Arthur had, by this time, somewhat recovered from his fright, though his face was still very pale, and he drew a long breath every now and then, when he thought of the dangers he had pa.s.sed through.
"No," he replied, to Johnny"s question. "I never traveled much among the mountains. It always makes my head dizzy, to look down from a height."
"How, then, did you stand it," said Archie, with a sly wink at his companions, "when you were perched upon the "very top of the middle mast" of your ship, looking out for whales?"
"Eh?" exclaimed Arthur. "Why--I--you know"--
Arthur was cornered. He did not know how to answer this question, so he kneeled down by the spring, and took a drink, in order to gain time to reflect. "I was obliged to stand it," said he, at length, looking up at his companions. "I couldn"t help myself. I say, boys," he added, desiring to turn the conversation into another channel, "you"ve got us into a nice sc.r.a.pe by your cowardice. If you had followed me, those fellows would have been the prisoners now."
At this moment the robber chief approached the group, holding in his hand a sheet of soiled paper and a lead pencil. "Take these," said he, handing the articles to Frank, "and write to your uncle, telling him how matters stand. Say to him that you and your friends are prisoners, that I am going to take you where no one will ever think of looking for you, and that when I am paid eighty thousand dollars in gold, I will set you at liberty, and not before. Tell him, further, that I shall send this note to him by one of my men; and that if he does not return in safety by sunrise to-morrow morning, I will make scare-crows of you."
Frank picked up his saddle-bags, which he used as a desk, and, after borrowing the robber"s bowie-knife to sharpen his pencil, he began the letter, and wrote down what Pierre had dictated, using as nearly as possible the chief"s own words.
"That"s all right," said the latter, when his prisoner had read the letter aloud.
"Now," said Frank, "may I not add a postscript, telling Uncle James that we are well and hearty, and that we have been kindly treated, and so on."
"Certainly; only be careful that you do not advise him to capture my messenger."
Frank again picked up his pencil, and wrote as follows:
"The above was written by Pierre"s command, and I have his permission to say a word for ourselves. You need not pay out any money for Archie and me; and I know that if I was allowed an opportunity to talk to Johnny, he would send the same message to his father. We are now in Pa.s.s Christian--a difficult place to escape from, but we intend to make the attempt this very night.
Detain Pierre"s messenger, by all means; then send d.i.c.k and Bob with a party of men up here by daylight, and they can capture every one of these villains."
That was what Frank added to the letter, but, when Pierre ordered him to read it, he made up a postscript as he went along; for he knew that if the chief were made acquainted with the real contents of the note, he would not send it. The Ranchero did not know one letter from another, and he was obliged to rely entirely upon Frank, who read:
"We"re all hunky-dory thus far. Pierre don"t seem to be so bad a fellow, after all; in fact, he"s a brick. He treats us like gentlemen; but, of course, we"d rather be at home, so please send on the money for Archie and me, and see that Mr. Harris and Mr. Vane do the same for Johnny and Arthur."
"You"re sure, now," said Pierre, as Frank handed him the letter, after addressing it to Mr. Winters, "that you haven"t told your uncle where we are, or advised him to try to rescue you?"
"There"s the note," replied the prisoner, "and if you think I have been trying to deceive you, read it yourself."
"I guess it"s all right," said the chief. "At any rate, I"ll run the risk. I have treated you like gentlemen, and if you want me to continue to do so, you must behave yourselves, and not try to play any tricks upon me. Now, mind what I say. If any of you hear the others talking of escape, and don"t tell me of it, I"ll pitch every one of you into that gully."
Having given utterance to this threat, and emphasized it by scowling savagely at his prisoners, Pierre turned on his heel and walked away.
By this time, dinner was ready, and the boys were invited to sit down and help themselves. The princ.i.p.al dish was dried meat, but there were luxuries in the shape of sandwiches, cakes, crackers, and tea and coffee, which the cook had found in the pack-saddle, and which he did not hesitate to appropriate. The table was the ground under one of the trees, and the gra.s.s did duty both as table-cloth and dishes.
"Now, boys," said the chief, "here"s a dinner fit for a king. Pitch in, and don"t stand upon ceremony."
"I don"t think you will find us at all bashful," said Archie, dryly, "seeing that the most of this grub belongs to us."
As the robbers and their prisoners were hungry after their long ride, they fell to work in earnest. Archie sat on his knees in the midst of the group, and, while his teeth were busy upon a sandwich, his eyes wandered from one to another of the Rancheros, and finally rested upon Mr. Mercedes, whose actions instantly riveted his attention. It had evidently been a long time since the robbers had sat down to a respectable dinner, and they all seemed determined to make the most of it--especially Antoine, who devoted his attention entirely to the eatables that had been found in the pack-saddle. He lay stretched out at full length on the ground, one hand being occupied in supporting his head, and the other in transferring the sandwiches from the table to his capacious mouth. Two of the sandwiches would have made a good meal for an ordinary man, unless he was very hungry; but they did not go far toward satisfying the appet.i.te of Mr. Mercedes, for, during the short time that Archie sat looking at him, he put no less than half a dozen out of sight, and seemed to have room for plenty more. Archie began to be alarmed. By the time he could finish one sandwich, Antoine would have swallowed every one on the table, and there would be nothing left but the dried meat.
"Will the small gentleman from Maine be kind enough to pa.s.s the plum-pudding--I mean the one that"s got the most raisins in it?" said Johnny, who was inclined to be facetious.
"See here, fellows!" exclaimed Archie, and the earnest expression of his countenance arrested the laughing at once. "This is no time for joking.
The rule of this boarding-house seems to be, Look out for number one. I intend to do it; and, if you want to get any thing to eat, you had better follow my example."
