HUSTLING FOR EVIDENCE.
After what seemed an age to Billie, although the time actually consumed
could not have been more than fifteen minutes, the boat reached the
shore at a spot with which he was most familiar. It was the end of the
trail leading from the river to Don Pablo's _hacienda_.
As soon as the boat touched the beach, Don Pablo sprang ashore and
pulled it up onto the land and made it fast to a post. The oarsman
followed more slowly, while Billie remained in the water until both men
started up the trail.
Then he came ashore and silently followed after. He was barefooted and
bareheaded. He was wet through and had no weapon; still he was
undaunted.
He kept as close to the two men as he dared, fearing he might lose sight
of them in the dark. He had no idea of what time it was, but figured
that he must have been away from General Sanchez' headquarters at least
three hours. This gave him only three hours to finish his mission and
return. His heart sank, as he thought what might happen in case he
should fail, and a great sob welled up in his throat, as the faces of
his chums came to his thoughts.
"I can't fail!" he declared to himself. "I have just got to win."
The men ahead of him walked rapidly, and in a comparatively short time
reached the _hacienda_. Billie remembered it well--every spot he had
noticed upon his first visit to the _hacienda_ had impressed itself upon
his memory.
Reaching the big gate, Don Pablo knocked lustily and the gate was
quickly opened.
Here was Billie's first real difficulty. How was he to enter? Once the
gate was shut, he knew it might take him hours to find a way in.
Something had to be done and done at once.
Picking up a good-sized stone, Billie let it drive with all his might at
the boy who stood in the gateway holding the light. It was a good shot
and struck the boy on the shin. With a cry of pain he dropped the lamp
and grabbed the injured member.
"_Caramba_, what is that?" exclaimed Don Pablo, as he drew his revolver.
"Are we attacked by thieves, or is the spirit of evil in the air?"
"It is neither," replied the boy who had been hit. "It must be Juanito
who threw the stone. He is jealous because I have a better place than
he."
"What is Juanito doing outside the _hacienda_ at this time of night?"
demanded Don Pablo. "Go bring him in, and do you, Luis," turning to the
oarsman, "give him a good beating. Then take three men and go and bring
the body of Emilio to the _hacienda_."
As soon as he had thrown the stone Billie had glided quickly to the
adobe wall which surrounded the _hacienda_, and, as the boy and Luis
went in search of the supposed Juanito, and Don Pablo passed within the
gate, Billie darted in behind him and hid himself behind one of the
bushes which he remembered seeing in one corner of the _patio_.
Stopping only for a moment to take a drink from a jar, which stood at
the foot of the stairs, Don Pablo ascended to the second floor. A moment
later, seeing that the way was clear, Billie followed, just in time to
see Don Pablo enter one of the rooms which opened out onto the great
corridor, for it must be said that the _casa_ of Don Pablo was a large
and handsome one.
Having located the room, Billie sat down in the dark to wait.
He did not have to wait long, for in a few minutes Luis and the boy
returned, much chagrined over their inability to locate little John.
"What's that?" asked Don Pablo, coming to the door in his shirt-sleeves,
"can't you find him?"
"No, _señor_," was the reply. "It is too dark."
"Well, let him go until morning. Then give him a good beating."
"Who is that you are going to whip?" called a woman's voice from
somewhere down below.
"Juanito. He threw a stone and made us a lot of trouble."
"Why, he couldn't," replied the woman. "He is here with me and hasn't
been out tonight."
"What," queried Don Pablo, "hasn't been out tonight? Then there is
something wrong! Quick, Luis, call some of the men and make a thorough
search."
The servant hastened to obey, while Don Pablo went back into his room.
Through the open door Billie saw him take an envelope from the pocket of
the coat which he had thrown over a chair and place it in the drawer of
a great secretary. Then, seizing his hat, he ran quickly downstairs,
closing the door behind him.
"I thought I would stir things up," mused Billie, as he crept silently
toward the room which Don Pablo had just vacated. "Now, if I can get
that envelope and get out of here while the men are hunting for me, I'll
be all right!"
