The man was Pedro Vincenzo. He stood grinning unpleasantly at them, a smirk of triumph on his swarthy face.
Joe sat up and rubbed his eyes. When he recognized Vincenzo, he became fully awake.
"Just the man we wanted to see."
The Mexican looked about the cave.
"" Not very luxurious,"" he said. ""But a hard bed and plenty of fresh air will hurt no one."
Then his manner changed. "Well, you brats!" he snarled, "I hope this will teach you to think twice before you try to interfere with me." me."
174.
The Mark on the Door "It"ll teach us to be more careful, perhaps," replied Frank with spirit. "I suppose you know you"re letting yourself in for plenty of troiible, Vincenzo."
The man laughed harshly.
"You cannot scare me," he said. "I am master in this place."
Frank and Joe had been frightened lest Vincenzo should discover the presence of Yaqui. Now they found to their surprise that the Indian had disappeared. How and when he had vanished they did not know.
"How long do you intend to keep us here?" Joe asked.
"I have plans of my own," returned their captor. "I have a little deal under way. I need that fool Tremmer, and you were trying to take him away from me. When I"ve finished with him-well-who knows?"
"If you have a deal under way I"ll bet it"s a crooked one," Frank said warmly.
"Mind your own business," growled Vincenzo. "You"ll stay here until I"m ready to let you go. And you won"t be released until Tremmer and I are miles away. But remember-if you try to escape sooner it will be that much worse for you. I"ll turn you over to the natives in charge of the Ceremonial of the Fire. Do you know what that will mean?"
His face was ugly with malice and cruelty.
175 "Don"t take a chance on being branded with the mark of the P and the fire!" warned Vincenzo. "You wouldn"t want to go back to your friends in Bayport with that sort of decoration on your foreheads. Besides, it"s said to be very painful."
"We"re not afraid of your threats," Joe answered.
"Brave boys!" jeered Vincenzo. "You"re not so clever now, are you? And you won"t think your father is so clever, either, when he"s thrown in here to keep you company."
"Our father is worth twenty of you."
In the distance they heard a shot. Pedro Vincenzo looked up, startled, and strode to the entrance. As he said something to the guard, they all heard another shot, followed by a series of wild yells.
"Better hurry," advised Frank. "Perhaps the soldiers have come to clean up this den of yours and set us free."
"Soldiers! Bah!" exclaimed Vincenzo.
It was plain, however, that he was puzzled and nervous.
"You might leave us something to eat," suggested Joe. "I hope you don"t intend to starve us to death."
"You"ll get food. All in good time. It won"t hurt you to go hungry for a day or so."
Then the scoundrel strode hastily out of the 176.
The Mark on the Door cave. In a moment there was a slight rustling sound. The boys looked around, and saw Ya-qui emerging from behind some rocks.
"You heard what he said?" asked Joe.
Yaqui nodded.
"He talks big. But he is not as safe as he thinks. Already the natives are beginning to grumble."
"How do you know?"
"I have heard the guards talking. They say Vincenzo has made many promises but has not ept his word. He said he would pay them if they helped him. They are wondering when they are going to see the money."
"They"ll never see it," replied Frank. "The fellow is a crook. I can"t figure how any man can be as dumb as Elmer Tremmer, to be fooled by that sort of talk."
"I don"t feel very much like trying to escape, just the same," observed Joe. "I"m not eager to be turned over to the natives for branding."
Yaqui then explained that the ceremony the boys had witnessed the previous night was part of the regulation ritual of the Sun "Worshippers, and that Pedro Vincenzo had doubtless introduced a few ideas of his own, among them the branded sign of his initial in the f.a.got fire.
"It is-what do you call it?-his mark."
177 "His trademark," said Joe. "Well, I"m not looking forward to having it on my forehead."
As they talked, the three heard more shots and sounds of a disturbance near the main camp. The guards, too, seemed to be excited, for they were crouching together and staring down in the direction of the river.
"There"s something going on," Frank said, puzzled. "I wonder what"s happening."
At that moment a native came running up to the entrance of the cave. He talked excitedly to the guards. Yaqui crept closer to the opening so that he could hear what was being said. In the distance the boys heard a burst of gunfire, followed by shouts and screams.
Whatever information the newcomer brought to the guards, it proved to be important.
One of the men threw aside his gun and would have hurried away, had not the other argued with him and held him back. The native who had run up to the entrance of the cave went away again hurriedly and the two guards launched into a feverish dispute.
Yaqui came back to them.
"A revolt!" he whispered eagerly. "There is trouble in the camp."
"What"s up?" the boys demanded.
"The natives are tired of waiting for their pay. Tremmer is stirring them up to get rid of Vincenzo. Some of them are leaving the 178 village and crossing the river with Tremmer."
"Good!" cried Frank. "If their forces are split it will make it easier for us to try a getaway."
"Vincenzo is hoping to hold his men together. He is promising them anything they want-but he says he has no money, and nothing else will satisfy them.""
"I didn"t realize Tremmer had it in him," Joe declared. "He must have done a lot of thinking after he left us last night. Perhaps at last he realizes the truth."
The uproar was growing in volume. Evidently Vincenzo was having a hard time keeping the natives under control.
The boys" guards wanted to be in the thick of the disturbance. As the racket from the river bank grew louder and louder they hastily left their posts and dashed down the trail without another thought for their prisoners.
