ARCHIE AND BEPPO.
“Santa Maria!” exclaimed Beppo again, and this time in a very
different tone of voice. He was frightened now, and that was not to be
wondered at; for Archie stood holding a pistol in each hand, and both
of them were pointed straight at the Mexican’s breast. “Don’t shoot,”
said he, drawing his head down between his shoulders, and raising one
arm before his eyes.
“You are in no danger as long as you keep perfectly quiet, and do just
as I tell you,” replied Archie, glancing about the stable to make sure
there was no one else present.
This assurance seemed to remove an immense load of apprehension from
Beppo’s mind. He looked all over Archie, from head to foot, as if
taking his exact measure, and finally demanded:
“What do you want, and how did you get in here?”
“Don’t talk so loud,” commanded Archie, making a significant motion
with his pistols. “If you speak above a whisper again, you are a gone
Greaser.”
“Well, what do you want here?” repeated Beppo, in a lower tone.
“I have no time to waste in answering questions. Crawl out of that
jacket.”
The Mexican seemed to be very much astonished at this order, but,
without an instant’s hesitation, he divested himself of his greasy,
tattered garment, and threw it on the floor.
“Now that sombrero,” continued Archie. “That’s all right. I shall be
obliged to borrow these articles for a little while, but, as I shall
leave my own in their place, you will not lose much in case I fail to
return them. When I get them on, I think I shall have no trouble in
passing myself off for you. What are you doing in here?”
“I came after the gray and black,” replied Beppo, pointing toward
Roderick and King James.
“Well, if it is all the same to you, I will take charge of them
myself. I have a better right to one of them, than you or any body
else about the rancho. He was stolen from me, Greaser, and when I get
home, I am going to make somebody smart for it.”
“I didn’t do it,” said Beppo.
“It is fortunate for you that you didn’t,” replied Archie. “If I
thought you had a hand in it, I would take you down and give you a
good drubbing. I’d like to have a long talk with you about the strange
things that are done here every night,” he continued, pulling off his
neat jacket, and picking up the one Beppo had thrown upon the floor;
“but just now I am too deeply interested in getting away from here, to
bother my head about any thing else. I will put the saddles on the
horses, and then I want you to show me”----
“Santa Maria!” yelled Beppo again. “Help! help!”
There was no astonishment or terror in his voice this time. His
favorite expression was uttered in a tone of triumph. Things looked
exceedingly dark for Archie now, for he was lying on his back in the
middle of the floor, Beppo was kneeling on his breast, and the stable
was echoing with his lusty calls for assistance. Archie was greatly
astonished, but he was not frightened. He was as cool as a cucumber.
“That’s your game, is it?” said he. “I wouldn’t be afraid to wager
King James against any mustang in the country, that it won’t succeed,
for you’ve got hold of a Yankee now. I’ll open your eyes for you, in
about a minute.”
Archie had come to believe, with Dick Lewis and Bob Kelly, that there
was not a Mexican in the world who possessed the least particle of
courage; and consequently he did not watch his prisoner as closely as
he ought to have done. Although Beppo was very much terrified at the
sight of the pistols, he kept his wits about him, and while his captor
was talking to him in his free-and-easy way, the young Mexican’s mind
was busy with plans for escape. While Archie was exchanging his jacket
and sombrero for those belonging to Beppo, the latter thought he saw a
chance to turn the tables on him.
Archie had a peculiar way of putting on a coat. He thrust both arms
half way into the sleeves, then threw the coat over his head,
straightened out his arms, and gave himself a shake or two to settle
the garment into its place. It was when he had got the jacket about
half way on, and both his arms were fast in the sleeves, that Beppo
sprang forward like a young tiger, and catching him around the body,
threw him to the ground. He accomplished this with so much ease, that
he thought he was sure to win a decided victory.
“Give up that pistol,” said he, savagely. “I’ve got you now.”
“That remains to be seen,” replied Archie, with a coolness that
astounded the Mexican. “There’s no knowing who is governor until after
the election.”
Archie, although taken at great disadvantage, struggled desperately,
and to such good purpose that he succeeded in freeing his arms from
the jacket; and then the matter was quickly decided. Beppo was turned
over on his back in a twinkling, and Archie, holding him down with one
hand, drew the lantern toward him with the other, and extinguished
it; for he heard footsteps approaching. Beppo’s cries had reached the
ears of some of the people of the rancho, and they were hurrying to
his assistance. He would have continued to shout for help, but the
cold muzzle of a pistol, which he felt pressed against his head,
restrained him.
