CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BRIGANDS' HAUNT.
By daybreak on the following morning Hugh and his three companions werefar among the hills. They had halted an hour before, and intended towait until noon before pursuing their journey. They had already beeneight hours in the saddle, and had travelled over sixty miles. Theyhad halted in a little valley where there was plenty of grass for thehorses, and after cooking some food lay down and slept until the sunwas nearly overhead. Fortunately, the two miners had traversed thecountry several times, and were able to lead them across the mountains,where otherwise it would have been impossible to find a way.
After four hours' riding, on emerging from a valley the doctor said:
"There, do you see that village three miles away? That is thevillage where we stopped. The gorge in which the house lies runsfrom the village in this direction. You cannot see it here: it isa sort of canyon cut out ages ago by the water. The sides are nearlyperpendicular; but at the upper end the bottom rises rapidly, and, asfar as we could see from the spot from which we looked at it, there isno difficulty in getting down there. As you see, there are woods lyingback to the left. We have got to come down at the back of them, andthere is no chance of our being seen even if they have got men on thelookout on the high ground above the house. They will be looking theother way; they can see miles across the plain there. Of course theyhave no reason to believe that anyone knows of their haunt; still, theyare always on the look-out against treachery."
"Well, let's go on at a trot now, doctor. We shall be in the woodbefore sunset."
When they reached the trees they dismounted, and led their horses untilthey perceived daylight through the trunks on the opposite side.
"Now we will finish the remainder of our dinner," the doctor said, "andtalk matters over. We are about half a mile now from the end of thevalley, and it is another half-mile down to the house. Now, what are wegoing to do? Are we all going, or only one?"
Hugh was silent. These men understood matters better than he did.
"Only one, of course," Sim Howlett said. "The others can come on to thetop of the valley so as to lend a hand if he is chased; but it wouldbe just chucking away lives for more than one to go. Well, it is eitheryou or me, doc."
"Why?" Hugh asked. "I am quite ready to go, and I am sure Bill istoo. Besides, this question of the young ladies is more my affair thanyours, since you do not know them, and I certainly think I ought to bethe one to go."
"There is one reason agin it, Lightning," Sim said. "What you say istrue, and if it came to running you could leg it a good bit fasterthan the doc. or me; but that don't count for much in the dark. It iscreeping and crawling that is wanted more than running. The reason whythe doc. or I must go is, you don't speak Mexican, and we do. It ain'tlikely that the young ladies will be seen out in the verandah, and onecan't go and look into each of the windows till we find the right one.We have got to listen, and that way we may find whether they are there,and if we are lucky, which room they are in. So you see it is for oneof us to go."
"I shall go, Sim," the doctor said quietly. "I can walk as lightly asa cat. I haven't above half as much bulk to hide as you have, and I amcunning while you are strong, and this is a case where cunning is ofmore use than strength. So it is settled that I go; but you may as wellgive me your six-shooter. I may want twelve barrels."
"I shall be sorry for the Mexicans if you use them all, doc.," SimHowlett said, handing over his pistol to the doctor. "I would rather gomyself; but I know when you have once made up your mind to anything itain't no sort of use argying."
"That's right," the doctor said, putting the weapon into his belt."Well, there is just time for a pipe before I start. The sun has beendown nearly half an hour, and the moon won't be up over those hillsthere for another hour, so we shall have it dark till I get well downinto the valley, and the moon won't be high enough to throw its lightdown there afore I am back again."
"A wonderful man is the doctor!" Sim Howlett said when, with noiselessstep, he had made his way down into the upper end of the ravine. "Youwouldn't think much of him to look at him. But, you bet, he has got asmuch grit as if he was ten times as big. See him going about, and youwould say he might be one of them missionaries, or a scientific chapsuch as those as comes round looking after birds and snakes and suchlike. He sorter seems most like a woman with his low talk and gentleway, and yet I suppose he has killed more downright bad men than anyfive men on this side of Missouri."
