"No juice--blazes!" grunted Bill, and, being a philosophical young man, he bothered himself no more about the matter, and went about getting his breakfast.
In the midst of his preparations, however, he suddenly straightened up and listened intently. To hear better, he even shoved aside the sizzling frying-pan from its position over one burner of his kerosene stove. What had attracted his attention was a distant sound--faint at first, but momentarily growing nearer.
"Blazes!" muttered Bill, scratching his head, and making for a rear window, which commanded a view of the long, white road. "What"s that, I wonder? Sounds like a sick cow."
He gazed out of the window earnestly, and then suddenly recoiled with a startled exclamation.
"Blazes! It ain"t no cow. It"s an automobubble. Yes, sir, as sure as you live, it"s a bubble. Whose can it be? Maybe it"s old man Stetson"s himself."
Chugging in a spasmodic sort of way, the car drew nearer, and the station agent now saw that there were several people in it.
"Looks like that car is spavined, or something," commented Bill. "Why, it"s regularly limping; yes, sir--blazes!--it"s limping, fer a fact."
Buck Bradley"s auto was, in fact, at almost its "last gasp." Ralph"s temporary repair had not lasted any longer than he had expected.
Fortunately, at the time it gave out, the insurrectos had apparently given up the chase, and the party was not far from the hacienda of a friend of the genial Buck. At his suggestion, therefore, they diverted from their road to the mine, and swung off to this house. Here a hasty meal and a warm welcome were enjoyed, and Ralph set the car in order as best he could. Buck"s friend, however, had news for them. He had heard that there was an encampment of regulars at Rosario, from which it was only a short run by rail to the branch on which the Esmeralda was located.
This information caused the party to change their plans. With the car in the condition in which it was, they doubted whether it would be possible to travel over the rough roads intervening between themselves and the mine. On the other hand, Rosario was not far off, and on a smooth, hard highway. If the information of Buck Bradley"s friend was correct, and there was no reason to doubt it, the regulars were camped at Rosario guarding the line. What more easy than to explain their case to the leader of the Mexican regulars, and steal a march on the insurrectos by reaching the Esmeralda first by rail, and wiping out the band of Madero?
But, alas for human plans! The party in the auto was doomed to bitter disappointment. As they approached, and no camp was to be seen, they began to realize that their information had been inaccurate. Bill Whiting speedily clinched all doubt in the matter.
"Say, my friend," hailed Buck Bradley, as the agent emerged from his shack, "where are the soldiers?"
"You mean the greaser regulars?" was the rejoinder. "Blazes, they went off yesterday. Had a tip where Madero was, and they are after him, hot-foot, I reckon."
The boys exchanged despondent glances. Here was a fine end to their high hopes. The Esmeralda was now farther off than ever, and the auto was hopelessly crippled. One tire was worn almost to ribbons, a rim had been sprung, and two spark plugs had cracked. Every one of the party realized, as the car stopped with a sigh, that it couldn"t move again until a tall lot of overhauling had been done.
"Anything I can do to help yer?" volunteered Bill, noting the woebegone faces of his countrymen.
"Nothing, son, unless you"ve got a wire working," sputtered Buck, who, as he did with everything, had gone into this matter, heart and soul.
"Wire!" echoed the station agent, "why, blazes, I couldn"t put through a tap fer Diaz himself. The wire went dead two days ago, and I"ve been on my own hook since."
"What was the last word you had?" asked Jack, thinking, perhaps, that they might have some information in regard to affairs at the mine.
The agent dived into his pocket and fished out a yellow paper.
"Here it is," he exclaimed, "and it"s signed by "King Pin" Stetson himself: "Keep freight moving at all hazards.""
"It"s signed by Mr. Stetson, you say?" exclaimed Ralph eagerly.
"Sure. He"s the main boss on this road, you know, and----"
"I know, I know!" cried Ralph eagerly, "but is he here across the border?"
"Huh? Not he. He"s in the best hotel in El Paso, consulting and smoking two-bit seegars. But my job"s here, and here I stick."
But Ralph and Jack had not heard this speech. A light shone in the Eastern boy"s eyes, the light of a great idea.
"There"s a locomotive yonder, Jack," he whispered. "I can run one. I learned one summer when pop took me over the Squantock and Port Gloster line. You said there was a branch connecting with the Esmeralda. Why can"t we go by rail?"
"By ginger, Ralph! Have you got the nerve?"
"Look at me."
Jack regarded his comrade an instant. There wasn"t a flicker of an eyelash to show that Ralph was the least bit nervous. The experiences of the last few days had taught him much.
While Bill Whiting regarded them curiously, Jack hastily told the others of what Ralph had proposed.
"That appeals ter me as a ring-tailed roarer of a good idee," announced Buck Bradley, when he had finished.
"Waal, I"m more used ter doin" my fightin" ahorseback than from a loco, but I guess it goes here," chimed in Pete.
"An eminently sensible suggestion," was the professor"s contribution.
The maimed ankle of the man of science was now almost well, and, as he put it, he was "restored to his customary salubriosity."
"Then, all we"ve got to do, is to get permission to take the locomotive," declared Jack. He turned to Bill Whiting, who had been eyeing them curiously.
"We"ve got to get through to the Esmeralda mine," he said. "Our auto is broken down, and yet the fate of the mine, and perhaps the lives of its defenders, hang upon our arrival there as soon as possible. Have we your authority to run the locomotive through?"
"Say, son," drawled Bill Whiting, "put on your brakes. That"s a compound, and even supposing I could let you take her, how would you run her?"
"There"s a boy here who can run her all right," cried Jack impatiently.
"All we need to have is your authority."
Bill Whiting shook his head.
"Sorry," he said. "I don"t know you, and that loco"s railroad property. I"m responsible fer it. Suppose you"d ditch her?
No--blazes!--it wouldn"t do at all."
"I"ll give yer a hundred dollars gold fer two hours use uv that ingine," cried Buck Bradley.
"No good," declared Bill, shaking his head; "it"s railroad property.
I"ve got my job to look after, even if Chihuahua is turned inside out."
"But this is a matter of the utmost urgency," argued Jack. "Listen."
He rapidly detailed the outlines of their situation to the agent. The man was obdurate, however.
"Couldn"t n.o.body touch that ingine but old man Stetson himself."
"How about his son?" Ralph"s voice rang out clearly above the excited tones of the others.
"Waal, I reckon he could, but he ain"t here."
"He isn"t, eh?" demanded Ralph, hopping out of the tonneau, "well, my name happens to be Ralph Stetson."
"Oh, quit joking. You"re Americans, like myself, and I"d like ter help you out, but I can"t do it."