"Beat the bars down! They are only held in their place by a frame which must be rotten."
Donald repeated the instructions to the others.
"We haven"t anything to beat them in with," replied Adrian. "Who is it talking-Billie?"
"I don"t know who it is," replied Donald. "Sounds like a woman"s voice.
Can"t somebody find a big stone?"
"Plenty," said Don Antonio. "Here, _hombres_," to the peons, "bring one of those big stones yonder."
The men hastened to obey, and, with the stone for a sledge hammer, Donald quickly knocked out the iron bars, which fell noisily to the floor below.
The opening thus made enabled him to get his head in sufficiently to have seen the interior of the room, had it not been that he shut off his own light; but it was not necessary for him to see what was going on, for this time Billie was out of bed and talking to him.
"Is that you, Ad?" he asked.
"No, it"s Don. How are you, Billie? All right?"
"All except a little weakness in my legs and a bit of dizziness in my head."
"Who is with you?"
"Guadalupe and Santiago."
"Santiago who?"
"I don"t know his other name, but he"s all right. He"s looking out for us."
"Are you a prisoner?"
"Sure. What do you suppose I"m doing here-taking a vacation?"
Donald could not help laughing at Billie"s characteristic reply, in spite of the seriousness of the situation, as he turned from the window to repeat his conversation to his companions.
"What had we better do?" he finally asked.
"Is your friend armed?" asked the captain.
Donald put the question to Billie and received a negative reply.
"Suppose you hand him your rifle and then find out just how things are in the room below."
"Here, Billie," called Don, "you take my Marlin and defend yourself to the last. How are things fixed down there?"
"Santiago can tell you better than I," was the response. Whereupon Santiago explained to Donald the exact condition in the cave.
It appears that when the men who had captured Guadalupe took her before Don Rafael, he was filled with joy, and ordered that she should be kept with the greatest care.
"She will prove another and most valuable hostage," he declared, and at once ordered her locked up in the same cell with Billie, which was the only place of its kind in the cave. When Santiago objected, he ordered him locked up also.
"And here we are," explained Santiago. "There is but one door into the cell, and that very narrow, so now that we have two weapons, for I still have my revolver, we can prevent anyone from coming in. The only way they could get us out is to starve us out, which, of course, is impossible now that you are here."
The information was received with great thankfulness by the rescuing party. In his attempt to make the escape of his prisoners impossible Don Rafael had put them in the one spot where, under the changed conditions, they were comparatively, if not perfectly, safe.
Very briefly Don whispered the proposed plan of attack to those within the cave, closing with an injunction to Billie to be on the alert and to make every shot count if the smugglers should attempt to force the entrance.
"And here"s something to keep up your courage," he added, throwing into the cell the luncheon which had been given him when he left the Hacienda del Rio that morning. "You see, I remembered your failing."
While this conversation had been going on, the rurales to the number of half a hundred, guided by Pedro, had arrived, and arrangements were at once perfected for an attack upon the smugglers" stronghold.
CHAPTER XII.
THE BATTLE AT THE CAVE.
Mustering his band, the captain of the rurales quickly formed his plan of attack. Ten of the company were to seize the two boats at the mouth of the creek and take their positions at the side of the big rock, whose slippery top had proved so disastrous to Billie. Ten others were to secrete themselves on the bank of the stream opposite the water entrance to the cave. The balance of the band were to force the door whose outer guard had been overpowered and bound by Donald and Adrian.
Having thus disposed his forces, the captain started with his division of thirty toward the door, with the understanding that he would not attempt to force an entrance until a shot from the river should advise him that the water forces were in position.
"What will you have us do?" asked Donald.
"Keep out of the way, so that you will not be shot," laughed the captain. "That"s the proper thing for boys."
"We"re not that kind of boys," declared Adrian.
"Oh, well then," answered the captain, "you just skirmish around on the outside to pick up any who might succeed in getting away! I don"t think you"ll have a great deal to do, for my men intend to bag the entire band."
The plan suited the boys first rate and they proceeded immediately to take advantage of the instructions.
"I"ll have to station myself somewhere in short range," declared Donald.
"Having loaned Billie my Marlin, I have nothing but my six-shooter."
"I reckon that"ll be sufficient. It looks to me as though the whole thing would be at short range and of short duration. I hope so. We"re not down here looking for trouble."
"That"s surely the truth," laughed Donald, "but somehow or other, we seem to have a faculty of getting mixed up in all sorts of things."
"That"s because you are always trying to help some one out of trouble,"
declared Pedro. "If it had not been for me, you would never have been mixed up in this at all."
"It does look that way, doesn"t it?" laughed Adrian. "But appearances are sometimes deceitful, eh Don?" and he gave Donald a knowing look.
"They sure are; but let"s be hunting a place where we may be of service."
"I"ll tell you what," exclaimed Adrian after they had stood undecided for several minutes, trying to decide upon a position of vantage, "let"s station ourselves on that little knoll just above the door. Then if any should get by those guarding the river entrance I could pick them up with my rifle; while if any should be able to dash past the captain"s party, you can stop them with your Colt."