"I didn"t think I could be wrong," observed Bob, "for that man condemned himself before we had been in his presence ten minutes."
"Why don"t you go back and s.n.a.t.c.h Bryant?" demanded one of the troopers, seeing that the corporal did not slacken his pace. "Why didn"t you do it while we were at the cabin?"
"Because I had no right to do it," answered Bob. "If I should go to searching houses, I might get myself into trouble with the colonel.
Another thing, boys: I shouldn"t care to enter that man"s castle to look for anything unless I was a civil officer and armed with a search-warrant. He is a hard one, unless his looks belie him."
"I thought so myself," said Loring. "But you are not going back without Bryant, are you? What do you suppose he is doing there, anyway?"
"Of course I shall not go back without him," answered Bob quietly. "He has probably hired out to that squatter, and we must watch our chance and catch him out of doors before we can arrest him."
"Well, are you going to Brazos City?"
"Not by a long shot. Bristow and the fellows who are still with him have not gone that way. As soon as we get behind that belt of post-oaks you see in advance of us, I intend to circle around and go back toward the river again."
Although the troopers rode at a rapid gait, it took them nearly three hours to carry out this programme. At the end of that time they struck the old stage-road, which, in the days gone by, had served as a highway between Brownsville and some of the remote frontier-towns; but when the raiders forced the settlements back into the interior the stage-route was abandoned, and all that now remained to tell of the business that had once been done on it were the half-ruined stations which were scattered along the road at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles.
These stations were built of stone, and were large enough to accommodate a dozen horses and half as many stable-men and drivers, besides the necessary food for both men and animals. Each station was provided with a "dug-out," a miniature fort, into which the employees of the route could retreat in case they were attacked by hostile Indians or Mexican raiders. It was simply a cellar of sufficient size to shelter nine or ten men at close quarters, covered with logs and dirt, and furnished with loopholes on all sides at the height of a foot or more above the ground. It looked like a mound of earth supported on logs about two feet high. The only way of getting into one of these little fortifications was through an underground pa.s.sage-way which led from the stables. With these arrangements for their defence a few well-armed and determined men could hold their own against all the raiders that could get around them.
About four o"clock in the afternoon Bob and his troopers came within sight of one of these stations, and as soon as their eyes rested upon it they drew up their horses with a jerk, at the same time uttering exclamations of astonishment and delight. Standing in front of the open door were several men dressed in the uniform of the regular army. They seemed to be holding a consultation, and so deeply engrossed were they with their deliberations that they did not notice the approach of the troopers, although the latter had stopped their horses on the summit of a high ridge in plain view of them.
"I wonder if those are our men?" said Carey, with some excitement in his tones.
"We shall soon know," was Bob"s calm reply. "Whoever they are, they will have to give an account of themselves, for I am instructed to arrest everybody I meet wearing a uniform."
"If they _are_ our fellows, we"ve got them corralled," remarked Loring.
"Yes, but I don"t much like the way we have "corralled" them," returned Carey. "Do you see that dug-out about twenty yards from the northwest corner of the station? If they go in there they can laugh at us. The only way we could get them out would be to starve them out."
"That would take too long," said Bob; and the tone in which the words were uttered made his comrades look at him with some curiosity. "Let"s go down there and interview them, and then we shall know how to act.
Forward! Trot!"
Just as these commands were given a commotion among the men in front of the station indicated that somebody had sounded an alarm. They gazed at the troopers for a moment as if they were thunderstruck, and then made a simultaneous rush for the entrance. This action on their part told Bob as plainly as words that they were the men of whom he had been sent in pursuit, and that they did not intend to go back to the fort if they could help it. A moment later a loud slamming and pounding indicated that the deserters were trying to close and barricade the door. This had scarcely been accomplished when the troopers dashed up to the station and swung themselves out of their saddles.
Leaving two of his men to hold the horses, Bob and the rest walked around the corner of the station and looked at the dug-out. There was a face in front of every loophole. Anybody could see that the deserters had the advantage of position, and the troopers wondered what Bob was going to do about it. They glanced at his face, but could see nothing there to tell them whether he was excited, afraid or discouraged. It wore its usual expression.
"Well, boys," said Bob at length, "if you have grown tired of roaming about the country, come out, and we will go back to the post. The colonel wants to see you."
"We don"t doubt it, but we don"t want to see him," replied a voice that Bob recognized at once. "We think we see ourselves going back! We didn"t desert for that."
"Gus Robbins, I am sorry that you are in there," said Bob. "What will you say to your father and mother when you see them again?"
"Don"t know, I am sure," answered Gus. "Haven"t had any time to think about that. But you know yourself that I can"t go back to the post. The colonel said that if I were ever court-marshaled again for desertion, I should go to prison; but I"ll fight till I drop before I"ll do that."
"Say, Bob," shouted another voice, "do you remember what I said I would do to that informer if I ever found out who he was? You are the fellow, and here"s your pay."
