OFF FOR THE MOUNTAINS.
Arthur looked at the robber with curiosity. Yellow-covered novels had
always been his favorite reading, and highwaymen, brigands, and pirates
were, in his estimation, the only heroes worthy of emulation. Pierre,
but for one thing, would have come up to his beau ideal of a robber. He
was loaded with weapons, and he was tall and broad-shouldered, sported a
ferocious mustache, and his hair fell down upon his shoulders. He was
dressed in the gayest Mexican style, but his clothing had seen long
service, and was not quite as neat as Arthur would have liked to have
seen it. It was plain that Pierre did not waste much time upon his
toilet; but, after all, he was a very good-looking villain.
The robber was quite as much interested in his visitor as the latter was
in him. He had often heard of Arthur through Joaquin; and, if the boy
had known all Pierre's intentions concerning him, he might not have felt
quite so much at his ease.
"I can't spare much time," said the robber, breaking the silence at
last.
"Nor I either," returned Arthur; "so I will begin my business at once,
and get through as soon as I can. I have heard the particulars of your
fights with Frank Nelson, and I propose to put you in the way of making
five times the amount of money you would have made if you had captured
him when you met him in the mountains. I want to be revenged upon Frank
and his crowd, for they have grossly insulted me."
"Of course they have," said Pierre. "I know all about it."
"I can't punish them by myself," continued Arthur, "for they are three
to my one. I am not afraid of Johnny Harris, or Archie Winters; but
there's that other Yankee, Frank Nelson. He is as strong as a lion, and
if he once gets his blood up, he don't care for any thing. I am afraid
of him."
"I don't wonder at it. I have had some experience with him, and, if he
had a few more years on his shoulders, I should be afraid of him
myself."
"I can't punish them unless I have help," repeated Arthur; "and, if you
will lend me your assistance, you can make sixty thousand dollars by it.
I heard those fellows say, yesterday, that they are going on a hunting
expedition, next week. I will make friends with them again, and find out
when they intend to start, and I propose that you capture them, and take
them to some safe place in the mountains, and demand twenty thousand
dollars apiece for them. You can demand more, if you choose, and get it,
too; for Mr. Harris is rich, and so is Mr. Winters. You must have some
men to assist you, however."
"I understand that," said Pierre. "I'll find the men."
"Will you do it?"
"Certainly, I will."
"Give me your hand, Pierre; I knew you would help me. But let me tell
you one thing, and that is, when you capture them you must look out for
yourself. They will have plenty of weapons, and, from what I have seen
of them, I don't think they would hesitate to use them if they got a
chance. There's one thing about this business I don't exactly admire. Of
course, I shall start with their expedition--I want to have the
satisfaction of seeing them captured--and my idea was, that, when you
made the attack on them, you should give me a chance to escape; but
Joaquin says, that won't do at all."
"Certainly not;" said Pierre, quickly. "I shall have five men with me,
and if we should let you get away, the boys would be suspicious of you
at once."
"That's just what Joaquin said; and since I have thought the matter
over, I have come to the conclusion that he was right. I don't want them
to know that I had a hand in this matter, for they might make me some
trouble."
"Very likely they would. You must allow yourself to be captured with the
others."
"Well, I sha'n't mind that, for, I believe, I can enjoy myself among the
mountains for a month or two. But, Pierre, when you get them you must
hold fast to them."
"I am not the man to let sixty thousand dollars slip through my
fingers," said the Ranchero, with a laugh.
"And there are three other things I want you to remember," continued
Arthur, earnestly. "The first is, you must not demand any ransom for
me."
"Oh no; of course not."
"The second is, I shall expect to be treated at all times like a
visitor. I am a gentleman, and a gentleman's son."
"I am well aware of that fact. I knew it the moment I put my eyes on
you."
