CHAPTER V
ENOUGH TO "RATTLE" THE VICTIM
Bump!
Sergeant Hal landed at least twenty feet below with a suddenness thatjarred all the breath out of him for a moment.
Ere he could recover his half-scattered senses he felt himself seized.Nor had the Army boy fallen into one pair of hands. Four or five men, asnearly as he could judge, seized hold of different parts of his body.
There was little use in a prostrate youth fighting against such odds.Hal was swiftly rolled over on to his face, in the dark, and two of hiscaptors threw themselves upon him, holding him down.
At the same time another thrust an armful of hemp under his face,holding it close against his mouth.
Then the light of a dark lantern was flashed on the scene. With thespeed of skilled hands at the game these brown-skinned captors bound theyoung sergeant hand and foot.
"Quit this!" Sergeant Overton tried to shout angrily, but the wad ofhemp was forced between his teeth and only a faint sound came forth.
"Help!" he tried to shout, but the sound came hardly louder than a sigh.
Now he was whirled over on his back, helpless, and two of the brownrascals finished their work by thrusting the hemp far enough into hismouth to shut off all speech. Then the gag was bound into place.
Hal could form little idea of his prison, save that it was an oblong,cellar-like place, perhaps a dozen feet wide by twenty feet long.
As nearly as the Army boy could guess, this cellar must be located underthe street itself.
"They've got me for fair," thought the young soldier in a rage thatincluded himself as well as his captors. "What's their game, I wonder?Robbery? If it is, they'll feel sold when they find how little moneythey are going to get."
By the light of the dark lantern, as he lay on his back on the dampground, Hal made out the fact that his captors numbered eight. Five menhad the look and wore the costumes of Moros; the other three rascalslooked as though they might be Tagalos.
One after another the wretches looked down at the young soldier andgrinned, though not one of them spoke.
Of a sudden the light went out. Hal, his ears unusually acute now, heardtheir moving footsteps. Then all became intensely still.
"I wonder whether I'm a tremendously big fool, or whether I'm merelyunfortunate?" thought Hal bitterly. "However, how was I to guess? Inthis Moro country must it be considered unsafe even to step into a storeand look at the merchandise?"
There was no answer to this. By degrees Hal began to feel decidedlyuncomfortable as to the fate that he might expect.
"If they meant only to rob me," he reflected, "then why didn't theyproceed at once? But not a single brown rascal of the lot took thetrouble to thrust an exploring hand into my pockets. What, then? Dothey want an Army prisoner, and if so, for what?"
The longer the young soldier thought it over, the greater the puzzlebecame. Nor did it escape his imagination that possibly he was not to beallowed ever to see his comrades again. That thought, of course, sent achill of horror chasing up and down young Overton's spine. He was notafraid to die in battle, if need be--but to be treated like a rat in atrap--that was different.
"Well, they've got me, and I don't see any likelihood of getting away,"decided Hal at last, after fully an hour devoted largely to futileefforts to wriggle out of the bonds that held his wrists secure behindhis back. "These knots have been tied by masters. I don't believe Icould get out of them in hours. If they had only tied my hands in frontof me, so that I could work them loose. Confound the pirates!"
After what seemed like the passage of hours, the boy heard a slightsound. Listening intently, he heard it repeated.
Next a light was turned on--from the same dark lantern.
Behind the light Hal's dazzled eyes could make out the figure of a man.
Toward him the light came, Hal blinking in the glare until the newcomerhalted beside him.
"Ah, Senor Sergente!" cried a mocking voice.
Then the new comer bent over the Army boy, and Overton knew him in aninstant--Vicente Tomba.
"That hemp in your mouth looks as though it might give you discomfort--athousand pardons," observed Tomba mockingly, as he removed the cord thatheld the hemp in place.
Tomba now squatted on the ground beside the young soldier's head anddrew out the wad of hemp.
"So you are in this, Tomba?" inquired the Army boy coldly. "What's thegame, anyway?"
"Possibly," sneered the Filipino, "when you know more, you'll feel likemaking a noise. Let me assure you that no friend will hear if you docall. But any great amount of noise on your part might provoke me, andthat would not be wise under the circumstances."
Showing his white, even teeth in an evil smile, Tomba took out of thebreast of his blouse a small, bright-bladed creese that might have beenborrowed from one of the wall cases in Cerverra's shop.
"Why has this trick been played on me?" demanded Sergeant Hal angrily.
"A trick?" laughed Tomba softly. "Is that what you think it is? Myfriend, you will find that it is much more than a trick--it is adecree!"
"A decree?" raged Sergeant Overton. "What do you mean?"
"It is a decree from Senor Draney," went on Tomba coldly, maliciously."It can do no harm to mention that name since you can never repeat it toanyone but me, for Senor Draney's decree is that, when you go forth fromhere--to-night--you will know nothing afterwards, for you will be _pastknowing_."