"You don't say so!" Hugh said in surprise.
"Yes, sir, he is a hull team and a little dog under the waggon, heis. He ain't a chap to quarrel; he don't drink, and he don't gamble,and he speaks everyone fair and civil. It ain't that; but he has gotsomethin' in him that seems to swell up when he hears of bad goings-on.When there is a real bad man comes to the camp where he is, and takesto bossing the show, and to shooting free, after a time you can seethe doctor gets oncomfortable in his mind; but he goes on till thatbad man does something out of the way--shoots a fellow just out of purecussedness, or something of that kind--then he just says this must beput down, and off he goes and faces that bad man and gives him a fairshow and lays him out."
"You mean he doesn't fire until the other man is heeled, Sim?"
"Yes, I mean that."
"Then how is it he hasn't got killed himself?"
"That is what we have said a hundred times, Lightning. He has beenshot all over, but never mortally. One thing, his looks are enough toscare a man. Somehow he don't look altogether arthly with that whitehair of his--and it has been the same colour ever since I have knownhim--floating back from his face. He goes in general bareheaded when hesets out to shoot, and the hair somehow seems to stand out; not a bitlike it does other times. I heard a chap who had been a doctor afore hetook to gold-digging say his hair looked as if it had been electrified.Then he gets as white as snow, and his eyes just blaze out. I tell you,sirree, it is something frightful to see him; and when he comes rightinto a crowded saloon and says to the man, as he always does say ina sort of tone that seems somehow to frizz up the blood of every manthat hears it, 'It is time for you to die!' you bet it makes the veryhardest man weaken. I tell you I would rather face Judge Lynch and ahundred regulators than stand up agin the doctor when his fit is on;and I have seen men who never missed their mark afore shoot wide of himaltogether."
"And he never misses?" Royce asked.
"Miss!" Sim repeated; "the doctor couldn't miss if he tried. I've neverknown his bullet go a hair's-breadth off the mark. It always hits plumbin the centre of the forehead. If there is more than one of them, thedoc. turns on the others and warns them: 'Git out of the camp aforenight!' and you bet they git. He gives me a lot of trouble, the doc.does, in the way of nursing. I have put it to him over and over againif it is fair on me that he should be on his back three months everyyear, 'cause that is about what it's been since I have known him. Heallows as it ain't fair, but, as he says, 'It ain't me, Sim, I have gotto do it; I am like a Malay running a-muck--them's chaps out somewherenear China, he tells me, as gets mad and goes for a hull crowd--and Ican't help it;' and I don't think he can. And yet you know at othertimes he is just about the kindest chap that breathes. He is alwaysa-nussing the sick and sitting up nights with them, and such like. Thatis why he got the name of doctor."
"He isn't a doctor really then?" Hugh asked.
"Waal, Lightning, all that's his secret, and ef he thinks to tell you,he can do it. I know he is the best mate a man ever had, and one ofthe best critters in God's universe, and that is good enough for me. Ireckon he must be somewhere down among them Mexikins by this time," hewent on, changing the subject abruptly.
"I almost wish one of us had gone with him," Royce said, "so that if heshould get found out we might make a better fight of it."
"He ain't likely to get found out," Sim said quietly, "and ef he doeshe kin fight his way out. I don't know what way the doctor will die,but I allowed years ago that it weren't going to be by a
bullet. Iain't skeery about him. Ef I had thought there wur any kind of risk, Iwould have gone with him, you bet."
It was two hours before the doctor suddenly stood in the moonlightbefore them. They had been listening attentively for some time, but hadnot heard the slightest sound until he emerged from the shadow of theravine.
"Well, doctor, are we on the right scent?"
"The girls are there, Sim, sure enough. Now let us go back to the woodbefore we talk. We have been caught asleep once on this expedition,when we thought we were so safe that we needn't be on the watch, andI don't propose to throw away a chance again." They went back withoutanother word to the wood. As soon as they reached it the doctor satdown at the foot of a tree, and lighted his pipe; the others followedhis example.
