THE MAN IN THE HAMMOCK
The Mexican bandit had thought that the only person after him was
Captain Astora, and he was taken completely by surprise when the four
boys rushed up to him just after he had liberated his steed and was in
the act of leaping into the saddle.
“Stop!” cried Jack, as he caught the horse by the bridle.
“Ha! Who are you?” demanded Ditini in his native tongue, and then,
remembering that Jack had spoken in English, he repeated: “Who are you?”
“Never mind, Ditini! You get off that horse!” answered Randy.
“American boys, eh?” sneered the bandit. “Get out of my way!” and he
tried to urge his steed forward.
[Illustration: “AMERICAN BOYS, EH? GET OUT OF MY WAY!”]
As he did this Fred and Andy rushed closer, one on either side of the
horse. Each grabbed Ditini by a foot, and as a consequence as the steed
made a plunge, in spite of Jack’s effort to hold him, the bandit slid
backwards and then came down to the ground with a thump.
“Let go of me, you little pigs!” roared the Mexican, as he lay on the
ground. Then, as he scrambled to his feet, he tried to draw his pistol.
But the four Rovers knew that they had a desperate character with whom
to deal, and they took no chances. Fred pounced on the rascal from
behind, grabbing him by the throat, while Randy caught hold of the
pistol before the man could get it from its holster. Andy threw himself
on the bandit’s legs, and Jack, letting the horse go, came forward and
caught Ditini by the left hand.
“You might as well give in, Ditini,” said the oldest of the Rover boys.
“If you don’t we’ll knock you senseless.”
For several seconds the bandit continued to struggle. But then, as Fred
continued to choke him and Randy took away his pistol, he suddenly
subsided.
“It’s all a mistake. I don’t know why you’ve attacked me,” said he.
He had scarcely spoken when out of the house limped the Yucatan
official who had received a slight flesh wound in his left thigh. He
had his pistol in his hand and after him came Señora Ditini, begging
loudly for mercy for her husband. The official had handcuffs with him,
and soon Ditini was made a close prisoner.
The fellow was astonished when he learned who the Rover boys were and
how it had been discovered that he and Ronombo had been the principal
actors in the hold-up in New York City.
“But Ronombo is the man who got most of the securities,” declared
Ditini. “He did not divide with me as he promised. I was to have half,
but he gave me less than ten thousand dollars!”
“Where is Ronombo now?” questioned Jack.
“He went to his home in Nogistalia a few miles from here,” answered
Ditini. “I hope you catch him! It will serve him right for the way he
has treated me!” The rascal did not for a moment give consideration to
the way he and Ronombo had treated the Americans who had been in the
plot against the Rovers.
Captain Astora was in no condition to go after Ronombo, but managed to
accompany the boys back to town, where Ditini was placed in custody.
Then the four boys hired another auto and set out for Nogistalia.
“If only we can locate this Ronombo!” said Jack. He was trying his best
to remember how the bandit looked.
“If he’s so close, I don’t see why Ditini didn’t go after him for his
share of the loot,” said Randy.
“Well, perhaps we won’t get to the bottom of this until everybody in
the plot is rounded up,” came from Fred.
They had received word concerning where Ronombo’s people lived and
arrived at the place some time after nightfall. They were directed to
the proper house by a native, and then told the driver of the auto to
wait for them and moved forward alone.
“We want to have our pistols ready,” said Jack. “We’ll take no chances
on this fellow. They said in New York he was the more desperate
character of the two.”
They approached the house and heard the faint tinkle of a guitar and
some singing by two girls. Then they moved around to where they saw a
light and found an elderly man reading.
“Ronombo doesn’t seem to be around,” whispered Fred. “What shall we
do――wait?”
“I don’t think so,” answered Jack. “The news of Ditini’s capture may
travel fast, and if Ronombo hears of it, he’ll lose no time in getting
away. I think I’ll try a ruse, just as Captain Astora did.”
He walked up to the door of the place and knocked gently.
At first the old man who was reading paid no attention. But then he
started and confronted his visitor.
“Hush! Make no noise,” whispered Jack in a low voice. “Do you
understand English?”
“A leetle,” answered the old man, his eyes staring in wonder.
“I have news! I must see Ronombo at once! Ditini is in the hands of the
police!”
“Ditini captured? Who are you?”
“Ronombo knows me. I was mixed up in that affair in New York. I must
see Ronombo at once. I guess you’re his father, aren’t you?”
