They implored us, by the Holy Virgin, not to go through the Pass.
What was to be done?
The officers took counsel; the men looked to their arms.

It was decided to go through.

Jack examined his revolver, and saw that my pistol was loaded.

I was instructed minutely what to do, in case we were attacked.
For miles we strained our eyes, looking in the direction whence these men had come.
At last, in mid-afternoon, we approached the Pass, a narrow defile winding down between high hills from this table-land to the plain below.
To say that we feared an ambush, would not perhaps convey a very clear idea of how I felt on entering the Pass.
There was not a word spoken.

I obeyed orders, and lay down in the bottom of the ambulance; I took my derringer out of the holster and cocked it.
I looked at my little boy lying helpless there beside me, and at his delicate temples, lined with thin blue veins, and wondered if I could follow out the instructions I had received: for Jack had said, after the decision was made, to go through the Pass, "Now, Mattie, I don't think for a minute that there are any Injuns in that Pass, and you must not be afraid.