So saying, he caught up three or four sandwiches, and half a dozen cakes, and started toward the spring, where he sat down to finish his dinner. The other boys comprehended this piece of strategy, and, in less time than it takes to tell it, the table was cleared of every thing except the dried meat. Mr. Mercedes uttered an angry growl, and gazed after Johnny, who had s.n.a.t.c.hed the last sandwich almost out of his hand, and then whipped out his knife, and turned his attention to the meat.
When the robbers had finished their dinner, Pierre held a whispered consultation with one of his men, who, after placing Frank"s letter carefully away in the crown of his sombrero, mounted his horse, and rode down the pa.s.s. The others, with the exception of a solitary sentinel, sought their blankets, and the boys were left to themselves.
"Now," said Johnny, in a whisper, addressing himself to Frank, "tell us what you wrote in that postscript. You surely did not ask your uncle to send any money for you and Archie?"
"Of course not!" replied Frank. "I, for one, am not worth twenty thousand dollars; and I would rather stay here until I am gray-headed, and live on nothing but dried meat all the while, than ask Uncle James to give twenty cents for me."
"That"s the talk," said Johnny, approvingly, while Archie raised himself on his elbow, and patted his cousin on the back. Frank then repeated what he had written in the postscript, as nearly as he could recollect it, and it was heartily indorsed by all the boys, even including Arthur Vane, who said:
"I am glad to see that you are recovering your courage, Frank. If you had all showed a little pluck, when Pierre attacked us this morning, we should not have been in this predicament."
"We"ll not argue that point now," said Archie. "Let"s talk about our plans for escape. By the way, what sort of fellows do you suppose Pierre takes us for, if he imagines that he can frighten us into carrying tales about one another?"
"I"d like to know, too," said Arthur, sitting up on his blanket, and looking very indignant. "I wonder if he is foolish enough to believe that one of us would tell him, if he heard the others talking of escape!
If I thought there was one in this party mean enough to do that, I would never speak to him again."
"Now, don"t you be alarmed," said Johnny. "We"ve been through too much to go back on each other. But how shall we get away? that"s the question."
"Let us rush up and knock them down, and pitch them over into the gully," said Arthur. "Follow me; I"ll get you out of this sc.r.a.pe."
"We couldn"t gain any thing by a fight," said Frank. "Four boys are no match for five grown men."
"I"d give Sleepy Sam if I could only see d.i.c.k and Bob poke their noses over some of these rocks around here," said Archie. "They will be after us, as soon as they find out that we are captured; and when they get their eyes on these "Greasers," as they call them, there"ll be fun."
"But we don"t want to wait for them," said Frank. "We must escape to-night, if possible. We can find our way home from here; but, if we stay with these villains two or three days longer, they will have taken us so far into the mountains, that we never can get out. I propose that we wait until dark, and see what arrangements they intend to make for the night, before we determine upon our plans. If they allow us to remain unbound, and leave only one sentinel to guard us, we"ll see what can be done. In the meantime, I move that we all take a nap."
The prisoners settled themselves comfortably on their blankets, and, in a few moments, three of them were sleeping soundly, all unconscious of the fact that their wide-awake companion was impatiently awaiting an opportunity to repeat to the robber chief every word of their recent conversation.
"Pierre said, that if any of us heard the others talking of escape, and didn"t tell him of it, he would pitch us over that precipice," muttered Arthur. "He looked straight at me when he said it; so I shall take him at his word, and put him on his guard against these fellows. I"ll not go back on them--O, no! Johnny Harris didn"t call me a coward, did he? And that little spindle-shanked Yankee, and his cousin, didn"t insult me, by sending me my hat and gun, and the skin of that wolf, and by telling every body in the settlement that I was frightened out of my senses, without seeing any thing to be frightened at, did they? I"d like to catch that Archie Winters by himself. He"s little, and I am sure that I could whip him. I"ll pay them all for what they have done to me, and before I get through with them, they will learn, that it is always best to treat a gentleman with respect."
As Arthur said this, he looked contemptuously at his slumbering companions, and then turned his back to them, and went to sleep.
CHAPTER XV.
MORE TREACHERY.
When Frank awoke, it was nearly dark. The glade was lighted up by a fire, that one of the Rancheros had kindled, and beside which he stood, superintending the cooking of the supper. Archie and Johnny were still sleeping soundly, but Arthur Vane"s blanket was empty, and that young gentleman was nowhere to be seen.
Frank raised himself to a sitting posture, rubbed his eyes, and yawned; and then, seeing that the cook was rummaging in the pack-saddle after more luxuries, and judging by that that supper was nearly ready, he shook his companions, and arose to his feet. He went to the spring, and was preparing to wash his hands and face in the little brook that ran across the glade, when his attention was attracted by the sound of voices close by. He found that they came from behind the bowlder; and, after listening a moment, he recognized the voices as those of Pierre Costello, and Arthur Vane. At first, Frank thought nothing of this circ.u.mstance. He bent over the brook, and plunged his hands into the water, when the thought occurred to him that this was a strange proceeding on the part of Arthur Vane. If the latter had any thing to say to the chief, why did he not talk to him in the camp? Frank"s suspicions were aroused. He stood, for a moment, undecided how to act, and then, dropping on his hands and knees, he crept cautiously around the end of the bowlder, and presently came in sight of Pierre and his companion. They were sitting on the ground, facing each other--the chief calmly smoking a cigarette, while Arthur was amusing himself by cutting the gra.s.s around him with the Ranchero"s bowie-knife.
"This is very odd," thought Frank. "Arthur acts more like a confidential friend than a prisoner."
Our hero drew back, and listened to the conversation that followed, during which he gained some insight into the character of his new acquaintance.