It was Bristow who spoke, and as he uttered these words he thrust the muzzle of his carbine through the loophole in front of him. The chorus of e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns and remonstrances which arose from the inside of the dug-out showed that the rest of the deserters were not yet ready to resort to the use of their firearms; but Bristow was almost half crazed by rage and fear, and just as somebody seized him from behind and jerked him away from the loophole, his carbine roared, and Bob Owens turned halfway round and staggered back a step or two, as if he were struck and about to fall.
This unexpected act excited Bob"s troopers--with whom he was an especial favorite--almost to frenzy. Believing that he had been seriously if not fatally injured--it did not seem possible that anybody could miss a mark of the size of his body at the distance of ten paces--one of them sprang forward to support him, while the others discharged their carbines at the loopholes in rapid succession. Their volley was not entirely without effect, for a loud yell of agony came from the inside of the dug-out, bearing testimony to the fact that one bullet at least had found a target somewhere on the person of one of the deserters.
[Ill.u.s.tration: STORMING THE DUG-OUT.]
"Cease firing!" shouted Bob.
He gently released himself from the embrace of the strong arms that had been thrown around him, and looked down at the gaping rent Bristow"s bullet had made in the breast of his coat. The missile had pa.s.sed through his thick carbine-sling and breast-belt, had cut into his coat, vest and shirt, and ploughed a deep furrow through a well-filled wallet which he carried in his inside pocket. Fortunately, it was a glancing shot, but the force with which it struck him was almost sufficient to knock him off his feet.
"I"m not hurt at all," said he as his men crowded about him, "but I shall have to put a patch on my coat when I get back to the post.--I say, there," he shouted, addressing himself to the inmates of the dug-out, "was there anybody hurt in there? I thought I heard a yell."
"Yes, and you"ll hear another yell if you don"t go away and let us alone," replied Bristow. "I"ll make a better shot the next time I pull on you."
"All right!" said Bob. "I"ll give you a chance in just about five minutes.--Loring," he added in a lower tone, "you and Phillips stay here and hold the horses, and the rest of you follow me."
"Are you going to storm them?" asked Loring.
"I am," was the decided reply. "It is the only way I can get them out, for they"ll not come of their own free will."
"Then I sha"n"t stay here and hold the horses; that"s flat," declared Loring.
"Neither will I," chimed in Phillips. "The picket-pins will hold them as well as we can."
"All right!" replied Bob. "Stake them out, and while you are doing it Carey and I will see how we are going to get into the station."
The door to which Bob now turned his attention did not prove to be a very serious obstacle. It was made of heavy planks, and if it had been in good condition it would have taken a good deal of chopping with a sharp axe before one could have forced his way through it; but the hinges had rusted off, and the planks had shrunk to such a degree that the bar which held the door in its place could be seen and reached with a sabre. A few blows with one of these weapons knocked this bar from its place, and when that was done, the door, having nothing to support it, fell back into the stable with a loud crash. Bob entered, with Carey at his heels, and, making his way to a small apartment which had once been used as a sleeping-room by the stable-men and drivers, he found there a trap-door, which he threw open, revealing a flight of rude steps leading into the underground pa.s.sage that communicated with the dug-out. By this time the rest of the troopers arrived on the scene. They looked dubiously at the dark pa.s.sage-way, and then they looked at Bob.
"Do you really mean to go down there, Owens?" asked Loring. "It"s sure death."
"I believe so myself, but I am going all the same," replied Bob, who was thoroughly aroused by the attempt that had been made on his life. "If we are not willing to face death at any moment, we had no business to enlist. Must I go alone?"
"Not much," was the unanimous response. "If you are bound to go, we are going too."
"Leave your sabres and carbines here," commanded Bob. "They will only be in the way. Draw revolvers, but don"t shoot except in self-defence."
Bob knew as well as his men did that he was about to enter upon a very perilous undertaking. Bristow had shown that he was desperate enough to shoot, and he had even threatened that if he got another chance at Bob he would make a better shot than he did before. Some of the men who were with him were known to be hard characters, and it was very probable that they would back him up in the resistance he seemed determined to make.
But Bob, having made up his mind as to the course he ought pursue, never once faltered. He was a soldier, and a soldier"s first duty was to obey orders. He had been commanded to find the deserters and arrest them at all hazards; and, having obeyed the first part of his instructions, he was resolved to carry them out to the letter or perish in the attempt.
"Now I think we are all ready," said Bob, after the sabres and carbines had been laid in the empty bunks and the revolvers drawn and examined.
"Stick close to me, and remember that if we don"t take them they will kill us. Bristow, Sandy and Talbot are the only men we have to fear, and if we can only get the drop on them we are all right. Come on."
Although Bob was the youngest soldier, he was the calmest one of the seven troopers who descended those steps. When he reached the bottom he looked along the pa.s.sage-way toward the dug-out, which was dimly lighted by the sunbeams which streamed in through the loopholes on the western side, and saw the deserters standing in line awaiting his approach.
"Halt!" cried a voice. "Come a step nearer and you are all dead men."
It was Bristow who spoke, and the words were followed by the ominous click of the lock of his carbine.
CHAPTER V.
THE NEW SCOUT.