Archie did not know what to do now. His first impulse was to spring up
and take to his heels; but, if he did, what should he do with his
prisoner? He might have compelled him to accompany him in his flight,
but Beppo was a clumsy fellow, and having no reasons for wishing to
conceal his movements, he would, no doubt, make noise enough to guide
the Rancheros in the pursuit. If Archie left him behind, he would
begin shouting for help again; and if he had not already alarmed every
one on the rancho, it would not take him long to do so. The only plan
he could think of was to remain with his captive, and keep him quiet
by threatening him with his pistol, trusting to the darkness to
prevent his discovery.
“Don’t dare open your head,” said Archie, fiercely.
There was scarcely any need of this injunction. Beppo never once
thought of moving a muscle, while that pistol was so near him, and he
lay as silent and motionless upon the floor as if he had been turned
into a block of stone.
The footsteps continued to approach, and presently the light of a
lantern flashed through the darkness, revealing to Archie a grated
door at the farther end of the stable, which he had not before
noticed. Looking through the door, he saw two Rancheros hurrying along
the passage, one of them holding his lantern above his head, and both
trying to peer through the darkness to see what was going on in the
stable. They had not yet seen Archie, but they certainly would
discover him when they reached the door, for he was close in front of
it. He must get back out of sight, and he had but a single instant in
which to do it. Springing quickly to his feet, he seized the
astonished Beppo by the collar, with both hands, and before he could
make up his mind what was going to happen, he was lying on his back in
Roderick’s stall, with Archie on top of him; and the mustang was
looking down at them as if wondering what they were doing there.
Scarcely had this movement been accomplished, when the Rancheros
arrived at the door; but, to Archie’s immense relief, they did not
attempt to open it. The reason was because the door was locked, and
the key was attached to the bunch in Archie’s pocket. They held the
lantern close against the bars, and peered into the stable.
“He isn’t here,” Archie heard one of them whisper, at length.
“He must be,” replied the other. “I know those shouts came from the
stable. Beppo, are you in there?”
The young Mexican heard the question, and would have been glad to
answer, if Archie’s pistol had not been held so close to his head. The
men waited and listened for a reply, but hearing none, the one who had
last spoken continued:
“I can see those horses in there, and they are not saddled. He has had
plenty of time to bring them out, for I gave him the keys ten minutes
ago.”
“Santa Maria!” said Beppo, in an astonished whisper.
“Silence!” commanded Archie.
“But he didn’t give me any keys,” persisted the prisoner, whose
surprise was so great that he forgot all about the dangerous proximity
of the pistol.
“Keep still, I say!” repeated Archie; and as the order was followed by
a firmer pressure of the muzzle of the weapon against his head, the
young Mexican thought it best to comply.
“Where do you suppose those shouts came from?” asked one of the men at
the door.
“I don’t know,” replied the other; “and, what is more, I don’t care.
What could have become of that rascal Beppo; and why don’t he bring
out those horses? that’s what’s troubling me. If we don’t find him
very soon, our plans will all be knocked in the head.”
The men seemed to be very much concerned about the young Mexican, and
that was a point in Archie’s favor; for they did not remain long at
the door, but set out in search of him. Archie watched the light
through the grated door until it disappeared, and then began to
question his prisoner.
“What’s up here, any how?” he demanded. “What did those men want you
to do?”
“Nothing,” replied Beppo.
“Yes they did. You can’t fool me, for I am better posted than you
think I am. Where do you suppose those keys are?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I do; and I know, too, that those men promised you a revolver
for doing some work for them.”
“Who told you so?” asked Beppo, more astonished than ever.
“No matter. I have a way of finding out such things. What did those
men want you to do? No fooling, now.”
Beppo felt the muzzle of the pistol again, and the secret came out all
at once.
“They wanted me to bring those two horses out of the stable for them,”
said he. “They are tired of staying here, and want to go away. They
intend to take the Don’s money, too--the gold he keeps in his
bed-room. They want the gray and black horses because they are the
swiftest in the country; and if they are followed, they can’t be
caught.”
“Well,” said Archie, when his prisoner paused, “go on, and tell me
what else you know.”
Beppo knew a good deal, and it took him some time to tell it; but
Archie, impatient as he was, listened attentively to all he had to
say--not because he was curious to learn something of the every-day
life of the robbers, but for the reason that he hoped his prisoner
would let fall some item of information that would assist him in
making his escape from the rancho. He learned that Beppo was the
stableboy, and that it was a part of his duty to bring out the “gray
and black” every evening, at sunset, for two of the Rancheros, who
mounted them and rode off somewhere; and the next morning Beppo would
find two or three, and sometimes half a dozen, strange horses in the
stable. The stolen nags were driven into Texas every week, and sold
there; and the reason why Roderick and King James had been kept, was
because they were known to be very fleet, and the robbers wanted to
use them. One piece of information that greatly astonished Archie
was, that, although there were fifty men on the Don’s rancho, they did
not number a third of the band. The others were scattered all over the
southern part of the State, and were employed as herdsmen by the
farmers, who little suspected that they were in league with the
robbers. Beppo said there were some on Mr. Winters’s rancho, but he
did not know who they were. Their business was to send the Don, who
was chief of the band, any information they might gain concerning the
fast horses on their own and neighboring ranchos, and Pedro and
another herdsman would go out and steal them. These two men did all
the stealing; and Archie judged from Beppo’s description of their
exploits that they were very expert at the business. They always rode
Roderick and King James, and the swift animals brought them home in
safety, in spite of the most desperate attempts that had been made to
capture them.
