CHAPTER VII.
IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY.
Adrian did not have to lead his captive far, for, when he reached theplace where his horse was waiting for him, he saw the others returning.They had become concerned at his delay, and had come back to look forhim.
"What's the matter?" called Donald, as soon as he was within speakingdistance.
"I've had a fight," was the response, "and this is the result," pushingthe peon forward.
"Fight!" exclaimed Billie. "What were you fighting about?"
"Oh, nothing. This man tried to capture me, and I turned the tables,that's all."
"Explain," said Don Antonio, looking first at Adrian and then at thepeon.
"This man mistook me for Pedro, he says, and tried to drag me into theriver, or somewhere."
Don Antonio turned upon the peon fiercely.
"Is this true?" he demanded sternly.
"Forgive me, _senor_," whined the peon, "I was ordered to do it."
"Ordered!" thundered Don Antonio. "By whom?"
"Don Rafael."
"_Asi!_" exclaimed Don Antonio, and his face grew even more stern. "Soit is that scoundrel who put you up to this? Where is he?"
The peon remained silent.
"Where is he, I say?" repeated Don Antonio.
"I can't tell."
"Why not?"
"He would kill me, _senor_."
"Have no fear. If you will tell me why you tried to take Pedro and wherewe can catch Don Rafael, as you call him, I will give you ampleprotection."
Thus encouraged, the peon said that Don Rafael was hiding in themountains a short distance from the river. He said that he had gatheredabout him a band of more than fifty men, and that he had told them theywere to be part of a new army to overthrow President Madero and makePorfirio Diaz again president. In order to protect themselves, he toldthem they must make a captive of General Sanchez's son, Pedro.
"I see," exclaimed Don Antonio. "They want to hold Pedro as a hostage,in case any of them get into the hands of the law. Isn't that it?"
"_Si, senor_," said the peon, nodding his head emphatically. If thisproved to be true then Donald's guess had been along correct lines. Thislittle fact seemed like a good omen to begin with. Now, if it turned outthat this further prediction regarding the limited number of therustlers also came to pass, and they could only catch them off theirguard before dawn arrived, it would not be strange if they turned thetrick, daring as their plans might appear.
"Now, first of all we've got to muffle our ponies' heads so they can'tbetray us by neighing," announced Donald.
"A good idea, I say," Adrian went on to remark, approvingly. "I've knownthe best trained cayuse going to let out a neigh when it scented some ofits own kind near by. That's a thing they just can't help, seems like.So, the sooner we get their muzzles tied up the better."
"You'll have to show me how," said Billie; "because that's where myeducation's been sorter neglected, so to speak. But I want to know, juststick a pin in that, please."
He soon learned just how this could be accomplished by the aid of theirblankets. The horses objected to such treatment, but had to submit inthe end. And when the job had been completed they were so muzzled thatthey could not have whinnied, no matter how hard they tried.
Mounting them again the three boys moved cautiously ahead. It was theirpurpose to cover a cer- [Transcriber's note: missing line(s) of text atthis place in original printed text.] can get away. The rurales can takecare of the fifty others later on."
"That is good advice," declared Don Antonio. "Let us hasten back andsend a messenger to Presidio del Norte, and then we can return and watchfor Don Rafael."
"I don't see any use of all of us returning to the house," declaredBillie. "I'll stay here and watch the river."
"And I'll stay with you," declared Adrian.
"Suppose we fix it this way," said Don Antonio: "Pedro and one of youreturn to the house and send the messenger, and I and two others willstay and watch the river, as Don Guillermo says."
"If Don Guillermo's willing," replied Adrian, with a laugh at Billie'sMexican name.
"Sure I'm willing," said Billie, "and tell the rurales to hurry up orwe'll capture the whole bunch."
The matter having been thus decided, Pedro and Donald returned to thehouse, taking the captured peon with them, while the other three hitchedtheir horses and proceeded to the little point of land from which Adrianmade his observation.