"The third thing I want you to bear in mind, is, that I shall not be
captured without a struggle; and that every chance I get I shall try to
escape. I am going to show those fellows that I have some spunk. I want
you to act natural, and to prevent me from getting away from you; but
you must not abuse me. You can treat the others as roughly as you
please. Do you agree to all this?"
"I do, and there's my hand on it," said Pierre. "I fully understand
your plans now, and know just what you want me to do; and, what's more,
I'll do it. If you have got through with what you have to say, you had
better be off. I have a good many enemies, and I am in danger as long as
you are here. Watch those boys closely, and keep Joaquin posted. I can
find out every thing I want to know from him."
"My plans are working nicely," chuckled Arthur, as he rode homeward.
"I'll teach these backwoodsmen manners, before I am done with them."
"Eighty thousand dollars!" said Pierre, gazing after the retreating
horseman. "That's a nice little sum to be divided among six of us."
This remark will show whether or not the robber intended to abide by the
promises he had just made to Arthur Vane; and, while we are on this
subject, it may not be amiss to say, that the scheme Arthur had
proposed, was one on which the robber had been meditating for many days.
During the time he had lived in the mountains, he had kept his brain
busy, and had been allowed ample opportunity to decide upon his future
operations. He had been astonished and enraged at his failure to secure
the twelve thousand dollars, and to make Frank Nelson a prisoner, and he
had resolved to make amends for his defeat by capturing Frank and all
his companions, including Arthur Vane. Pierre had plenty of friends to
assist him, but there was one question that troubled him, and presented
an obstacle that he could see no way to overcome; and that was, how to
capture all the boys at once. That must be done, or his plan would fail.
He could get his hands upon Arthur Vane at any time; but the others were
like birds on the wing--here to-day, and miles away to-morrow--and
Pierre did not know where to find them. Now, however, the difficulty was
removed. Frank and his friends were going on a hunting expedition,
Arthur would ascertain when they were going to start, and what road they
intended to take, and when the day arrived, the robber could call in his
men, who were employed on the neighboring ranchos, and capture the boys
without the least trouble. Pierre was very glad that Arthur had got
angry at Frank.
Meanwhile Frank, Archie, and Johnny, all unconscious of the plans that
were being formed against them, enjoyed themselves to the utmost, and
wasted a good deal of time every day in laughing over the incidents that
had transpired during their ride to Captain Porter's ranch. Archie,
especially, had a great deal to say about it. He had an accomplishment,
of which we have never before had occasion to speak: he was a
first-class mimic; and he took no little pride in showing off his
powers. He could imitate the brogue of an Irishman the broken English of
a Dutchman, or the nasal twang of a Yankee, to perfection; and one day,
while he was in the barn saddling his horse, he carried on a lengthy
conversation with Bob Kelly (who was on the outside of the building),
about some runaway cattle, and the old trapper thought all the while
that he was talking to his chum, Dick Lewis. Now Archie had a new
subject to practice upon. He laid himself out to personate Arthur Vane;
and he not only successfully imitated that young gentleman's pompous
style of talking, and his dignified manner of riding and walking, but
even the tone of his voice. He criticised Frank and Johnny continually,
and made them laugh, till their jaws ached, by recounting imaginary
adventures on the burning sands of Patagonia, and among the icebergs and
polar bears of India.
The day following the one on which Arthur Vane visited the robber in the
mountains, found the three boys on the back porch of Mr. Winters's
rancho, making preparations for their hunting expedition. Frank was
cleaning his rifle, and Archie and Johnny were repairing an old
pack-saddle, in which they intended to carry their provisions and extra
ammunition. Archie was seated on the floor, with an awl in one hand, and
a piece of stout twine in the other; and, while he was working at the
pack-saddle, his tongue was moving rapidly.
"I am young in years, fellows," he was saying, "but I am aged in
experience. If I had my rights, I should long ago have been gray-headed.