“I am his grandfather. You say you took part in that affair in New York
and that Ditini is under arrest? Ha, I told Gozo to be careful!”
“But where is he? I must see him at once! I can take him to a ship on
the seacoast. We can go to Havana to-night.”
“Ah, that is fine!” The old man’s eyes showed his pleasure. “Come with
me.”
He led the way to the rear of the house and Jack followed. They went
outside and as they advanced along a path, Jack motioned for his
cousins to follow but to keep out of sight. They walked to a small
house built at the end of a long garden. The place was of stone, cool
and inviting. Here there was a hammock, and in this rested a small,
dark-skinned man, his hat thrown on the floor.
The others had drawn closer, afraid that Jack might be walking into
danger, and before the old man could say a word the oldest of the Rover
boys clapped his hand over the old fellow’s mouth.
“Grab him and don’t let him make any noise,” whispered Jack, and Andy
and Fred understood and pushed the old man away from the summer house.
Ronombo was evidently exhausted and sleeping heavily. This being so,
it was an easy matter for Jack and Randy to disarm him. From Captain
Astora they had procured a pair of handcuffs, and these they slipped on
the bandit just as he was awakening.
Black Ronombo’s rage when he found himself a prisoner was indescribable.
He almost foamed at the mouth and threw himself at the boys in a wild
endeavor to annihilate them. He was not subdued until he had received
several blows on the body and on the head and found himself menaced by
the boys’ pistols.
In the meantime, the old grandfather set up shriek after shriek which
soon brought the two girls who had been singing to the spot, and
likewise the driver of the automobile and some of the neighbors.
There followed a wordy war and for a few minutes it looked as if the
Rover boys would be unable to take their prisoner away. The old man,
as well as the girls, tried to fight them and had to be restrained by
the neighbors and had it not been for the exhibition of firearms on the
part of the Rovers there is no telling what would have happened next.
But at last they got Ronombo into the automobile and then the prisoner
was whisked away to town as speedily as possible.
“We’ve got to get a search warrant at once!” exclaimed Jack. “Not only
for Ronombo’s home but also for Ditini’s.”
This move did not come a minute too soon, for while it availed little
at the Ditini place, it came just in the nick of time at the place
where Ronombo resided. The authorities found the old grandfather
hard at work in a cellar under the house and there was uncovered a
fair-sized iron chest which, when opened, was found to contain about
one quarter of the securities taken from The Rover Company’s offices.
“Well, anyway, we’ve got that much,” declared Jack. “Now the question
is――what did these rascals do with the rest?”
Ditini and Ronombo refused to talk, but Captain Astora said he would
make them speak later, indicating that he would have the bandits put
through what is popularly called by the police “the third degree.”
As speedily as it could be done word was sent to New York of what had
been accomplished at Mendelopaz, Nogistalia and in Merida, and how the
securities so far obtained were safe in a bank in the city. Then the
folks at home were assured that the authorities would do all in their
power to get from Ditini and Ronombo whatever was left of the rest of
the loot.
“Well, we’ve got those two rascals and we’ve got between forty and
fifty thousand dollars’ worth of the securities they took,” said Jack,
when the excitement had somewhat subsided. “I call that a pretty good
night’s work!”
“It certainly is a good piece of work!” declared Fred. “Especially
as there is such a good reward offered for the capture of those two
bandits. Just the same, I hope we can get on the track of the rest of
those securities. If not, it’s going to be a terrible blow to The Rover
Company.”
The boys had communicated with Captain Corning and he at once came up
from Progreso to Merida to see if he could be of any assistance.
“Of course if you boys want to stay here and see what the authorities
can get out of these two bandits, you can do so,” said the master of
the _Firefly_. “But now that I have let Olesen and Amend go, I feel
that I ought to continue the hunt for the _Margarita_ without delay. If
I don’t, those fellows may organize a hunt of their own and get ahead
of me.”
“Well, I don’t see what more we can do here,” replied Fred, who, now
that the excitement over the capture of the bandits had come to an end,
was as eager as ever to look for the lost yacht. “I move we start on
the hunt again and then come back here in a few days or a week and see
what is doing.”
“Did you manage to find another diver?” asked Jack.
“Yes. I ran into a fellow who came from New Orleans,” answered the
captain. “A very fine chap named Barker. He says he’ll be glad to go
with me and do what he can, and at a reasonable price. He looks like a
square man.”
“Then let’s continue the hunt!” came from Andy and Randy. And so it was
decided.