CHAPTER XVIII.
A RIDE FOR LIFE.
The next moment the door was flung open, but not before Nat had jumpedto his feet. He did not want his enemies, least of all Dayton, to findhim crouching in a despondent attitude. To have brought despair toNat's heart was the one thing above all others, the lad realized, whichwould delight Ed. Dayton highly.
Dayton was accompanied by Manuello and Al. Jeffries. The latter seemedhighly amused at the turn things had taken.
"Well! well! well! What have we here!" he cried ironically, tugginghis long black mustaches as the light from the passage streamed inupon Nat, "a young automobiling rooster who's about to get a lesson inmanners and minding his own business. Oh say, Ed., this is luck. Hereis where you get even for the other day."
"Oh, dry up," admonished Dayton sullenly, "I know my own business best."
He advanced toward Nat with a sinister smile on his pale face. Daytonhad, as Manuello had informed Colonel Morello, been off hunting. Hisclothes were dust covered, from the tip of his riding boots--highheeled and jingle spurred in the Mexican fashion--to the rim of hisbroad sombrero. He had evidently lost no time in proceeding to the cellas soon as he learned that Nat was a captive.
"Looks as if we had you bottled up at last, my elusive young friend,"he grated out, "this is the time that you stay where we want you."
"What are you going to do, Dayton?" asked Nat, his face pale butresolute, though his heart was beating wildly. Knowing the man beforehim as he did, he had no reason to expect any compassion, nor did heget any.
"You'll see directly," rejoined Dayton, "come with me. I'm going to letthe colonel boss this thing."
Nat didn't say a word. In fact, there was not anything to be said.Dayton, as well as Manuello and Al. Jeffries, was armed, and all hadtheir weapons ready for instant action. It would have been worse thanmadness to attempt any resistance right then.
With Dayton ahead of him and Manuello and Jeffries behind, Nat steppedout of the cell and into the dimly lit passage. Never had daylightlooked sweeter or more desirable to him than it did now, showing in abright, oblong patch at the end of the passage.
But Nat, much as he longed to make a dash for it then and there, saw noopportunity to do so and in silence the little procession passed alongthe passageway and entered the colonel's room. Colonel Morello lookedup as they entered, but did not seem much surprised. Doubtless he hadhad a chat with Dayton on the latter's return from hunting and wasaware that Nat would be ushered before him.
"Here he is, colonel," began Dayton advancing to the table, whileManuello, ever on the outlook for a cigarette, also stepped a pace tothe front, to help himself from a package of tobacco and some ricepapers that lay upon the table. This left only Al. Jeffries standing inthe door-way.
Swift as the snap of an instantaneous camera shutter Nat's mind wasmade up. Crouching low, as he was used to do in football tactics, hemade a rush at Al. Jeffries, striking him between the legs like aminiature thunderbolt. As he made his dash he uttered an ear-splittingscreech:--
"Yee-ow!"
He shrewdly calculated that the sudden cry would further demoralize theastonished outlaws. Jeffries was literally carried off his feet by theunexpected rush. He was forcibly lifted as Nat dashed beneath him andthen he fell in a heap, his head striking a rock as he did so, knockinghim senseless.
Like an arrow from a bow Nat sped straight for the end of the passagethrough which he had spied, a minute before, two horses standing stillsaddled and bridled. They were the steeds upon which Dayton andJeffries had just ridden in. Such had been Dayton's haste to taunt Nat,however, that he and his companion deferred putting up their poniestill later. Nat, on his journey down the passage, had spied the animalsand his alert mind had instantly worked out a plan of escape; asdesperate a one, as we shall see, as could well be imagined.
As Al. toppled over in a heap, another outlaw, who was just enteringthe passage, opposed himself to Nat. He shared the black-mustachedone's fate, only he came down a little harder. Neither he nor Al. movedfor some time in fact. In the meantime, Morello, Dayton and Manuello,dashing pellmell after the fleeing lad, stumbled unawares over theprostrate Al., and all came down in a swearing, fighting heap.
