IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY.
Adrian did not have to lead his captive far, for, when he reached the
place where his horse was waiting for him, he saw the others returning.
They had become concerned at his delay, and had come back to look for
him.
"What's the matter?" called Donald, as soon as he was within speaking
distance.
"I've had a fight," was the response, "and this is the result," pushing
the peon forward.
"Fight!" exclaimed Billie. "What were you fighting about?"
"Oh, nothing. This man tried to capture me, and I turned the tables,
that's all."
"Explain," said Don Antonio, looking first at Adrian and then at the
peon.
"This man mistook me for Pedro, he says, and tried to drag me into the
river, or somewhere."
Don Antonio turned upon the peon fiercely.
"Is this true?" he demanded sternly.
"Forgive me, _señor_," whined the peon, "I was ordered to do it."
"Ordered!" thundered Don Antonio. "By whom?"
"Don Rafael."
"_Asi!_" exclaimed Don Antonio, and his face grew even more stern. "So
it is that scoundrel who put you up to this? Where is he?"
The peon remained silent.
"Where is he, I say?" repeated Don Antonio.
"I can't tell."
"Why not?"
"He would kill me, _señor_."
"Have no fear. If you will tell me why you tried to take Pedro and where
we can catch Don Rafael, as you call him, I will give you ample
protection."
Thus encouraged, the peon said that Don Rafael was hiding in the
mountains a short distance from the river. He said that he had gathered
about him a band of more than fifty men, and that he had told them they
were to be part of a new army to overthrow President Madero and make
Porfirio Diaz again president. In order to protect themselves, he told
them they must make a captive of General Sanchez's son, Pedro.
"I see," exclaimed Don Antonio. "They want to hold Pedro as a hostage,
in case any of them get into the hands of the law. Isn't that it?"
"_Si, señor_," said the peon, nodding his head emphatically. If this
proved to be true then Donald's guess had been along correct lines. This
little fact seemed like a good omen to begin with. Now, if it turned out
that this further prediction regarding the limited number of the
rustlers also came to pass, and they could only catch them off their
guard before dawn arrived, it would not be strange if they turned the
trick, daring as their plans might appear.
"Now, first of all we've got to muffle our ponies' heads so they can't
betray us by neighing," announced Donald.
"A good idea, I say," Adrian went on to remark, approvingly. "I've known
the best trained cayuse going to let out a neigh when it scented some of
its own kind near by. That's a thing they just can't help, seems like.
So, the sooner we get their muzzles tied up the better."
"You'll have to show me how," said Billie; "because that's where my
education's been sorter neglected, so to speak. But I want to know, just
stick a pin in that, please."
He soon learned just how this could be accomplished by the aid of their
blankets. The horses objected to such treatment, but had to submit in
the end. And when the job had been completed they were so muzzled that
they could not have whinnied, no matter how hard they tried.
Mounting them again the three boys moved cautiously ahead. It was their
purpose to cover a cer- [Transcriber's note: missing line(s) of text at
this place in original printed text.] can get away. The rurales can take
care of the fifty others later on."
"That is good advice," declared Don Antonio. "Let us hasten back and
send a messenger to Presidio del Norte, and then we can return and watch
for Don Rafael."
"I don't see any use of all of us returning to the house," declared
Billie. "I'll stay here and watch the river."
"And I'll stay with you," declared Adrian.
"Suppose we fix it this way," said Don Antonio: "Pedro and one of you
return to the house and send the messenger, and I and two others will
stay and watch the river, as Don Guillermo says."
"If Don Guillermo's willing," replied Adrian, with a laugh at Billie's
Mexican name.
"Sure I'm willing," said Billie, "and tell the rurales to hurry up or
we'll capture the whole bunch."
The matter having been thus decided, Pedro and Donald returned to the
house, taking the captured peon with them, while the other three hitched
their horses and proceeded to the little point of land from which Adrian
made his observation.