The morning was now far spent, and the sun was rapidly approaching themeridian; but for once Billie seemed to have forgotten that it wasdinnertime. In fact, so interested was he in the adventure, that heseemed utterly oblivious of the sun itself, which beat down fiercelyupon the trio, and made the shade almost a necessity. So interested washe, in fact, that he ventured to the very edge of the point, and peeredeagerly in the direction of the great rock.
"I could almost swim around there," he said to himself. "I've a greatnotion to do it."
For a minute he stood undecided.
"If it wasn't for my Marlin I would," he mused. "As it is, I guess I'dbetter go around."
He walked back toward the place where he had left the others, all thetime looking for a place where he could get around behind the big rock.
"What are you looking after?" queried Adrian, as Billie passed the spotwhere he sat with his eyes glued on the river.
"I want to see what is the other side of that rock."
"What good'll that do? We can see way up the river from here."
"I don't know," was Billie's response, "but I've got a hunch to take alook."
"Well, go ahead. Don Antonio and I will stay here. If you see anything,call."
Slowly Billie forced his way through the fringe of bushes that lined thebank, and, little by little, climbed to the top of the big rock, fromwhich he could gain just as good a view of the mountainous country atthe side as he could of the river. What he saw caused him to drophastily to the ground and crawl a step or two backward, for directly infront of him, not a hundred yards away, was a score or more men groupedaround Don Rafael, who was addressing them earnestly.
Waiting to see whether or not he had been observed, and judging from thefact that there was no commotion from below that he had not, Billiecautiously peered through the foliage.
The spot upon which the men were gathered was right at the mouth of thelittle stream before mentioned. A boat, evidently the one in whichAdrian had seen Don Rafael and his two companions, was tied to the bank.
So far as Billie could see, only three or four of the men were armed.They seemed a peaceable lot.
"I wonder what he is telling them?" mused Billie in a partly audiblevoice--a habit of talking with himself of which he seemed totallyunconscious. "I wish I could get near enough to hear."
Cautiously he crept nearer the edge of the rock, in the meantimestraining every nerve to catch a word. Once he did catch the sound ofDon Rafael's voice, but he could not understand.
"The trouble is," explained Billie to himself, "he is talking Spanish,and I'm not familiar enough with the lingo to distinguish the sounds. Iwish he would talk English."
Again he advanced his position a couple of feet.
The voice was more distinct, and, as Don Rafael became somewhat excited,Billie caught the words, "_carbina_" and "_machete_," which he knewreferred to arms.
"By George!" suddenly exclaimed Billie, in a voice loud enough foranyone near him to have heard, "I'll bet they're talking about runningguns into the country. I'll bet we've stumbled onto the very thing wecame out to find. I must hurry back and tell Ad."
Unmindful of the men below, he jumped up from his recumbent position andstarted to leave the rock the way he had come. In his haste, he did notnotice that the spot upon which he had been reclining was covered withmoss, and, as he took his first step forward, his foot slipped; hegrasped frantically at the surrounding bushes, to save himself, failedin his attempt, and the next moment pitched head first off the rock.
&n
bsp; Vainly he tried to break his fall by catching at the shrubbery. Hisefforts only resulted in his turning almost a complete somersault andlanding head first upon the sand, in the very midst of the men upon whomhe had been spying.
As he fell, he gave one cry for help, and then, as his head came intocontact with the hard ground, all around him became dark, and he knew nomore.
The cry for help reached his companions in the midst of an animateddiscussion about Mexico and its needs, and they sprang to their feet onthe instant. For just a moment they waited to hear the cry repeated,but, when it was not, Adrian threw a shell into his repeater, andstarted in the direction of the cry, closely followed by Don Antonio,whose greater age made him somewhat slower in his movements.
From the time the cry was heard until Adrian reached the summit of therock, could not have been more than three minutes, but in that time themen and Billie had completely disappeared, the only thing remaining togive any idea of what had happened being Billie's hat, which had fallenfrom his head in his fall, and the sound of oarlocks, which seemed tocome from up the little creek.