Up the trail they rushed, adding to their fierce yells as they caught sight of the auto in which sat Rosemary and Floyd. Probably the band of Yaquis had started off after the cowboy messenger who was riding to summon the United States troopers, and the finding of Rosemary and Floyd was but an accident.
But it was an accident likely to bode ill for our friends. The Indians (I call them that though they were really Mexicans) having sighted what was to them fair game, were turned from their original purpose of capturing the messenger.
Rosemary and Floyd caught a jumbled jargon of Spanish shouts, mingled with Mexican and American words, and then out of the ruck of riders a solitary horseman spurred toward them.
"He"s the leader, I guess!" exclaimed Floyd, and Rosemary caught the gleam of his revolver in her brother"s hand.
"Floyd! Don"t!" she cried.
"Don"t what?"
"Don"t shoot? Oh, we haven"t a chance! If we do kill--or wound a few--it will only make it worse for us. Don"t shoot!"
Rosemary spoke only just in time, for Floyd was already raising the weapon to aim at the leader who had spurred out of the ruck of other yelling Yaquis.
And, as if this leader sensed what was about to happen, and had decided to administer a lesson, there was a sharp crack from his side. He had not raised his hand higher than his saddle pommel, but Floyd"s hat spun from his head and went sailing to the ground. At the same time he heard a vicious "zing" which told of a bullet in flight.
"Floyd!" screamed Rosemary.
"I"m all right! He"s bluffing!" her brother answered. But he did not shoot back.
This Yaqui, better dressed and mounted, but more evil in face than any of his band, smiled grimly as he jammed his gun back into the holster.
And Floyd had the sense to return his weapon. As Rosemary had said, there was grave danger in firing, for at best only a few of the Yaquis could have been disposed of, and the others would have taken a terrible revenge.
Right up to the stalled car--stalled because it had lurched to one side in the ditch--rode the yelling Yaquis. Some of them got in the path of the evident leader, but he b.u.mped them to one side with his horse--a more powerful animal than any ridden by his followers--shouting at them in vigorous Spanish as he knocked them out of his way.
"La Paz! La Paz!" is what Rosemary and Floyd heard shouted at the leader, and this they took to be his name, or, at least, his t.i.tle.
From then on they referred to him as "Paz," which was as good an appellation as any.
Up to the auto he rode, at breakneck speed, pulling his horse to a sliding stop, so that the animal almost sat down on its hind legs in an effort to avoid crashing into the car. To the credit of Rosemary be it said that she did not scream, nor did Floyd flinch, though it seemed, for a moment, that there would be a crash.
Then the Yaqui leader, with a grunt, and a wave of his begrimed hand--in which grime Rosemary noticed with a shudder, blood was mingled--indicated that the travelers were to alight.
"Nothing doing, Chief! That is if you are a chief!" boldly answered Floyd. "We"re United States citizens, on United States soil, and we don"t have to do what you tell us. Pull your freight--get your men out of the way and we"ll mosey along. That is we will if I can get the car out of the ditch!"
The Yaqui grinned, but did not take his eyes from Rosemary or Floyd, and muttered:
"No _sabe_!"
"Oh, you _understand_ all right--you don"t want to, that"s the trouble," exclaimed Floyd. "Come now, be a sport. I don"t know what your fight is with the men down there," and he motioned to the town below, where sounds of fighting could still be heard, "but we haven"t done anything. If some of your men will help me get out of this ditch I"ll pay "em."
Evidently "pay" was one word not only Paz, but some of his followers, understood, for there were grunts and eyes gleamed more brightly while some of the Indians started forward.
Paz shot out a few words at his men, and those who had had the boldness, to move forward pulled back their ponies. Evidently he had them well in hand.
Rapidly he uttered something in Spanish, at the same time again waving his hand to indicate to Floyd and Rosemary that they were to get out of the machine. Brother and sister knew enough of the language to understand what was said. It was the same request made in gestures.
"Shall I jump on him, Rose?" asked Floyd in a low voice. "I can just about make it from here, and I haven"t forgotten my football tackle days. Shall I jump on him? Then maybe you can pop one or two, and we can start down in the car. Once we get into town the officials are bound to protect us."
"Don"t, Floyd!" his sister advised in the same low tone. "We have no chance but to submit, and wait for help. I"ve heard of these Yaquis.
There aren"t enough men in La Nogalique to cope with them except troopers come. And they"re far enough off."
"Just give in, and hope for the best. But don"t let them separate us--whatever--whatever you have to do."
There was a catch in the girl"s voice, but this was the only evidence of fear she had shown. She was a true "sport."
"But what do you suppose their game is?" asked Floyd, and during this talk between brother and sister, the Yaqui leader, stood regarding them quizzically.
"I don"t know," Rosemary answered. "This is just one of their periodical raids, I guess, and they have just added us to their list.
But we"ll have to do as they tell us--at least for the time being.
Help me down, Floyd."
He a.s.sisted her out of the car. Paz, smiling--or perhaps grinning would be the better word--came toward them, and motioned with his hand toward the gun Floyd had put up.
"You don"t get it,--Paz unless you want the business end!" snapped out Floyd, and his hand edged toward the weapon with no mistake in his meaning.
In an instant he was "covered" by the gun in the hand of the Indian, and Rosemary changed the scream she had started to utter to the advice:
"Give it up, Floyd! They haven"t seen mine and don"t know I have one.
Maybe I can get by with it!"
Floyd almost sighed as he pa.s.sed over his weapon, b.u.t.t first, in the accepted style of surrendering. Paz grinned again, and motioned to his men to come up. One of them began loosening a lariat at his saddle horn.
"They"re going to make prisoners of us," said Floyd.
"Never mind! There"ll be some way out," whispered Rosemary.
CHAPTER VII
INTO THE MOUNTAINS
Disreputable ragam.u.f.fins as they appeared, the Yaquis were quick enough to put their captives in a position to render them almost helpless.
Though the Mexican Indians do not seem to have the picturesqueness and skill of the outdoors possessed by the North American Indians, still they knew how to knot their lariats about Rosemary and Floyd, and so tie them on spare horses that it would have been no easy task to escape.
Aside from rude hands bundling her about, no insult was offered Rosemary; and though Floyd was not treated so gently he was not actually mistreated. Rosemary was not searched, and her automatic remained in a hidden pocket, where, if need be, she could quickly reach it.
Floyd"s gun was taken away, and all the money he carried loose in his pockets. But he had been wise enough when starting out on this trip, to make a secret pocket in his vest, and this now held a goodly sum which the Indians overlooked. Of course a more careful search would reveal it, as it would Rosemary"s gun.
Paz, speaking in Spanish, detailed several men to guard the prisoners and then, taking his place at the head of his band, he led them back down the trail.
"Say, what does this mean?" asked Floyd of his sister. "He"s going right back down among men that ought to be our friends. If there are any town officials there, or a soldier or two, they ought to save us."
"I"m afraid there isn"t, though," the girl answered. "If there had been the lone cowboy wouldn"t have ridden for help. And the fighting is still going on."
The sound of shooting was resumed as she spoke, and shouts and yells came to Floyd"s ears. He began to understand what had happened, his surmise being borne out, later, by the facts.