This gave Nat the few seconds he needed. In two flying leaps he wasdown the steps and had flung himself into the saddle of one of thehorses, before the stableman knew what was happening. When the latterfinally woke up and heard the bandits' yells and shouts coming from thepassage-way, it was too late. With a rattle of hoofs, and in a cloudof dust, Nat was off. Off along the trail to freedom!
"Yee-ow!"
The boy yelled as he banged his heels into the pony's sides and thespirited little animal leaped forward.
Bang!
Nat's sombrero was lifted from his head and he could feel the bulletsfairly fan his hair as he rode on.
"Stop him! Stop him!" came cries from behind. And then a sudden order:--
"Let go the man-trap!"
If Nat had realized what this meant he would have been tempted to giveup his dash for freedom then and there. But he had hardly given athought to the big suspended platform of pine trunks and rocks whileon his way to the outlaws' fort, nor even if he had noticed it moreminutely, would he have guessed its purpose.
But as the order to release the crushing weight and send it crashingdown upon the trail was roared out by the colonel, a clatter of hoofscame close behind. It was Dayton, who had hastily thrown himselfupon the other horse and was now close upon Nat. Drawing a revolverhe fired, but the bullet whistled harmlessly by Nat's head. At theterrific pace they were making an accurate shot was, fortunately forour hero, impossible.
And now Nat was in the very shadow of the great platform.
At that instant he heard a sudden creaking overhead, and looked up justin time to realize that the ponderous mass was sagging. In one flashof insight he realized the meaning of this. The great mass had beenreleased and was about to descend.
Crack!
"Ye-oo-ow!"
The heavy quirt, which Nat had found fastened to the saddle horn, waslaid over the startled pony's flanks. It gave an enraged squeal andflung itself forward like a jack-rabbit.
At the same instant came a shout from behind.
"Stop, Dayton. Stop!--The man-trap!"
Nat, as the pony leaped forward, instinctively bent lowin the saddle.]
Nat, as the pony leaped forward, instinctively bent low in the saddle.As they flashed forward a mighty roar sounded in his ears. Behind him,with a sound like the sudden release of an avalanche, the man-trap hadfallen. It had been sprung by the colonel's own hand.
So close to Nat did the immense weight crash down that it grazed hispony's flanks, but--Nat was safe.
Behind him, he heard a shrill scream of pain and realized that Daytonhad not been so fortunate.
"Has he been killed?" thought Nat as his pony, terrified beyond allcontrol by the uproar behind it, tore up the trail in a series of longbounds.
"Safe!" thought the lad as he dashed onward. But in this he was wrong.Nat was far from being safe yet.
Even as he murmured the word to himself there came a chorus of shoutsfrom behind. Turning in his saddle, the boy could see pursuing himsix or seven men, mounted on wiry ponies, racing toward the wreckage ofthe ponderous man-trap. With quirt and spur they urged their frightenedanimals over the obstruction. From the midst of the debris Nat couldsee Dayton crawling. The man was evidently hurt, but the others paid noattention to him.
"A thousand dollars to the one who brings that boy down!"
The cry came in the voice of Col. Morello.
Nat laid his quirt on furiously. But the pony he bestrode had been usedfor hunting over the rugged mountains most of that day and soon itbegan to flag.
"They're gaining on me," gasped Nat, glancing behind.
At the same instant half a dozen bullets rattled on the rocks abouthim, or went singing by his ears. As the fusillade pelted around him,Nat saw, not more than a hundred ya
rds ahead, the end of the trail. Thepoint, that is, where it lost itself in the wilderness of chaparraland pinon trees, among which he had met the adventure which ended inhis capture. If he could only gain that shelter, he would be safe. Buton his tired, fagged pony, already almost collapsing beneath him, couldhe do it?