SACKETT’S RAID
They galloped down the long sloping hill rapidly, unobserved by the two
men who were entering the Mercedes ranch. The second man had leaped
lightly in the window and disappeared from sight. It was evident that
they feared no interruptions for they did not even glance out and the
party of boys arrived in the yard without having warned the men of their
coming.
But once in the yard the ring of the horses’ hoofs on the hard packed
soil reached the ears of the men inside the house. Two heads appeared
swiftly at the window, at the same time that a candle flickered
upstairs. The men, seeing the party of boys, jumped from the window with
one accord.
“Sackett and Abel!” cried Don, as he jumped from his horse.
All the boys had dismounted, which was precisely the wrong thing to do,
for the two men began to run swiftly for a small patch of trees and
bushes which stood at the edge of the senorita’s property. Ned rushed
forward and seized Sackett, who promptly felled him with a blow on the
chin, while Abel kept on going and entered the grove several yards ahead
of his pursuers. Sackett soon joined him, and before Terry, who was in
the lead, could reach him, he had joined Abel, who was already on
horseback with a second rein in his hand. Sackett tumbled into the
saddle and the two men thundered away across the plains.
“Shall we go after them?” shouted Jim, as the senorita appeared on an
upper balcony.
“No,” cried Ned. “They have too big a start, and I want to find out what
they were doing here.”
Somewhat reluctantly the boys turned away, while the two outlaws put
greater distance between themselves and the ranch party. The senorita,
recognizing Ned in the moonlight, hurried back to her room and soon
appeared at the side door of the ranch house.
“Senor Ned, what is it?” she called, and the boys were attracted by her
soft and gentle voice.
Ned and the boys walked to the steps, taking off their hats, and Ned
spoke up. “We were riding by at a distance, senorita, and we paused to
look down at your ranch. While we were looking these two men that just
rode away broke in a side window and entered the house.”
Ned then went on to introduce his friends, to whom the senorita bowed
with a stately grace. They were quite taken with her beauty and charm,
her fine olive skin and her flashing black eyes. She drew their
admiration, for she was not the least bit terror stricken by what had
happened, but only thoughtful and puzzled.
“In the library you say, Senor Ned?” she puzzled. “But why do you think
they should want to go in my library? What is it that is in there?”
She spoke remarkably good English, with only a slight accent. Ned shook
his head.
“Senorita, I do not know. May we inspect your library and see if
anything is missing?”
“Certainly. Do come right in, and welcome,” she replied, and led the way
into the small library of the Mercedes ranch.
It was a square room filled with books, in cases reaching to the
ceiling. A single table was there, and two comfortable chairs. Upon
examination the boys found that a few books, in a section which was
filled with ancient, hand-written manuscripts, had been handled by the
men.
“It is evident that those fellows were about to steal some of your
valuable manuscripts, senorita,” remarked Ned, after they had made an
examination.
“Yes,” nodded the girl. “But I wonder how those men knew that I had any
books?”
“I’m very much afraid you are wrong in your ideas,” spoke up Don, who
had been considering deeply. And Jim nodded, for his ideas were running
along the same lines of those of his brother.
“What do you mean, Don?” asked Ned, quickly.
“You remember that your father was attacked in San Francisco by this man
Sackett, who took away your letter to him? Well, that letter contained
your ideas about the treasure and that ancient book which came from this
library. Those men are taking that matter seriously, and they have been
here tonight to try and find the other half of that Spanish manuscript
and learn the exact location of the wreck!”
“Ah, ha!” cried Senorita Mercedes sharply. “The senor is right!”
“I certainly believe that you are!” cried Ned. “I had never thought of
it all in that light, but that is surely the answer. Sackett is a
freebooter who will turn his hand to anything that promises profit, and
he has done as you say, taken that letter seriously. I wish it had never
fallen into his hands. However, with all of his knowledge of the
country, and I suppose he has quite a knowledge of the land, he doesn’t
know where the treasure is, so we are safe on that point.”
“Yes,” put in Terry. “But we’ll have to be on our guard from now on.
There is no doubt that that gang will push the search with all vigor.”
“They seem to have faith in the story,” said Ned. “I have unlimited
faith in it because I have seen the manuscript, but they are placing
their faith in my letter to my father. There is only one weak spot in my
claim of thought.”
“What is that?” asked Jim.
“That the treasure may have been found and removed since that book was
written. The priest who wrote the book was going to raise a party to go
back and recover the treasure, but whether he did or not is not known.
He may have done so, in which case our efforts and plans are absolutely
useless.”
“Of course,” nodded Don. He turned to the senorita. “Senorita Mercedes,
you do not know how that book ever came to be in your house, do you?”
