There was a sudden stillness in the front of the train, and I saw through the windows of the smoking-car quite a cloud of hors.e.m.e.n ride up the permanent way and dismount; apparently the forepart of the train had been already occupied, for we heard the sound of a by no means unpleasant voice making in English the following request:--
"Hands up, gentlemen."
I was unused to this sort of thing, but St. Nivel apparently knew all about it, for he sat back in his seat with a curse between his teeth.
"What does it mean?" asked Ethel and I, almost in a breath.
"It means," answered St. Nivel, "that we are going to be robbed."
"Oh, my G.o.d!" cried poor Ethel, "I hope they won"t murder us!"
By the white look on St. Nivel"s face, as he sat with his teeth set, I saw that there was something in his mind which he feared for his sister more than death.
I knew afterwards what some of these South American half-bred freebooters were like.
The men who had ridden up by the side of the train were a queer-looking lot.
For the most part they wore very loose garments and high-crowned hats, somewhat of the kind worn by Guy Fawkes. Slung at the saddle of each man was a coil of rope--a la.s.so. Nearly every one of them carried a rifle.
"I shall get my revolver," I exclaimed. "I"ve left it in my dressing-bag."
"Do nothing of the sort," cried St. Nivel, in alarm; "they would shoot you instantly."
"We"re being "held up" then?" I queried.
"Yes; that"s it," he answered shortly.
At once all thought of my packet went out of my mind; I thought only of Dolores. I rose from my seat and, despite St. Nivel"s remonstrance, pa.s.sed rapidly to the rear of the brilliantly lighted train. I had met her as she came out of the dining-car, and she had told me she intended sitting with her aunt until it was time to retire for the night at ten o"clock. She intended to slip out, dear girl, for a few minutes before she went to bed to say good-night to me.
Now I found both her and her aunt in a great state of alarm.
"It"s nothing serious, is it, Mr. Anstruther?" asked the elder lady, seizing my arm. "Some one here says that we are attacked by robbers."
Before I could answer, a man wearing a cowboy"s high-crowned hat and a mask across the upper part of his face, appeared at the door of the car and gave the command--
"Hands up!"
He carried a revolver pointed upwards over his shoulder in such a position that he could have brought it down at once. At first I refused to elevate my hands as a fat Brazilian was doing near me, and this evoked another word of command--
"Hands up! Sharp!"
"_Do_ put your hands up, dear," came the soft trembling voice of Dolores; "_do_, to please _me_."
My two hands shot up most willingly, immediately.
"Ladies," the man proceeded, in far from a disagreeable voice, "you have no need to fear. Our chief has fined each first-cla.s.s pa.s.senger a hundred dollars; second-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers fifty dollars. If those amounts are placed on the seats, our collector will be round in a minute or two to take them up, then you will be at liberty to proceed."
At that moment another man, similarly attired, armed, and masked, joined the other at the door.
"He"s in here," he announced. "That"s him, no doubt."
He added a sentence in Spanish which I could not understand, then turned to me.
"Mr. William Anstruther?" he asked.
Involuntarily I answered him--
"Yes; my name is Anstruther."
"Follow me," he said sharply; "you"re wanted."
I gave one look at Dolores, and she answered my look.
"You had better go with them, William," she said, calling me by my name for the first time. "I will come too."
She looked deadly white, and I feared every moment would faint.
The man who had entered first spoke again, addressing Dolores.
"You need not be afraid," he said. "We shall not harm Mr. Anstruther; and you had better remain where you are, because we shall probably have to _strip_ him."
The two men laughed heartily at their coa.r.s.e joke, and I felt as if I could have killed them both.
Then the thought came unpleasantly home to me.
"_Why_ would they want to strip me?"
I followed the first man down the corridor, and looking round saw the other standing at the door of the compartment in which I had left the ladies. He had a revolver in his hand, and was watching me intently.
Had I made the slightest effort to escape, I have little doubt he would have shot me at once. My conductor took me back into the smoking-car, and then politely asked Lady Ethel, who was still there, to retire.
When she had gone, with wide-open eyes full of fear, fixed on me to the last glance, the masked man, who had me in charge, turned to me and made the following request:--
"Mr. Anstruther," he said, speaking in very good English, although one could tell it was not his native tongue, "we have reason to believe that you have concealed either on your person, or in your luggage, a certain packet which you are carrying to Valoro. Our chief requires that you shall give that packet up to him. That done, and your fine of a hundred dollars paid, you will be permitted to go on your way."
"And if I refuse to comply with your request?" I asked.
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"The chief will be here directly," he answered, with a peculiar smile; "he will tell you himself."
I threw myself in a corner of the carriage, and with the bitterest thoughts at my heart, tried to think of some means of escape, while I awaited the coming of the princ.i.p.al brigand. St. Nivel sat opposite to me, and I saw by his set jaw and knitted brows that he considered the situation very serious. We had not long to wait for the chief. A heavy footstep came along the corridor and presently an immense bulk entered the doorway with a great masked head above it.
The man was a half-breed and a giant, possessing immense strength; the reason of his chieftainship was very evident.
"Which is Anstruther?" he asked abruptly, as he came in, with a strong foreign accent.
His subordinate pointed to me.