The keys to the stable and to all the rooms in the underground part of
the rancho, were kept in the Don’s bed-room. One of the discontented
members of the band had stolen them, and, as he supposed, given them
to Beppo, whom he had hired with the promise of a revolver to bring
the horses out about half an hour before the usual time. When the
mutineers saw the horses in the court, they were to make a sudden raid
on their employer’s bed-room, secure as much gold as they could carry,
and then rush out, jump into their saddles, and leave the rancho with
all possible speed.
Archie was silent for some minutes after Beppo ceased speaking. He was
thinking what a skillful manager the Spaniard must have been to have
successfully conducted the operations of so extensive an organization,
without even exciting suspicion. And what astonishing impudence the
old fellow had, too! Archie remembered that upon one occasion, during
a general hunt after the horse-thieves, in which the Don had taken an
active part, he had invited a dozen men and boys to his rancho, and
served them up an excellent dinner. What would those guests have
thought if they had known that they were being entertained by the
chief of the very robbers they were trying to hunt down? And to think,
too, that some of the band were employed on his uncle’s rancho--that
he had seen them every day, and talked and ridden with them! Archie
told himself that there would be some exciting times in the settlement
before all these robbers could be brought to justice, and the
probabilities were that somebody would get hurt. He did not care how
soon the fight began, for then he would have a chance to take
satisfaction out of somebody for stealing his horse. Archie pondered
upon these things, until it occurred to him that it would be a good
plan for him to effect his escape before he began his war upon the
robbers, and this thought once more aroused him to a sense of his
situation.
“Where did these mutineers intend to go?” he asked, at length.
“To Texas,” replied Beppo.
“Well, they sha’n’t do it--that’s settled. Before I will allow them to
take these horses out of the country, I will hunt up the Don and blow
the whole thing.”
“O, don’t do that,” pleaded the prisoner, who seemed terror-stricken
at the bare thought. “He will shoot me.”
“I wouldn’t like to have you shot, Greaser,” replied Archie, “but I
tell you that my horse is not going to Texas. There is one way in
which you can save yourself, and that is by leading me out of this
hole by the safest and most direct route. Then the Don need know
nothing about it; but just as surely as I am captured down here, I’ll
repeat to him every thing you have said to me.”
“I can’t lead you out,” replied Beppo. “The doors are all locked.”
“We don’t care if they are. I’ve got the keys.”
“You! Santa Maria!”
“It’s a fact,” answered Archie; “but how I got them I need not now
stop to explain. What do you say, Greaser? Will you show me the way
out?”
“Yes,” gasped the young Mexican, who knew, from the peremptory manner
in which the pistol was pressed against his head, that it was
dangerous to hesitate longer. “Don’t shoot! I will.”
“That’s all right,” said Archie. “Now, to put it out of your power to
play any tricks upon me, I shall tie your hands behind your back with
your own sash--so. Then I will take mine, and pass it around your
ankles, in this way.”
“I can’t walk, if you do that,” interrupted Beppo; “and if I can’t
walk, how can I show you the way out?”
“Don’t you be uneasy. I sha’n’t draw the sash tight enough to
interfere much with your walking; but if you try to run, it is
probable that you will be tripped up very suddenly. Now, then,” he
continued, after he had satisfied himself that his prisoner was
secure, and that he could not possibly free himself from his bonds,
“stand here until I put the saddles on those horses. Who’s that?”
At this moment heavy footsteps sounded on the floor overhead, and a
light suddenly flashed down into the stable. Archie looked up, and saw
a pair of feet descending a ladder, leading down from a small
trap-door which opened into the apartment over the stable. Shortly
afterward a villainous looking Ranchero came in sight, and holding
his lantern at arm’s length before him, stooped down and glanced all
around the stable, as if he were looking for some one. Archie was so
badly frightened that he could not move; and his alarm increased, and
his heart seemed to stop beating, when the man’s eyes, after roving
all about the stable, rested on his face. This was the time to test
his disguise.
“Beppo,” said the Mexican, in a gruff voice, “bring out the horses.”
As he spoke he placed his lantern upon one of the steps of the ladder,
and ascended out of sight through the trap-door.