I have seen thrilling times in my life, and have been the hero of
adventures, that, were I to relate them to you, would make each
particular hair of your heads stand on end, like the quills of a
punched hedge-hog. I am--if you will kindly permit me to use a slang
expression--an old hand at the business of hunting and trapping, and
have accomplishments in which I can not be beaten. Among them, stands my
ability to whip a grizzly bear in a fair fight, with no weapon but my
knife. I have hunted wild gorillas in the streets of New York City;
have"--
"Good morning, fellows!"
Archie brought the story of his adventures to a sudden close, and,
looking over his shoulder, saw Arthur Vane standing at the end of the
porch. The boys had never expected him to call upon them again, and
Archie and Johnny were too surprised to speak; but Frank, who always
kept his wits about him, returned Arthur's greeting, and invited him to
occupy the chair he pushed toward him. He was not at all pleased to see
the visitor, but he was too much of a gentleman to show it.
One would suppose, that the remembrance of what had happened, three days
before, would have caused Arthur some embarrassment; but such was not
the case. On the contrary, he was as dignified as ever, and seemed to be
perfectly at his ease. Frank and his friends were considerate enough to
refrain from making any allusions to the fright he had sustained, but
Arthur brought the subject up himself.
"I received your note," said he, "and also the articles you were kind
enough to send me; and I am here now to say, that I feel heartily
ashamed of myself. From some cause or another, that I could not explain
if I should try, I was extremely nervous that day; but I may, some time,
have an opportunity to show you that I am not as much of a coward as I
know you now believe me to be."
Arthur remained at the rancho all that day, sitting down at the same,
table, and eating his dinner with the boys he was about to betray into
the hands of the robbers; and, when he went home that night, he had
asked, and received, permission to accompany them to the mountains.
Their consent had been given reluctantly, and with very bad grace; but
they could see no way to get around it. Arthur was a boy with whom they
did not care to associate; but he had done them no injury, and they
could not bring themselves to refuse his request.
"They will start early Monday morning," soliloquized Arthur, as he rode
homeward, "and will take the road that leads to Captain Porter's. This
is Friday. I shall send word by Joaquin to Pierre to-night, and he will
have plenty of time to make all his arrangements."
Arthur spent the next day with the boys at Mr. Winters's rancho, and,
when he rode over on Monday morning, he brought with him a supply of
provisions, which were stowed away in the pack-saddle with the rest.
Frank and his friends had been waiting for him, and now that they were
all ready, they mounted their horses and rode off--Archie leading an
extra horse, which carried the pack-saddle. As they galloped through the
Rancheros' quarters, Dick appeared at the door of his cabin, and shouted
after them words, which, taken in connection with the events that were
about to transpire, seemed like prophecy.
"You'll be wishin' fur me an' Bob, to get you out of the hands of that
ar' greaser, afore you're two days older," yelled Dick.
"You don't suppose that we four fellows will let one man capture us, do
you?" shouted Archie, in reply. "If we do get into trouble, and you find
it out, you'll come to our rescue, won't you?"
"Sartin. Now, don't be keerless, like you allers are."
The boys kept their horses in a rapid gallop until they reached the
bridle-path in the mountains, and then Archie went ahead with the
pack-horse, and the others followed in single file. They rode along
singing and shouting, and little dreaming of the danger that was so
near, until they arrived in sight of the spring, near which Frank had
his last encounter with the robber. He soon found that he was to have
another adventure there; for, as he and his companions rode toward the
spring, they were startled by a shrill whistle, which echoed among the
mountains, and was answered on all sides of them; and, before they had
recovered from their surprise, Pierre Costello appeared in the path, as
suddenly as though he had dropped from the clouds, and came toward them,
holding a pistol in each hand.
"Halt!" shouted the robber.
The boys looked about them, as if seeking some avenue of escape, and
then they saw that Pierre was not alone. Every thicket, toward which
they turned their eyes, bristled with weapons, and a dozen revolvers
were leveled straight at their heads. It was useless to think of flight.