor was at this time a _partisan_. What if a band should get together, and come on after us? The capture of twenty American horses--without a blow struck to retain them--would have been a blow to me I should not easily have got over. It would have been the ruin of a military reputation, I had but just commenced making. I dared not risk such a discomfiture; and I determined upon the men remaining by their horses.