"Well, there was no danger about that job," he began. "It seems notto have struck the fools that anyone was likely to come down from thisend of the gulch. Down at the other end they have got two sentries oneach side upon the heights. I could see them in the moonlight. I reckonthey have some more at the mouth of the valley, down near the village;but you may guess I asked no questions about it. I saw no one in thegulch until I got down close to the house. It is as strong a place asif it had been built for the purpose. It stands on a sort of table ofrock that juts out from the hill-side; so that on three sides it goesstraight down. There is a space round the house forty or fifty feetwide.
"On the side where the rock stands out from the hill they have got awall twelve feet high, with a strong gate in it. On that side of thehouse they have bricked all the windows up, so as to prevent theirbeing commanded by a force on the hill-side above them, and all thewindows on the ground-floor all round are bricked up too. I expectthe rooms are lighted from a courtyard inside. So you see it is apretty difficult sort of place to take all of a sudden. I could hearthe voices of five or six men sitting smoking and talking outside thedoor, which is not on the side facing the hill, but on the other side.I guessed that when the house was built there must have been steps upfrom that side, for there is a road that runs along the bottom of thevalley; so I crawled up and found that it was so. There had been abroad flight of steps there; they had been broken away and pulled down,still they were good enough for me. There were one or two blocks stillsticking out from the rock, and there were holes where other blockshad been let in, and I made a shift to climb up without much difficultytill I got my eyes level with the top.
"The moon hadn't risen over the brow, still it was lighter than Iliked; but one had to risk something; so I first of all pulled myselfup, crawled along the edge till I got round the corner, and then wentup to the house and examined the windows on the other side, and thengot back to the top of the steps and began to listen. I soon heardthe girls were there. They had brought them straight there after theyhad carried them off. A man had started early the next morning with aletter to Don Ramon demanding ransom. He was expected back some timeto-night. They had had news that so far the don was taking no steps toraise the country, though the news of the girls being carried off wasgenerally known. I didn't hear what the sum named for the ransom was;but the men were talking over what they should each do with their shareof it, and they reckoned that each would have seven or eight thousanddollars.
"Well, there wasn't anything new about this. The matter of interest tous was which was the room where the girls were. As the journey wouldhave been of no sort of use if I could not find that out, there wasnothing to do but to get up again and crawl along to the house. I hadreckoned that I should most likely want my rope, and had wound it roundmy waist. There was a guard at the gate, so it was one of the sides Ihad to try.
"I had learned from what the men said that most of the gang were awayscattered all over the country down to El Paso, so as to bring newsat once if there was any search for the girls going on. The chief andhis lieutenant were down in the village, and would ride in with themessenger who brought down Ramon's answer. There was a guard inside thehouse, because the men at the fire said it was time for two of them togo and relieve them; but I guessed that otherwise the house was empty.I threw my rope over a balcony and climbed up, opened the fastening ofthe window with my knife, and went in. Everything was quiet. I feltmy way across the room to a window on the other side. I opened thatand looked down into the courtyard. Two or three lanterns were burningthere, and I saw two men sitting on a bench that was placed across adoor. They were smoking cigarettes, and had their guns leaning againstthe wall beside them. There was no doubt that was the room where thegirls were.
"It was on the opposite side of the courtyard to that where Iwas standing--that is, on the side of the house facing down thevalley,--and was the corner room.
"I had learned everything I wanted now, so I had nothing to do but toshut the window, slide down the rope, shake it off the balcony, andcome back again; and here I am."
"Well done, doctor! You have succeeded splendidly. But what a pity wedidn't all go with you. We could have cleared out that lot and rescuedthe girls at once."
