"_Asi!_" exclaimed Don Antonio, and his face grew even more stern. "So it is that scoundrel who put you up to this? Where is he?"
The peon remained silent.
"Where is he, I say?" repeated Don Antonio.
"I can"t tell."
"Why not?"
"He would kill me, _senor_."
"Have no fear. If you will tell me why you tried to take Pedro and where we can catch Don Rafael, as you call him, I will give you ample protection."
Thus encouraged, the peon said that Don Rafael was hiding in the mountains a short distance from the river. He said that he had gathered about him a band of more than fifty men, and that he had told them they were to be part of a new army to overthrow President Madero and make Porfirio Diaz again president. In order to protect themselves, he told them they must make a captive of General Sanchez"s son, Pedro.
"I see," exclaimed Don Antonio. "They want to hold Pedro as a hostage, in case any of them get into the hands of the law. Isn"t that it?"
"_Si, senor_," said the peon, nodding his head emphatically. If this proved to be true then Donald"s guess had been along correct lines. This little fact seemed like a good omen to begin with. Now, if it turned out that this further prediction regarding the limited number of the rustlers also came to pa.s.s, and they could only catch them off their guard before dawn arrived, it would not be strange if they turned the trick, daring as their plans might appear.
"Now, first of all we"ve got to m.u.f.fle our ponies" heads so they can"t betray us by neighing," announced Donald.
"A good idea, I say," Adrian went on to remark, approvingly. "I"ve known the best trained cayuse going to let out a neigh when it scented some of its own kind near by. That"s a thing they just can"t help, seems like.
So, the sooner we get their muzzles tied up the better."
"You"ll have to show me how," said Billie; "because that"s where my education"s been sorter neglected, so to speak. But I want to know, just stick a pin in that, please."
He soon learned just how this could be accomplished by the aid of their blankets. The horses objected to such treatment, but had to submit in the end. And when the job had been completed they were so muzzled that they could not have whinnied, no matter how hard they tried.
Mounting them again the three boys moved cautiously ahead. It was their purpose to cover a cer- [Transcriber"s note: missing line(s) of text at this place in original printed text.] can get away. The rurales can take care of the fifty others later on."
"That is good advice," declared Don Antonio. "Let us hasten back and send a messenger to Presidio del Norte, and then we can return and watch for Don Rafael."
"I don"t see any use of all of us returning to the house," declared Billie. "I"ll stay here and watch the river."
"And I"ll stay with you," declared Adrian.
"Suppose we fix it this way," said Don Antonio: "Pedro and one of you return to the house and send the messenger, and I and two others will stay and watch the river, as Don Guillermo says."
"If Don Guillermo"s willing," replied Adrian, with a laugh at Billie"s Mexican name.
"Sure I"m willing," said Billie, "and tell the rurales to hurry up or we"ll capture the whole bunch."
The matter having been thus decided, Pedro and Donald returned to the house, taking the captured peon with them, while the other three hitched their horses and proceeded to the little point of land from which Adrian made his observation.
The morning was now far spent, and the sun was rapidly approaching the meridian; but for once Billie seemed to have forgotten that it was dinnertime. In fact, so interested was he in the adventure, that he seemed utterly oblivious of the sun itself, which beat down fiercely upon the trio, and made the shade almost a necessity. So interested was he, in fact, that he ventured to the very edge of the point, and peered eagerly in the direction of the great rock.
"I could almost swim around there," he said to himself. "I"ve a great notion to do it."
For a minute he stood undecided.
"If it wasn"t for my Marlin I would," he mused. "As it is, I guess I"d better go around."
He walked back toward the place where he had left the others, all the time looking for a place where he could get around behind the big rock.
"What are you looking after?" queried Adrian, as Billie pa.s.sed the spot where he sat with his eyes glued on the river.
"I want to see what is the other side of that rock."
"What good"ll that do? We can see way up the river from here."
"I don"t know," was Billie"s response, "but I"ve got a hunch to take a look."
"Well, go ahead. Don Antonio and I will stay here. If you see anything, call."
Slowly Billie forced his way through the fringe of bushes that lined the bank, and, little by little, climbed to the top of the big rock, from which he could gain just as good a view of the mountainous country at the side as he could of the river. What he saw caused him to drop hastily to the ground and crawl a step or two backward, for directly in front of him, not a hundred yards away, was a score or more men grouped around Don Rafael, who was addressing them earnestly.
Waiting to see whether or not he had been observed, and judging from the fact that there was no commotion from below that he had not, Billie cautiously peered through the foliage.
The spot upon which the men were gathered was right at the mouth of the little stream before mentioned. A boat, evidently the one in which Adrian had seen Don Rafael and his two companions, was tied to the bank.
So far as Billie could see, only three or four of the men were armed.
They seemed a peaceable lot.
"I wonder what he is telling them?" mused Billie in a partly audible voice-a habit of talking with himself of which he seemed totally unconscious. "I wish I could get near enough to hear."
Cautiously he crept nearer the edge of the rock, in the meantime straining every nerve to catch a word. Once he did catch the sound of Don Rafael"s voice, but he could not understand.
"The trouble is," explained Billie to himself, "he is talking Spanish, and I"m not familiar enough with the lingo to distinguish the sounds. I wish he would talk English."
Again he advanced his position a couple of feet.
The voice was more distinct, and, as Don Rafael became somewhat excited, Billie caught the words, "_carbina_" and "_machete_," which he knew referred to arms.
"By George!" suddenly exclaimed Billie, in a voice loud enough for anyone near him to have heard, "I"ll bet they"re talking about running guns into the country. I"ll bet we"ve stumbled onto the very thing we came out to find. I must hurry back and tell Ad."
Unmindful of the men below, he jumped up from his rec.u.mbent position and started to leave the rock the way he had come. In his haste, he did not notice that the spot upon which he had been reclining was covered with moss, and, as he took his first step forward, his foot slipped; he grasped frantically at the surrounding bushes, to save himself, failed in his attempt, and the next moment pitched head first off the rock.
Vainly he tried to break his fall by catching at the shrubbery. His efforts only resulted in his turning almost a complete somersault and landing head first upon the sand, in the very midst of the men upon whom he had been spying.
As he fell, he gave one cry for help, and then, as his head came into contact with the hard ground, all around him became dark, and he knew no more.
The cry for help reached his companions in the midst of an animated discussion about Mexico and its needs, and they sprang to their feet on the instant. For just a moment they waited to hear the cry repeated, but, when it was not, Adrian threw a sh.e.l.l into his repeater, and started in the direction of the cry, closely followed by Don Antonio, whose greater age made him somewhat slower in his movements.
From the time the cry was heard until Adrian reached the summit of the rock, could not have been more than three minutes, but in that time the men and Billie had completely disappeared, the only thing remaining to give any idea of what had happened being Billie"s hat, which had fallen from his head in his fall, and the sound of oarlocks, which seemed to come from up the little creek.