THE STEP OF THE STEALTHY ONE
By noon the soldiers at camp found themselves well rested. Nearly all of
them had had some hours of sleep.
The midday dinner was served, the officers eating at the same time,
though sitting apart from their men. As they finished, Captain Foster
said:
"Overton, I shall leave you in command of the camp this afternoon. I
shall take Terry with me on a tramp through some of this surrounding
country. I want to locate other contraband guns or cartridges, if I can.
Except for necessary duties let the men rest. While we are on this duty
most of the work will be done at night. Sleep a part of the afternoon
yourself; one of the non-commissioned officers can look after the camp,
and call you at need."
His sole sleep lately having been for an hour the night before,
Lieutenant Hal needed no urging to seek a cot in the wall-tent set apart
for the use of the officers.
"When will you sleep, sir?" Noll ventured to ask.
"When I have time," replied Captain Foster, stifling a yawn and smiling.
"This will not be the first time that I have worked for forty hours
without sleep."
But the afternoon prowl revealed no more rifles. There was another
surprise. At Agua Dulce were fourteen boats belonging to private
owners--all the craft at the village water front. Five of the boats were
owned by Mexicans. Somewhat disappointed, Captain Foster and Lieutenant
Noll returned to camp.
At the evening meal, just before dark, Captain Foster remarked:
"I've posted a corporal and a guard to see that none of the boats leave
shore until they've been found to contain no freight that looks like
munitions of war. To my surprise none of the Mexicans showed the
slightest interest in my doings. It begins to look as though they have
no intention of trying to ferry arms over the frontier at present."
"Are there any steam craft at this point, sir?" inquired Lieutenant Hal.
"Nothing of the sort, Mr. Overton."
"Then, if the Mexicans do plan to get any war supplies over the
frontier, don't you imagine that they have arranged for a launch or a
tug to drop down the river, or come up the stream, from some other
point?"
"That's worth thinking of," muttered the captain, looking thoughtful.
"A boat engaged in such secret work would probably also take the risk of
running without lights."
"But a steamer would be bound to make noise enough to give us warning
when she attempted to come in toward the shore," pursued Captain Foster.
"That, sir, will depend on how far apart our guards are to-night, or on
such other night as the Mexicans may make the attempt."
"Now that our troops are here they may make no attempt," hinted Noll.
"They will if they dare," replied Captain Foster. "If there are six
hundred rifles in Guarez's barn, and more elsewhere, then there must be
a lot of Mexicans on the other side waiting impatiently for the supplies
to reach them. Your suggestion, Mr. Overton, about a steamer, is one
that must be kept in mind."
After some thought Captain Foster wrote a telegram, entrusting it to a
corporal to take over to the village.
Hal was then directed to take sixty men and to dispose of them in
suitable spots along the water-front. Fifty men were to be used for this
purpose. A corporal and three men would then patrol along the easterly
end of the line, Hal and the few remaining men of his command patroling
the western end of the line. Either patrol would be quick to respond to
any shot from a sentry.
"This is an exceedingly responsible task, Mr. Overton," Captain Foster
informed the young officer. "If you fail at some point, then arms enough
to equip a brigade of Mexican rebels may cross the river to-night."
"I shall keep every sense on the alert, sir."
Noll was given command of the camp. Captain Foster, now thoroughly
fagged, turned in for a few hours' sleep, after leaving orders to be
called at eleven o'clock.
"You will find me prowling about your lines from midnight on, Mr.
Overton," was the captain's last word before turning in. "It is now
nearly dark, so I suggest that you march your men without any
unnecessary delay."
Two minutes later Lieutenant Hal was marching his command from camp. He
did not take his column through the village. Instead, he marched it to
the eastward, then over to the river bank.
Posting his fifty sentries about three hundred feet apart the Army boy
thus covered a stretch of water-front some three miles in length, the
village's strip of river front being nearly at the middle of this line.
Corporal Smith's patrol was at the westerly end of the line. Hal himself
headed the patrol at that end. The sentries were instructed to conceal
themselves, in order to catch, if possible, any band of rebel smugglers
in the act of loading war munitions on a craft.