"You might not have gone as quietly as I did," the doctor said. "Fourmen make a lot more noise than one, and at the slightest noise theseven men at the door would have been inside, the door bolted, and thefirst pistol shot would have brought in the guard at the gate, the foursentries on the height, and I expect as many more from the mouth of thevalley. It would have been mighty difficult to break into the housewith nine men inside and as many out; besides, it would never do torun risks; and even if we had done it, and hadn't found the girls withtheir throats cut, we should have had to fight our way up the valleyto the horses, and a bullet might have hit one of them. No, no; thisis a case where we have no right to risk anything. It's for the donto decide what is to be done. Now we know all about it, and can lay itbefore him. Lightning, you had better saddle up and ride with me. Youmust go, because he knows you, and will believe what you tell him. Imust go, because he will want me to guide the force back here, so asto avoid any chance of their being seen on the way. The horses havedone eighty miles since this time yesterday, so it's no use thinkingof starting to-night. Besides, there is no hurry. We will be off in themorning."
After breakfast Sim was about to saddle the doctor's horse, when Roycesaid:
"The doctor had better take my horse. He is miles faster than his own."
The girths were tightened. The doctor, as he mounted, said to Sim, "Youwill keep a sharp look-out over the house, and reckon up how many go inand come out. I expect if the don writes to say he will pay the money,a good many of those outside will come here."
"We will keep our eyes open, doctor."
"It may be two or three days before you hear of us, Sim."
"There is no hurry, doctor. There will be a lot of talk about how theransom is to be paid afore anything is done."
"Do you mean to go back the same way we came?" Hugh asked the doctor asthey rode off.
"No, there is no occasion for that. We will ride thirty miles or soalong the foot of the hills, east, and then strike straight by roadfor El Paso. It is about nine o'clock now. We shall be there by fiveo'clock. We won't go in together. I will wait on the road and comein by some other way after dark, or, what would be better, put up atJose's. You had better not go up to the don's until to-morrow morning.Were you to go up directly you returned, the scoundrels who arewatching both you and the don might suspect that your journey has hada connection with his business."
Next morning Hugh arrived at Don Ramon's, having obtained anotherhorse at the hotel. "Why, where have you been, Senor Hugh?" Don Carlosexclaimed as the servant showed him into the room where they wereat breakfast. "When I rode with my father into the town to give thealcalde notice, I went to the hotel and found that you were out. Wesent over there three times yesterday and the day before, but they knewnothing of you. You had taken your horse and gone out the evening youreturned, and had left no word when you would come back. We have beenquite anxious about you, and feared that some harm had befallen youalso. We were quite sure that you would not have left without tell
ingus of your intentions."
"No, indeed," Hugh said. "I should have been ungrateful indeed for yourkindness if I had left you in such terrible trouble; but before I tellyou what I have been doing, please let me know what has happened here."
"About mid-day, the day after my daughters had been stolen," Don Ramonsaid, "a horseman rode up. I saw him coming, and guessed he was the manwe were expecting. He was shown in here, and Carlos and myself receivedhim. He handed me a letter. Here it is. I will translate it:
"'Senor Don Ramon Perales,--If you wish to see your daughters alive,you will, as speedily as possible, collect 200,000 dollars in goldand hand them over to the messenger I will send for them. When Ireceive the money your daughters shall be returned to you. I give youwarning, that if any effort is made to discover their whereabouts, orif any armed body is collected by you for the purpose of rescue, yourdaughters will at once be put to death. Signed Ignatius Guttiero.'"
"And what did you reply, Don Ramon?"
"I wrote that it would take some time to collect so great a sum ingold, but that I would send up to Santa Fe at once, and use everyeffort to get it together in the shortest possible time. I demanded,however, what assurance I could have that after the money was paid mydaughters would be returned to me. To that I have received no answer."
"No, you could hardly get one before this morning," Hugh said. "Youlook surprised, senor; but we have found out where they are hidden."
"You have found that out!" the others cried in astonishment.