The morning was now far spent, and the sun was rapidly approaching the
meridian; but for once Billie seemed to have forgotten that it was
dinnertime. In fact, so interested was he in the adventure, that he
seemed utterly oblivious of the sun itself, which beat down fiercely
upon the trio, and made the shade almost a necessity. So interested was
he, in fact, that he ventured to the very edge of the point, and peered
eagerly in the direction of the great rock.
"I could almost swim around there," he said to himself. "I've a great
notion to do it."
For a minute he stood undecided.
"If it wasn't for my Marlin I would," he mused. "As it is, I guess I'd
better go around."
He walked back toward the place where he had left the others, all the
time looking for a place where he could get around behind the big rock.
"What are you looking after?" queried Adrian, as Billie passed the spot
where he sat with his eyes glued on the river.
"I want to see what is the other side of that rock."
"What good'll that do? We can see way up the river from here."
"I don't know," was Billie's response, "but I've got a hunch to take a
look."
"Well, go ahead. Don Antonio and I will stay here. If you see anything,
call."
Slowly Billie forced his way through the fringe of bushes that lined the
bank, and, little by little, climbed to the top of the big rock, from
which he could gain just as good a view of the mountainous country at
the side as he could of the river. What he saw caused him to drop
hastily to the ground and crawl a step or two backward, for directly in
front of him, not a hundred yards away, was a score or more men grouped
around Don Rafael, who was addressing them earnestly.
Waiting to see whether or not he had been observed, and judging from the
fact that there was no commotion from below that he had not, Billie
cautiously peered through the foliage.
The spot upon which the men were gathered was right at the mouth of the
little stream before mentioned. A boat, evidently the one in which
Adrian had seen Don Rafael and his two companions, was tied to the bank.
So far as Billie could see, only three or four of the men were armed.
They seemed a peaceable lot.
"I wonder what he is telling them?" mused Billie in a partly audible
voice--a habit of talking with himself of which he seemed totally
unconscious. "I wish I could get near enough to hear."
Cautiously he crept nearer the edge of the rock, in the meantime
straining every nerve to catch a word. Once he did catch the sound of
Don Rafael's voice, but he could not understand.
"The trouble is," explained Billie to himself, "he is talking Spanish,
and I'm not familiar enough with the lingo to distinguish the sounds. I
wish he would talk English."
Again he advanced his position a couple of feet.
The voice was more distinct, and, as Don Rafael became somewhat excited,
Billie caught the words, "_carbina_" and "_macheté_," which he knew
referred to arms.
"By George!" suddenly exclaimed Billie, in a voice loud enough for
anyone near him to have heard, "I'll bet they're talking about running
guns into the country. I'll bet we've stumbled onto the very thing we
came out to find. I must hurry back and tell Ad."
Unmindful of the men below, he jumped up from his recumbent position and
started to leave the rock the way he had come. In his haste, he did not
notice that the spot upon which he had been reclining was covered with
moss, and, as he took his first step forward, his foot slipped; he
grasped frantically at the surrounding bushes, to save himself, failed
in his attempt, and the next moment pitched head first off the rock.
Vainly he tried to break his fall by catching at the shrubbery. His
efforts only resulted in his turning almost a complete somersault and
landing head first upon the sand, in the very midst of the men upon whom
he had been spying.
As he fell, he gave one cry for help, and then, as his head came into
contact with the hard ground, all around him became dark, and he knew no
more.
The cry for help reached his companions in the midst of an animated
discussion about Mexico and its needs, and they sprang to their feet on
the instant. For just a moment they waited to hear the cry repeated,
but, when it was not, Adrian threw a shell into his repeater, and
started in the direction of the cry, closely followed by Don Antonio,
whose greater age made him somewhat slower in his movements.
From the time the cry was heard until Adrian reached the summit of the
rock, could not have been more than three minutes, but in that time the
men and Billie had completely disappeared, the only thing remaining to
give any idea of what had happened being Billie's hat, which had fallen
from his head in his fall, and the sound of oarlocks, which seemed to
come from up the little creek.