"Nothing will come of it to-night," muttered Hal to himself, after he
had placed his men. "The Mexicans here know that there are troops on the
spot. If they were going to ship guns to-night they'd be sure to do it
at some point ten or twenty miles from here. This is a job for a whole
brigade of infantry. A regiment of cavalry could do more than three
regiments of infantry on this work."
But Hal knew that the only two troops of cavalry so far ordered to
frontier patrol were two troops at least a hundred miles to the
westward. As yet Uncle Sam's soldiers were posted only at particular
points known to harbor resolute Mexican rebels.
"The fish can get through the net without the least trouble," thought
the young officer.
It was still, dark and quiet out here on the river front. There were no
lights, and seemingly none astir except the soldiers.
"Corporal, you stay with the patrol. I'm going to do a little exploring
on my own account," said Lieutenant Hal, after another hour had passed.
"Very good, sir," replied Corporal Dent.
Hal had no very definite objective when he started off eastward by
himself. He had left his sword behind in camp, but his revolver rested
in its holster on his right hip.
The more Lieutenant Hal thought about it the less he was inclined to
feel that there was any likelihood that Mexicans would attempt to-night
to cross the river anywhere in the neighborhood of United States troops.
"The leaders among these fellows all know that they're being watched,"
thought Hal, "and they won't take chances when success means so much to
them. Now that the troops have come Guarez and his associates will take
time to think this matter over. None the less I shall have to be as
vigilant as though I knew that they meant business to-night. It would be
a fearful black eye on my record as an officer, right at the start, if I
allowed the Guarez crowd to get anything real over the river to-night."
As he strolled along the water front the young lieutenant passed one of
his sentries every few hundred feet. Part of the Army boy's purpose in
going along by himself was to make sure that each and all of his men
were alert. Their vigil would last until daylight.
In course of time the young officer passed the public pier, standing
empty and deserted at the foot of the street leading from the village
down to the water front. There were several row-boats tied up here at
one side. During the day-time they had been under other guard, but now
they lay unwatched--to the casual eye. However, within short distances
of the pier on either side the young lieutenant knew that he had
sentries hidden.
Neither sentry communicated with Lieutenant Overton as he passed.
"They're wise men not to hail me here," thought the young lieutenant.
"They can see who I am, and, if there are any Mexicans prowling about
here in the shadows, the sentries will not betray themselves."
Hal went on past the pier a little distance.
"The whole village seems asleep," he muttered, looking toward the town.
"Yet, if we have blocked Guarez's little game I'll wager it will be late
before he retires to-night. He'll be too mad to sleep."
Hal had halted in the shadow of two trees, growing close together. As he
stood there, glancing about him, he was certain that he saw some one
moving behind a growth of bushes a little way up the road.
"Halt! Who's there?" called the young Army officer, in a low voice, yet
one that would carry.
There came no answer, but Hal was positive that he had seen some one
moving.
"Answer, there!" he called sharply, running forward, "or stand where you
are. I'm going to look you over."
Being a good sprinter young Overton was soon on the spot where he was
sure that he had seen some one. But now there was no one in sight. There
were other clumps of bushes near, and the prowler might easily have
hidden.
"If you won't come out," called Lieutenant Hal, as he began to move
quickly from clump to clump, "I'll rout you out!"
Then, of a sudden, just as Lieutenant Hal turned away from a growth of
bushes, he heard a stealthy step at his rear. Like a flash he turned.
As he did so, a rope was cast over his head, pinioning his arms to his
sides. Before he could move or resist he felt himself jerked to the
ground with considerable violence.
In another instant Hal would have been on his feet, contriving to get
the noose loose or shifted in some way, and he would have been full of
fight.
But the stealthy one, a man of good size and swarthy of feature, hurled
himself upon the body of the trapped young Army officer. A low whistle
followed, and Hal heard others moving.
Then he felt the prick of steel at his throat as the Mexican whispered:
"Quiet! Our cause is worth more than your life!"