"My companions and I," Hugh said; "indeed, beyond riding a good manymiles, I have had but little to do with the matter. The credit liesentirely with the two miners I spoke to you of, with whom I was goingshortly to start on an expedition to a placer they know of."
He then related the reason why the miners had suspected where the gangof brigands had their headquarters, and the steps by which they hadascertained that the girls were really there; and then explained thescheme that he and the doctor had, on their ride down, arranged fortheir rescue.
Don Ramon, his wife, and son were greatly moved at the narrative. "Youhave, indeed, rendered us a service that we can never repay," Don Ramonsaid; "but the risk is terrible. Should you fail it would cost you yourlives, and would ensure the fate of my daughters."
"We are in no way afraid about our own lives, Don Ramon; there arenot likely to be more than twenty of these scoundrels there, and if wewere discovered before we could get to your daughters we could fightour way off, I think. In that case, seeing that there were only fourof us, they certainly would not throw away their prospect of a ransomby injuring their captives. They would suppose that we had undertakenit on our own account as a sort of speculation, and though, no doubt,they would remove your daughters at once to some other place, theywould not injure them. You see, our plan is that the force we proposeshall be at hand, shall not advance unless they hear three shots firedat regular intervals. That will be the signal that we have succeeded inentering your daughters' apartment, and that they are safe with us; inthat case you will push forward at once to assist us. If, on the otherhand, you hear an outbreak of firing, you will know that we have beendiscovered before we reached your daughters, and will retreat with yourforce silently, and return to El Paso by the same route by which youwent out, and you would then, of course, continue your negotiations fora ransom."
"At any rate," Don Carlos said, "I claim the right of accompanying you.It is my sisters who are in peril, and I will not permit strangers torisk their lives for them when I remain safe at a distance. You mustagree to that, senor."
"I agree to that at once," Hugh said. "I thought that it was probablethat you would insist upon going with us; it is clearly your right todo so."
"It must not be attempted," Don Ramon said gravely, "if in any wayI can recover my daughters by paying the ransom. The risk would beterrible, and although two hundred thousand dollars is a large sum,I would pay it four times over rather than that risk should be run.The question is, what guarantee the brigands will give that they willreturn their captives after they have received the money. I shall knowthat soon; we will decide nothing until I receive the answer."
"Would it not be well, senor, for you to go over to arrange with theofficer in command of the fort for twenty or thirty men to start withyou at a moment's notice. If you decide to make this attempt to rescueyour daughters the sooner we set about it the better, that is, if youintend to take troops instead of a party of your own men."
"I have already seen the commandant," Don Ramon said; "he is a personalfriend, and rode over here directly he heard the news, and offered toplace the whole of his force at my disposal should I think fit to useit."
At this moment a servant entered, and said that a man wished to seeDon Ramon. The Mexican left the room, and returned in a minute with aletter. It was brief: "Senor, if you want your daughters back again youmust trust us; we give no guarantees beyond our solemn pledge. You willtell my messenger on what day you will have the money ready, and do notdelay more than a week; he will come again to fetch it. See that he isnot followed, for it will cost your daughters their lives if an attemptis made to find out where he goes. Your daughters will be returnedwithin twenty-four hours of your sending out the money."
"We will try your plan, senor," Don Ramon said firmly. "I would nottrust the word of these cut-throats, or their oaths even, in thesmallest matter, and assuredly not in one such as this. What shall Isay in reply to this letter?"
"I should write and say that, although their conditions are hard, youmust accept them, but that you doubt whether you can raise so large asum of gold in the course of a week, and you beg them to give ten daysbefore the messenger returns for it, and you pledge your honour that noattempt whatever shall be made to follow or to ascertain the course hetakes."
Don Ramon wrote the letter, and took it down to the hall, where themessenger was waiting, surrounded by servants, who were regarding himwith no friendly aspect.
"There is my answer," Don Ramon said as he handed the letter to theman. "Tell your leader I shall keep my word, and that I trust him tokeep his.
