ON MEXICAN SOIL AGAIN
This continued for perhaps an hour, the boys paying little attention to
the racket made on the river bank. Then a shot was heard and the
ragamuffins disappeared as if by magic.
Directly a detachment of United States soldiers made its appearance. The
soldiers were warmly welcomed and Alex insisted on giving them all the
food he had prepared.
"It's only to cook more," he argued.
"But I'm hungry enough right now to eat one of the outlaws," Jule
declared.
"If we'd waited a few minutes longer," Alex laughed, "you might have had
feet fricassee! That was a close call, young man! We got there in the
nick of time."
In time the soldiers were all fed, and then the boys began the work of
getting the dinner over again.
The lads were warmly thanked for their hospitality.
"You may get into a place it won't be so easy to get out of," said the
young lieutenant in charge of the squad. "If you do, and we are anywhere
within reach, don't hesitate to ask for help."
The boys thanked the lieutenant for his offer, not even dreaming of the
time when the words so casually spoken were to be made good.
"They about cleaned us out," said Alex, glancing ruefully at the
trampled greensward where the soldiers had eaten. "I don't know what to
do now! The tinned goods are about gone, and there aren't any vegetables
to speak of."
"What's the matter with falling back on the river?" asked Clay, getting
out his fishing tackle with his one well arm. "We have taken many a fine
meal from the river, and I don't think it will go back on us now!"
"Who'll catch the fish?" asked Jule. "I'm actually so hungry that my
stomach is wishing my backbone good afternoon, and I don't feel equal to
the effort!"
"Suppose we get the _Rambler_ off this mud bank first?" Thede suggested.
"That's a good idea!" Alex cried out.
"Wonder we couldn't have thought of that when we could have had the help
of the soldiers!" grumbled Case.
"Kicker!" laughed Jule. "It will be an easy job to get the boat into the
river again. She went against the bank with very little force, I take
it."
The lads who were not crippled worked together to such good purpose that
the boat was soon in the water again. Not a thing was broken except the
steering-gear and that was soon repaired.
"Now, about that fish?" Case said. "Who's going to try for it? I might
be one of the boys to make the effort."
"I think you had better remain on board," said Alex, "and let Jule and I
see about the fish. We are the only old and original fishermen in the
party!"
"Go to it, then," Clay agreed, "but don't get into any nest of pirates
and get your feet burned!"
The boys were glad to be away on the water again, for there were things
they wanted to talk over. Jule was the first one to open the
conversation.
"Alex," he began, uncertain how his communication would be received,
"what is going on on board the _Rambler_?"
"Why do you ask that?" came the quick reply. "Have you noticed anything
unusual?"
"About Paul and Thede," Jule went on, "I have a notion that an
understanding of some sort exists between the two."
"And Rube, too?" asked Alex.
"Yes, and Rube also!"
"What do you know about it?" demanded Alex. "What have you seen--or
heard?"
"You have suspected, then?" asked Jule.
"Sure!" answered Alex.
"Well?"
"There is certainly something between them," was the reply. "We must
keep a sharp lookout."
"But it can't be any plot to capture the _Rambler_," suggested Jule.
"They have had plenty of chances to do that."
"How did they get together so soon?" said Alex. "Why, Rube was scarcely
on the boat before it began."
"So you noticed that, too, did you?"
"Of course I did!" was the answer. "When you see a man acting as if his
very life depended on that of a boy, and that boy apparently a stranger,
anyone would suspect. The fellow was too eager to know all about the
case! Then, when Thede came on board, didn't you think he got to the
side of Paul pretty quickly?"
"Yes, I noticed that, and thought it very strange," was the reply. "Now,
what's going to be done about it?"
"All we can do is to watch," declared Alex.
"And where does Buck come in?" Jule asked, after a thoughtful pause.
"You noticed that he had an electric boat handy when we needed one, and
that the boat made pretty good time for an ordinary river boat! I'd just
like to get to the bottom of this thing!"
"And Rube always had his roll out," added Alex.
"But he explained that by saying that he knew all about us boys and knew
that we were as good as gold," Jule cut in.
"Well," laughed Alex, "we've got into another mystery! I'd like to take
just one plain adventure trip."
"The mystery is all right," Jule concluded, after rather a lengthy
pause. "We shouldn't know what to think about if there was no mystery."
"Perhaps you are right," was the reply, "but I'd rather not have the
mystery so dense! There's something going on, and that's no joke. But
this ain't catching fish!"