Reaching the door, he waited until the voices below told him that the
men had gone out. Then he softly pushed open the door and entered.
It was a larger room than he had thought from the glimpse he had from
without, but it lay just as he expected. Quickly he opened the drawer of
the secretary and took therefrom the envelope. By the light of the oil
lamp that hung from the ceiling he saw that it bore the name of a New
York bank and he had no doubt it contained the evidence he sought.
He closed the drawer, and as he turned to leave the room caught sight of
Don Pablo's cartridge belt and revolver hanging on the back of a chair.
"I might need something like this," he thought, and without a single
qualm of conscience he buckled the belt around him, drew out the
revolver, and loaded the empty chamber which Don Pablo had fired while
in the boat.
With the revolver in his hand he was about to leave the room, when a
soft voice--a voice which he never could forget--said quietly:
"Don't you think, _señor_, that you are making yourself almost too much
at home?"
At the sound of the voice, Billie turned as though shot.
"Santiago!" he exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"
If Billie had been surprised by the sound of the voice, Santiago was
even more surprised when he recognized the visitor.
"Don Guillermo!" he cried. "Is it really you? I did not recognize you in
that attire!"
"You mean in this lack of attire," replied Billie quizzically, as he
regarded his bare feet and drabbled condition.
"But why are you here?" asked Santiago.
In just as few words as possible Billie explained.
"And you have seen Pancho Villa?" queried Santiago.
"Yes, and things are just as I tell you. Don Rafael and Don Pablo are
both enemies of Mexico. They are both working for their own advancement.
You know that a war with the United States is the last thing honest
Mexicans desire."
"Undoubtedly. And you think the possession of these drafts will aid you
in preventing it?"
"Unquestionably," was Billie's emphatic reply.
"Then go! I shall make no attempt to detain you, although I am powerless
right now to aid you. This shall be a part of the reward I promised you.
When you can come to me and tell me that Don Rafael is no more, you
shall have the rest. Now go, before the men return. They are a wild lot.
and now that the revolution has broken out, there is no controlling
them."
Billie started for the stairs; but, before he reached them, he could
hear the men coming in, grumbling at their ill luck and in finding no
one.
"Wait," said Santiago. "I will go down and attract their attention, so
that you may come down. Be careful."
Suiting the action to the word, Santiago ran quickly down the stairs, as
though just awakened.
"What is all the trouble?" he asked. "Have the Maderists attacked us?"
"Maderists," laughed one. "_Caramba_, no! Don Pablo has been frightened
by a shadow."
"By his guilty conscience, more likely," muttered another. "The idea of
getting honest men up at this time of night to hunt goblins."
"Look out! There he comes!" whispered another. "If he hears you, you
will think of something besides goblins!"
While this conversation had been going on, Billie had managed to slip
down stairs, and again took his place behind the bush in the _patio_.
Then, as the men went back to the servants' quarters, he edged around
near the gate, watching an opportunity to slip through.
While he stood there waiting, he heard a clock strike midnight.
"It is not as late as I thought," he said to himself. "There is still
time if I am not detained."
He glanced around and no one was in sight but Santiago. Outside all was
dark, and he decided now was his chance.
Grasping the revolver tightly in his hand, he darted for the gateway,
and bumped squarely into Don Pablo, who entered at the same moment.
For a moment the collision stopped Billie and sent Don Pablo reeling
against the wall. Billie was much the heavier, but the old man was a
bunch of sinews. Both gathered themselves for a spring as Don Pablo gave
a cry that sounded like a wild beast and could be heard all over the
_hacienda_.
"Gringo dog!" he exclaimed. "Now I have you!" and he made a dash at the
boy.
Billie raised the revolver in his hand as though to fire, and then
changed his mind.
"He must be unarmed," he thought, "and I don't want to kill him."
He shoved his arm out sharply and the barrel of the revolver struck Don
Pablo full in the face, knocking him to the ground.
With a yell which he had learned from the Wyoming cowboys, Billie sprang
over the prostrate form and dashed away in the darkness.