"Now, Senor Hugh, will you give me the details of your plan. How do youpropose that the troops are to be close at hand when required withouttheir presence being suspected?"
"The doctor's idea was this, senor. That you should this morning senda letter by a servant to the commandant. Will you tell him that youbelieve you have a clue to your daughters' hiding-place, but thateverything depends upon the troops getting near the spot withoutsuspicion being excited. Will you beg him to maintain an absolutesilence as to any movements of the troops until to-night, and to issueno orders until the gates are shut and all communication closed. Willhe then order an officer and twenty men to be ready at four o'clock inthe morning to start under the guidance of a miner who will to-nightarrive at the fort bearing your card.
"This will, of course, be the doctor. Request the officer to placehimself absolutely in his hands. Our plan is that they shall keepthe other side of the river, travel some thirty miles up, and thenhalt until nightfall. At that point they would be as far off fromthe brigands' hiding-place as they are here, and if the fact that adetachment has started becomes known to the friends of the brigands,it will not be suspected that there is any connection between theirjourney and the affair with your daughters. After nightfall they willstart again, cross the river, and meet you and myself at one o'clock,near the village of Ajanco. Thence we shall go up into the hills, restthere all day, and come down upon the gulch where the brigands' hauntlies."
"That sounds an excellent plan, senor; but how do you propose that weshall get away without being noticed to-morrow evening?"
"The doctor and I agreed that the best plan you could adopt would be toride over and see your banker the first thing in the morning. That willseem perfectly natural. Then in the evening, after dark, you and DonCarlos should again ride down to him. You will naturally take at leastfour of your men down with you as a guard. You will leave your horseswith the
m when you enter the banker's. You will then pass through hishouse, and at once leave by the back entrance, wrapped in your cloaks.You will then proceed to a spot half a mile out of the town, whereJuan, who you say knows the country, will be waiting with your horses,and I also will be there.
"The people who are watching you--and you will certainly bewatched--will naturally suppose that you are at the banker's. At teno'clock he will come to the door and tell your men to return home withyour horses and to bring them back at ten in the morning, as you andyour son will sleep there. Even should anything be suspected--whichis hardly likely--the scoundrels would have no clue whatever as to thedirection you will have taken, as, at any rate, you will have had twohours' start before they can begin to think that anything is wrong."
"That is a capital plan, senor. You keep on adding to our already deepobligations to you."
Everything was carried out in accordance with the arrangements. Hughreturned at once to El Paso, and in the evening the doctor mounted hishorse and rode to the fort. The next day passed quietly, and as soon asit became dark Hugh went out to the stable, saddled his horse withoutseeing any of the men about the yard, and rode off in the directionof Don Ramon's, and then, making a circuit of the town, arrived at thespot where Juan was waiting with the horses. They had been placed in athicket a short distance from the road so as to be unobserved by anyonewho might happen to pass. Hugh took his post close to the road, andan hour later Don Ramon and his son came up. The horses were at oncebrought out, and they mounted and rode off, Juan riding ahead to showthe way.
They maintained a fast pace, for at one o'clock they were to meet thetroops at the appointed place. They arrived a quarter of an hour beforethe time, and ten minutes after the hour heard the tramping of horses.The doctor was riding ahead, and halted when he came up to the group.
"Has all gone well, Lightning?" he asked.
"Excellently, as far as we know."
"This is Lieutenant Mason, who is in command of the troops," the doctorsaid as a figure rode forward. "Lieutenant Mason, this is Don RamonPerales."
"You are punctual, senor," the officer said. "I have orders to placemyself and my men entirely at your disposal. I think we had better havehalf an hour's halt before we go further. We have ridden fast, and youmust have ridden faster, as your guide told me you were not to leave ElPaso until eight o'clock, and I presume we have a good deal farther togo to-night."
"Another twenty miles," the doctor said. "The moon will be gettinghigher, and we shall want all her light. It will do no harm if we haltan hour, lieutenant, and eat our supper while the horses are eatingtheirs."