"That's right!" Jule agreed. "The others will be getting hungry. As you
say, all we can do is to wait for developments and watch Thede and
Paul."
"Paul appears to be such an innocent little chap that the very idea of
spying on him seems preposterous," added Alex. "Still, the innocence may
all be assumed."
"I dislike to think that," was Jule's reply.
The boys talked as they fished, but could make nothing of the situation.
As a matter of fact, Rube had appeared out of the darkness that first
night in rather a mysterious fashion.
And he had expressed great solicitude for the wounded boy. And he had
always been ready with his money. And, another thing, he had had such a
pile of it!
And Buck had had the _Esmeralda_ quite ready on short notice! Of course
the episode of Alex being treed by the bear was entirely unexpected and
just happened.
It interfered somewhat with the plans of the party, and somewhat with
Rube's bank roll, but, as Alex declared, "it made the company all the
tougher, and did no harm in the long run." It was only incidental, and
did not count for or against Thede or Paul.
The lads fished while they discussed every phase of the matter, but at
last they were obliged to give it up.
"We'll have to watch and wait," Jule finally said. "If there is mischief
afloat, it will show itself in time."
And with this they had to be content.
The _Rambler_ was running downstream very slowly, so as not to get ahead
of the rowboat; still, as the boys took their time, doing more talking
than fishing, it gained on them, and finally turned a bend in the stream
and passed out of sight.
"Where's the _Rambler_?" asked Alex, looking up from the contemplation
of a fine string of fish.
"I guess she passed out of sight around that bend," was the impatient
reply. "Somehow that boat seems to delight in leaving us behind. Wonder
why she didn't slow up when the boys saw that she was passing us?"
"We'll catch her in two jerks of a pig's tail," replied Alex, laying
down his fishing tackle and picking up the oars. "There does seem to be
a fatality about the thing, though--the way she sails calmly away and
leaves us!"
The boys had spent a longer time than they had suspected in the
discussion of the mysterious movements of the others, and the row was a
long one. When they finally came in sight of the boat they were
surprised to see no signs of life on board.
And they were amazed at the speed which she had gained. The lads looked
at each other with questioning eyes.
"There's something wrong!" almost shouted Jule. "The _Rambler_ is
running away from us!"
"That's right!" was the quick reply. "Do you think we can catch her at
the pace she is going?"
"Never!" was the discouraged reply.
There was silence for a moment, a silence broken only by the rippling of
the Rio Grande and the call of a bird a-wing. Then Alex made a hopeful
suggestion.
"The river makes a long bend just below," he explained, "and, if we can
get to the bottom of the turn, perhaps we can catch her. Nice thing, to
run away and leave us like this!"
"There is evidently something wrong on board, though I can't for the
life of me see what it is," Jule answered.
"If we cut across this point of land, we'll have to come back for the
rowboat," suggested Alex.
"Provided some river character doesn't see it first we may find it,"
wailed Jule.
"Well, there's nothing like trying," Alex returned.
The boat was turned toward the left bank of the stream, but in a few
seconds' time, before the boat had proceeded more than a few feet, Jule,
who was at the helm, changed her course so as to make the right side. In
answer to Alex's questioning look he said:
"The current sweeps across to the opposite shore after we round the
bend. The _Rambler_ will naturally follow that."
"That's right," was the reply, "the south side for us. How would you
like to bump into the river thieves again? Say, kid, but that was a
close call for your feet!"
"Well, as long as they didn't accomplish their purpose, I fail to see
why we should be everlastingly sobbing over it."
The boat's keel soon grated on the south shore, and the boys left her,
pausing only long enough to cast a parting glance at the trim little
craft "The chances are that we shall never see the boat again," Alex
remarked.
"Rats!" was Jule's reply. "If we find everything all right on board the
_Rambler_, why can't we come back and get her? I have a notion that the
boys thought we were a long time catching these fish, and sent the boat
ahead faster than usual just to give us a scare."
"That's all right," replied Alex, "but I've got a hunch that you are
wrong. Case would never sail away from his breakfast," he added with a
laugh, "and I don't think there's much left on board in the eating
line."
"What about the fish?" Jule asked. "We may as well tote them along,
don't you think?"
"Of course," replied Alex. "We ain't going to leave this nice mess of
perfectly good fish in the boat. There may be people along here who like
fish."
The lads lifted the string of fish out of the rowboat, and, taking them
in hand, struck across the point of land toward the river.