Then, seeking the best place they could find, they lay down among the bushes, despite the damp, and slept.
Ned was the first to awake the next day, and he saw, by a high sun, that they were on a slope, leading to a pretty valley well grown in grass.
He took a few steps and also stretched both arms.

He found that his muscles were neither stiff nor sore and his delight was great.

Obed still slumbered peacefully, his head upon his arm.
Ned walked a little further down the slope.

Then he jumped back and hid behind a bush.

He had caught a glimpse of a horse saddled and bridled in the Mexican manner, and it was his first thought that a detachment from the army of Cos was riding straight toward them.