They are all poor, too, and used to poor food and ragged
clothes and no comforts, and of course they don't complain of what they
get from us."
"You mean," said Cleary, "that the lower a man is in the scale of
society the better soldier he makes."
"Well," answered the colonel, "I hadn't ever put it just in that light,
but that's about the size of it. These darkies are great hands at
carrying concealed weapons, too. If it isn't a razor it's something
else, and if there's a row going on they will get mixed up in it, but
they're none the worse as soldiers for that."
"Let's go up to that point there and take the moonlight view before we
turn in," suggested Cleary.
The others agreed, and they began to climb a path leading up to the
right. It was much more of a climb than they had expected, and when
they had become quite blown they sat down to recover their breath.
"I think we'd better go back," said Colonel James. "We may lose our
way, and it isn't safe here. The Moritos are known to be thick in these
mountains, and they might find us."
"Oh, let's go a little farther," said Cleary, and they set out to
climb again.
"The path seems to stop here," said Sam, who was in the lead. "This
must be the top, but I don't see any place for a view. Perhaps we'd
better go back."
Cleary did not repeat his objection, and they began to retrace their
steps.
Pages:
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141