During the halt the doctor had a long talk with Juan, who came fromthis part of the country, and knew it well. When they mounted, insteadof riding through the town, they struck off by a by-path before theyreached it.
Three hours later they were deep among the hills, and then againhalted, after turning off from the track they had been following,into a ravine. The girths were loosened, and the horses allowed tograze, and the men, wrapping themselves in cloaks or blankets, weresoon asleep, a sentry being placed at the entrance to the ravine. Atten o'clock all were on their feet. Fires were lighted and breakfastcooked, and then, following mountain paths, they rode until two in theafternoon, at which time they reached the valley from which the partyhad before made their way down to the wood near the ravine. At duskthey again mounted and rode on to the wood. They were met at the edgeof the trees by Sim Howlett and Royce.
"I was expecting you to-night, boys," Sim said. "We looked out for youlast night, but didn't reckon as you could possibly do it."
"Have you any news of my daughters?" Don Ramon asked eagerly.
"Nary a word," Sim replied. "Bill and me have never had our eyes offthe house from sunup to sundown. Lots of fellows have come and goneon horseback. Of course we cannot answer for what has been done afternightfall, but we reckon there is about thirty men there now, notcounting those they may have in the village and the sentries down bythe mouth of the valley. I calkilate the best part of the gang is therenow. The chiefs would like to keep them under their eye. They willthink the only thing they have got to be afraid of is treachery. Isuppose matters stand as they did when you left, doc.?"
"Just the same. We four and Don Carlos are to go on and get at theladies. When we are in there safe three pistol shots are to be thesignal. Then Don Ramon and the soldiers are to come down and surroundthem."
Don Ramon had been very anxious to accompany the party, but the doctorhad positively refused to take him with them. "It would add greatly toour risks," he said, "and do no good. If we can get to your daughters,Don Ramon, we five can keep the fellows at bay until you come up,easily enough. I believe we could thrash the lot, but it is no goodtaking chances; but anyhow, we can keep them off. I would rather havegone without your son, but as Lightning has passed his word, there isnothing more to be said. On a job like this the fewer there are thebetter. Each man after the first pretty nearly doubles the risk."
By this time the troopers had dismounted and fastened their horsesto the trees. Meat that had been cooked in the morning, and biscuitswere produced from their haversacks. When the meal had been eaten thesoldiers lit their pipes, while their officer proceeded with Hugh andthe others to the lower end of the wood and walked on to the head ofthe ravine.
"There are the lights!" Hugh said. "Ah! I see they have lighted a fireon the terrace, Bill."
"I expect they are pretty crowded in the house," Bill said; "but theygo in to sleep. Sim and I have been down near the house twice, andthough we were not quite close we were able to make pretty sure thatexcept one sentry there and another at the gate, the rest all go in."
"How far are we to go down?" the officer asked.
"Well, I would rather you did not go down at all," Sim Howlett said."You can get down there from here in ten minutes after you start if youlook spry, and I am desperately afraid some of your men might make anoise, which they would hear certain if everything was quiet. There isno fear of their being heard when the firing once begins down there;but if one of them fell over a rock and his gun went off before wehad done our part of the affair, there would be an end of the wholebusiness."
"That is what I think, Sim," the doctor agreed. "We have said all alongwe might get the ladies out by ourselves, but again we mayn't be ableto get them off at all. But we can defend them easy enough if we canget into their room. Five minutes won't make any difference about that,and it is everything to avoid the risk of noise until we get at them.If they discover us before we get there we just fall back fighting.They will think that we are only a small party, and the ladies will benone the worse."
"If you think that is the best way we must agree to it," Don Ramonsaid; "but we shall have a terrible time until we get to you."
"Don't you be afeard," Sim Howlett said. "The doctor, me, Lightning,and Bill could pretty well wipe them out by ourselves, and we reckon onour six-shooters a sight more than we do on the soldiers."