IMPROVISED SEARCHLIGHTS
“Velly vell, on’y me no likee losee dlishe pans, Misler Lyder. Me no
velly much can usee pailes to washee dlishes in sometimes. Jus’ samee me
no likee losee dlishe pan.”
Tom Why’s voice accompanied by the clatter of tin pans awoke Jack next
day, from a very sound sleep. The lad at first was thoroughly mystified,
for it was rarely that good natured Tom ever objected to anything either
he or Mr. Ryder did. It was evident, however, from the pitch of the
Chinaman’s voice that he was slightly indignant.
“Me can no savvy leason to put holes in him dlish pan. Him alle samee no
glood then,” continued Tom.
“Well, I want to put wires through the bottom of the pans and make
searchlights out of them. What if your old pans are spoiled, Tom. When
the next train comes up from Mexico City I’ll have a carload for you if
you want them,” said Mr. Ryder.
“Me no wantee clarload. Me wantee tlu dlishe pans, and me no wantee liars
put thlu him bottom, too.”
“All right, Tom,” laughed the engineer; “you shall have two of the finest
dishpans south of the Rio Grande if you’ll only let me have these two.”
“Velly vell, velly vell,” said Tom somewhat appeased at such an
attractive offer.
The conversation had done more than amuse Jack. It had made him
thoroughly curious, for he could not understand how Mr. Ryder could make
a searchlight out of a tin dishpan. He lost no time in tumbling out of
bed and dressing, and five minutes after the engineer had left the house
the youth was ready to follow him. Just as Jack entered the main room,
however, Tom Why came in at the back door.
“Hello there, Tom, did Mr. Ryder confiscate your dishpans?” asked the
boy.
“No him no dloo lat. Him just takee him dlish plans. Him get Tlom Why tlu
flines likee clums to Melexeclo,” said Tom with a grin. Then he added,
“Allee samee Jack want him dlinner now?”
“Dinner?” exclaimed the boy, “why, what time is it? Well, by George, if
it isn’t three o’clock. I’ve slept nearly ten hours. How long has Mr.
Ryder been up?”
“Him alle samee come from him room an’ slay, ‘Tom, glet my bleckflast!’
Then him look at him clock him slay, ‘Gleat Clats, him one o’clock. Tom,
glet me my dlinner!’” Tom tried to imitate the engineer as he quoted Mr.
Ryder’s remarks and the result made Jack laugh heartily.
In a surprisingly short time the Chinaman had the table spread and a
steaming hot meal before the young American. But the lad hurried every
mouthful (much to Tom’s displeasure), for he was eager to reach the plant
and witness the operation of converting tin dishpans into searchlights.
Also, he was curious to know what had transpired since dawn that morning.
When Jack reached the little machine shop on the north side of the power
plant he found Mr. Ryder in the center of a pile of wire, pieces of iron
pipe, electric light bulbs and all sorts of odds and ends. The engineer
was busily engaged with one of Tom’s precious tin dishpans.
“Oh! there you are, I thought you were due to sleep all day,” said the
engineer banteringly as Jack arrived. “You are just in time to witness
an attempt to build a genuine spotlight out of the cook’s most cherished
possession.”
“I heard all about it when you were trying to persuade Tom to be generous
with his pans. What do you mean to do anyway?” said Jack.
“Why, I intend to spring a little surprise on our wire-cutting friends
this evening if they should happen around, which I expect they will. I’m
going to put a cluster of electric bulbs in each of these tin dishpans,
and put them up on iron rods in position so that they will sweep the line
of barbed-wire defense. I’m going to keep them dark until the sentries
see the ‘shadows’ that visited us last night, then I’m going to switch
them on and have a firing party ready. Oh! the wire cutters will receive
an ideal reception, I’ll warrant. You see, fairly bright tin shaped in
this manner will magnify the light beam from three to five times and
that will throw a spotlight as far as necessary. Tin is an excellent
reflector for all ordinary purposes. With the ten thirty-two candlepower
lamps which I intend to use in each cluster, I will get a beam of light
1600 candlepower intensity. Of course that amounts to very little when
compared with the huge thirty-inch searchlight of ours that magnified a
light several hundred times.
“These searchlights will be operated by remote control; that is, a wire
will be run from the lights to the roof of the power station where Phil
will be on duty as usual. The moment he gets a signal from the sentries
he will throw on a switch which will connect with both wires and the line
of fence will be lighted from either direction at once. The firing squad
will be just beyond the lower trenches and behind the lights, so that
they will not be blinded by the sudden glare. The bandits on the other
hand will be surprised and made temporarily blind by the sudden flash of
light and before they get away the riflemen will discourage any idea of
future wire cutting parties.”