“No,” confessed the girl. “As far as I have knowledge, senor, it has
quite always been here. But I can say this, which will perhaps aid you:
before my family came here to dwell we lived in Mexico. You see what I
mean?”
“I do,” nodded Ned. “You mean that this priest may at one time have
lodged at your house and have left his book there?”
“He may have even died there, Senor Ned.”
“That is very true. I lean to the belief that the treasure was never
recovered. Well, there are two parties after it now, so we will have to
be on our guard.”
Terry, who had walked to the window, spoke up. He had been examining the
double windows, which opened like doors, with hinges on each side.
“Do you keep your windows locked at night, senorita?” he asked.
“Of a certainty, senor,” she replied.
“I was just wondering,” said Terry, slowly. “Because these two fellows
just reached up and pushed the window open.”
“Impossible, Senor Mackson! You may see that there is a much thick bar
across that window.”
“Yes, so I notice. But all of the boys will tell you that they simply
reached up and pushed the window open, and that they didn’t have a thing
in their hands when they did it!”
“That’s so,” exclaimed Ned, a sudden light breaking over him. “Senorita,
where is Alaroze, your overseer? How is it that he has not appeared
during all of the excitement? The rest of your men are outside; I can
see them gathered in the courtyard.”
“I do not know,” answered the senorita, “I shall call him at once.” She
stepped to the door and clapped her small hands sharply.
There was a slight pause and then a man entered the room quickly. He was
small and chunky, with a brown face and shifty eyes. He was fully
dressed in the nondescript outfit of a ranch foreman.
“Senor Alaroze, where have you been?” the senorita asked him in Spanish,
which the boys understood slightly. They had studied the language in
high school, all except Terry, and they could follow the conversation.
“A thousand pardons, senorita, but I was awakened by the noise and
hastened to dress,” the Mexican said, softly.
“It took you much time, senor,” retorted the senorita, curtly. “Tell me,
when you closed up did you lock this library window?”
“Surely, senorita. I take pains to always carry out faithfully the tasks
intrusted to me,” he replied, his tone becoming haughty.
“The reason we ask you, Senor Alaroze,” said Ned, still in Spanish, “is
because two rascals have just broken into the house and have searched
this library. But the strange part is that they did not even have to
break in. They simply reached up and pushed the window and it opened
under their touch. That does not look as though they found the window
barred, does it?”
“I can only say that I dropped the bar across the window before I
retired, senor,” replied the overseer, his lips moving uneasily.
“Perhaps someone else——”
“Nonsense!” cried Ned, sharply. “The senorita is the only one who sleeps
in the house. You and the ranchmen sleep in the bunkhouse. You do not
think for a minute that Senorita Mercedes came down and took the bar
from the window do you?”
“I regret to say that I do not know what to think, senor,” returned the
overseer, quietly enough. The other boys watched him closely, puzzled at
his calm and speculating as to what thoughts might be in his mind.
“Well, it is very strange,” remarked Ned, closing the window and
dropping the bar in place. When he spoke there was a trace of gloom in
his voice, especially when he addressed the overseer. “Be more careful
in the future, Senor Alaroze. You alone have the keeping of Senorita
Mercedes and her safety.”
“I am worthy of the trust, senor,” retorted the overseer, his eyes
narrowing.
Ned looked at his watch. “We’ll have to be getting back, or dad will
begin to be worried. I don’t think you will have any more trouble,
senorita. If you do, send one of your men to me and I will come as
quickly as possible.”
The senorita murmured thanks and accompanied them to the courtyard,
where the boys swung onto their mounts. The three ranchmen, seeing that
all was well, went back to the bunkhouse, while the overseer, his face
hidden in the shadow of the doorway, stood back of the senorita.
She bade them goodbye, thanking them once more. The boys quietly
overlooked the fact that she held onto Ned’s hand for a moment longer
than seemed actually necessary. They rode away, looking back more than
once at the gleaming white ranch in the moonlight, until it was lost to
sight.
“I’m very much afraid I don’t trust that overseer,” said Don.
“Well,” said Ned. “So far he has been very good in the management of the
ranch. I wonder if he can be in league with that Sackett gang?”
“Hard to tell,” said Terry. “I don’t like the thought of the senorita
living alone with that fellow around, and not a woman for miles.”
There was a pause, and then: “I don’t like it, either,” spoke Ned,
frankly. “But she claims that she is not afraid. She goes armed all the
time and is very determined to be a success at raising cattle and caring
for herself. Pride, you know, is something that the Spanish are great
for, and I’m afraid she has more than her share. However, sometime——”
He did not finish his thought, but the boys thought that they knew what
he had in mind. They arrived at the ranch in silence and relieved the
professor’s anxiety.