"Yes," said Adrian, "how about your promise?"
"By George!" exclaimed Billie. "The excitement had driven it entirely out of my mind-and besides, I must learn what has become of Villa."
CHAPTER XVI.
A VALUABLE DISCOVERY.
It was late the next morning when the boys awoke and began calling to each other.
"What"s the first thing on the program?" asked Adrian, as he put the last touch upon his toilet.
"The first thing," declared Billie emphatically, "is breakfast. I hope they have hot cakes and sorghum mola.s.ses."
"Not a very fashionable dish," laughed Donald.
"Hang the fashion," replied Billie. "What I want is something that tastes good. How about you, Ad?"
"That"s me, too. But I think I prefer ham and eggs, sunny side up."
"What are you fellows trying to do?" asked Donald, "increase my appet.i.te?"
"No need of that," laughed Billie. "I"ve never seen you when you couldn"t do justice to whatever is set before you; but hurry up."
Five minutes later they were seated before a breakfast table that seemed to have been fixed for their special benefit, for not only did the bill of fare contain ham and eggs, but hot cakes and syrup as well.
For several minutes they were too busy to talk, but finally Donald pushed back his chair with the remark that so long as he could get a breakfast like that, he didn"t care how long he stayed on the border.
"Nor I either," echoed Billie. "But what had we better do to get into touch with matters across the river?"
"I should certainly advise seeing Capt. Peak," said Adrian.
"Of course; but what then?"
"Depends upon his answer."
"Well," said Billie, "I have a duty to perform and the sooner I set about it the better. Come on!"
He led the way out of the hotel and down to Capt. Peak"s headquarters.
They found the captain mounting his horse.
"I was just coming to see what had become of you," he said. "I didn"t know but you had left the country."
"No reason why we should, is there?" laughed Donald.
"None at all; but I wouldn"t be found on the other side of the river too soon, if I were you. You must have stirred up a hornet"s nest last night."
"I don"t know what you mean by a hornet"s nest," replied Billie, "but we did have quite an exciting time."
"Of course you found Villa," said the captain.
"Found him and lost him," replied Adrian, and he proceeded to narrate their adventure.
"And you have no idea who fired the shot?"
"Not the slightest."
"I"m sure Villa was not the victim," continued Capt. Peak, "or we should have heard of it by this time. They would have been over here looking for the murderer."
"Which might have made a lot of trouble for us," said Donald.
"Exactly! But if you boys want something to help pa.s.s away the time for a couple of hours, get your horses and we"ll ride down the river and see if we can hear anything."
The boys gladly accepted the invitation and a few minutes later were riding leisurely along the bank of the Rio Grande on what the captain called a tour of inspection.
"Sort of scout duty," laughed Adrian.
"Exactly; only we"re not likely to discover anything at this hour of the day."
It seems, however, that it is the unexpected that happens, and they had not ridden more than two or three miles from town before they made a discovery which brought them to a sudden halt and caused the utmost astonishment.
Not twenty feet from the river bank, entirely free from any attempt at concealment, lay at least a dozen cases of rifles and a rapid-fire Maxim.
"Well!" exclaimed Capt. Peak, as he surveyed the arms from the back of his horse, "What do you think of that?"
"The thinking doesn"t seem to be up to us," laughed Billie. "The question is, what do you think?"
For some minutes Capt. Peak made no reply, the while his eye noted the surroundings. Then he dismounted and examined the ground carefully, while the boys watched him with interest.
"I"ll tell you what I think," he finally exclaimed, as he came slowly back to his horse. "There has been a pretty good-sized gun-running expedition-so large, in fact, that these few arms have been entirely overlooked."
"They must have been pretty bold to attempt such a thing so near Presidio del Norte."
"Yes," replied Capt. Peak, "and the very boldness of it is what helped them to succeed. This is the last place I should have looked for a crossing. I must send out and get these guns."
"Don"t you think they will be missed later?" asked Adrian.
"No doubt; but the owners will have discovered the loss too late."
"I was just thinking it might be a good thing to leave them here unmolested and set a watch over them."
"What good would that do? They will not make a second attempt at the same place."
"It occurs to me," said Adrian with becoming modesty, "that it would be a good thing to ride on just as though we had found nothing. As soon as we get around that piece of chaparral, let me come back and hide myself.
I believe somebody will be around trying to locate the missing weapons.