“It sounds like a first-rate scheme,” said Jack appreciatively. Then
suddenly remembering the prisoner of the night before he queried: “How is
our friend, the rurale? Have you seen him to-day?”
“Yes, I’ve seen him,” said the engineer as he paused in his work of
fitting a group of lamp sockets inside the tin pan. “He’s a mighty meek
individual too just now. I guess his thoughts are on the trial he’s to
have to-morrow morning. The chief witnesses over-slept this morning or he
would probably have faced court-martial before this. It was a lucky thing
for him that we did oversleep too, for it gives him a few hours longer to
live at any rate.”
“What does he have to say for himself?” asked the lad.
“Well, in the first place, he’s the man whom Señor Yuai described. He did
live in the Indian village over the mountain, and he did cut his foot
by stepping on a _machette_. His name is Alfonso Perro. I asked him why
he was sneaking about the place last night and he said that he had made
arrangements with the peon who keeps the cottage for the lineman to get
some _pulque_ for the troopers. _Pulque_ is the Mexican drink, you know.
It is made from the sap of the century plant or _maquay_ plant and when
properly prepared is a very fiery and highly intoxicating drink. Don’t
ever touch it, my boy, for it has ruined the chance of more than one
American who acquired a taste for it. We do not allow it to be brought
into Necaxa at all, but the rurale says that every time the linemen’s
peon goes to the village he smuggles in several jugs of the stuff. Some
was smuggled in yesterday and the rurale said he was on his way to get it
and bring it back to the barracks when you captured him. Of course I have
had the peon arrested also. He too is in the guardhouse, but he swears
that he has never smuggled _pulque_ into Necaxa.
“I accused Perro of having tampered with the machinery in the plant from
time to time and also of stealing my plans, and I must say he is a very
good actor, for he feigned surprise wonderfully well. But when I told him
how we set a trap for him and discovered that he had a scar on his foot
he looked even more surprised, and that surprise was genuine. I think
Captain Alvarez, of the rurales, is decidedly angry over the whole affair
and he is determined to have the prisoner face a firing squad as soon as
possible.”
“Well, I can’t help feeling a little sorry for the man,” said Jack, who
felt rather unhappy when he realized how much he had helped in sending
the man to his end.
“I feel sorry myself,” added Mr. Ryder, “and if he would only tell the
truth about the plans and give me some idea where they are I’d do my
utmost to save his life. However, the best that I could do would be
of little avail, I’m afraid, for Captain Alvarez takes charge of all
prisoners and the man’s fate is entirely in his hands.”
The two searchlights were completed late that afternoon, but Mr. Ryder
did not make an attempt to erect them until after dark, for as he
explained to Jack, “Those bandits may have lookouts stationed on the
mountains, and to have them see our new lights would knock the little
surprise party into a cocked hat.”
It required but a very little time to put the lamps in place, for the
engineer had fastened each tin pan to a section of iron pipe and this
was easily strapped to a tree at either end of the clearing in front of
the plant. The sentries were carefully coached that night before they
were sent to their post, and most of the men in the village as well as
the extra soldiers and rurales, gathered in the trenches to watch for
developments.
But hours of waiting under such strained conditions was far from
comfortable and after a while the men grew restive. In twos and threes
they began to leave for their cottages, quite disappointed that nothing
spectacular had happened. Jack, who was in the first trench, began to
grow tired of the suspense too. Indeed, he was just on the point of going
back to the cottage himself, when suddenly a rifle shot rang out at one
end of the clearing. This was followed by another further up the line of
fence and instantly Phil Underwood, on the roof, jammed home the switch.
The flood of light that swept along the barricade revealed almost a score
of bandits, with _machettes_ and big wire nippers. Some were discovered
in the very act of snipping strands of wire while others, thoroughly
frightened, were turning to flee, but they had scarcely moved two steps
before the roar of a dozen rifles burst forth.
Jack saw two men toss up their hands and pitch forward in the grass.
Another staggered a few steps, then he too fell in a limp heap. Other
shots rang out, but the rebels got beyond the range of the improvised
searchlights and were lost in the dark before any others were brought
down.
It all transpired so quickly that Jack could hardly believe his eyes.
He felt as if he had been looking at a motion picture of something that
had taken place in a far-off land. But he realized the horror of it all
when several soldiers crawled under the barbed wire fence and picked up
the three lifeless forms. Indeed, he was forced to turn away, for the
whole scene became very repulsive to him. The idea of trapping human
beings like rats and slaughtering them, was hideous. But the other men
laughed and joked over the occurrence exactly as if they had but recently
witnessed a performance at a theater.