"Now"s our chance!" cried Joe gleefully. "Let them fight all they want to. We"ll get away from here. Yaqui, where are the horses?"
"About a mile up the trail," he answered. "But do not be too hasty. Let us see what is happening."
They emerged from the cave, and came out onto the level adobe platform at the entrance. It was evident that Elmer Tremmer"s revolt The Kevolt 179.
was at least partly successful. A dugout canoe was crossing the river with half a dozen natives, while another was just landing on the other side. Even at that distance the boys could distinguish the figure of the missing witness, shouting orders to the men as they landed.
On his side of the .stream Vincenzo was vainly trying to hold the rest of the tribe in check. Some of them were clambering into a canoe preparatory to deserting to Tremmer"s crowd. The outlaw was striding up and down, waving his arms wildly as he shouted at the men. Everything was in confusion. Many of the women were packing up their meagre household effects. Occasionally someone would fire a rifle into the air, and a native across the river would answer with a shot.
Suddenly Vincenzo ran down to the water"s edge and collared one of the men who was stepping into the dugout. The man struck back at him. Two others leaped out of the canoe and tackled Pedro, whereupon some of the loyal natives rushed down the bank to protect their leader. In an instant a real fight was in progress. One of Tremmer"s canoes started back across the stream. At the same time five of Vincenzo"s natives leaped into a dugout and paddled out to meet them.
The two canoes came together with a crash 180 in midstream. There were wild yells as Vin-cenzo"s party went over into the water. The others, being more expert as canoeists, held their craft upright. In the meantime, the fight on sh.o.r.e was becoming general, with the deserters getting the best of it.
Vincenzo himself was hurled into the water. He emerged spluttering just as Tremmer"s party thrust their craft away from sh.o.r.e. Farther up the bank a few more natives were sneaking off to join the others on the opposite side of the river, evidently having no desire to stay with a lost cause.
Tremmer"s little army was growing. Only a handful of natives, including the women and children of the camp, remained loyal to Vincenzo.
"He"s beaten!" cried Frank. "Come on, Joe. Come on, Yaqui. Let"s find those horses."
They went scrambling down toward the main ledge above the river. Vincenzo, his clothes dripping with water, was yelling threats at the party on the opposite bank and trying to persuade his men to return to him.
One of the natives who had refused to join the insurgents suddenly caught sight of Yaqui and the Hardy boys. He uttered a yell of alarm and grabbed his leader by the sleeve.
"After theml" roared Vincenzo.
CHAPTER XXI.
TERMS OF PEACE.
"run!" shouted Joe.
Yaqui could have escaped. He was as fleet-footed as a deer and could have outdistanced the pursuers with ease. Yet he would not desert his young companions. Frank and Joe strained themselves to the utmost, but when they looked back they saw that three of Vin-cenzo"s men were swiftly overtaking them. Within a hundred yards the chase was over.
One of the natives flung himself at Frank in a flying tackle and brought him down.
Another leaped at Joe when he stopped to help his brother. A third presented a rifle at Yaqui"s head and ordered him to surrender.
The Hardys struggled vigorously, but they were no match for the natives. In a few moments they were led ingloriously back to camp and brought before Pedro Vincenzo, who glared at them malevolently.
"Didn"t I warn you of what would happen if you tried to escape?" he snarled. "Didn"t I say you"d be branded?"
181.
182 "I think you have enough trouble on your hands without worrying about us," Frank reminded him. "Tremmer seems to have turned the tables on you pretty neatly."
Vincenzo flushed darkly. He had only about half a dozen natives at his disposal, all the others having gone across the river to Elmer Tremmer"s side. He knew that he could not.
even bank strongly on the loyalty of those who had remained. It was only too true that the fugitive bookkeeper had turned the tables on him. He was beaten, and he knew it.
"The natives are fools," he growled. "What can Tremmer do for them? They"re crazy to listen to the fellow."
"They didn"t have much sense when they listened to your promises, either," chirped Joe.
"That"s enough!" snapped Vincenzo in an angry voice. Then he turned and called out in a loud tone, "Come back, Tremmer! Let"s talk this over."
But Elmer Tremmer, now that he was out of Vincenzo"s power for the moment, seemed to have gained new courage. He was standing on the opposite river bank in the att.i.tude of a man who has won an unexpected victory, and has not yet decided how to proceed.
"If there"s any talking to be done," he called back, "I"ll do it!"
183 "That"s right, Mr. Tremmer!" cheered Joe, "Don"t let him bluff you."
Vincenzo silenced the boy with a look.
"What do you want, then?" he called back to Tremmer. "What are your terms"?"
"I want my freedom!"
"But you are free," cried Vincenzo. "You"ve always been free. Haven"t I treated you well ever since we left the States?"
"I"ve been no better than a prisoner, and you know it," Tremmer answered. "You"re afraid to let me out of your sight for fear I"ll go home."
"Send my men over to me," Vincenzo shouted, "and you can go wherever you wish."
But Tremmer was not to be trapped by this promise.
"Then you"d put them on my trail and have me brought back," he answered. "No, that won"t do. I"ll make a bargain with you."
"What"s your bargain?"
"I know where Fenton Hardy is and I can turn him over to you," came the astonishing reply.
Frank and Joe gasped with amazement.
"" The detective!"" shouted Vincenzo.
It was evident that he found the bookkeeper"s statement hard to believe.
"Let me go and you can have him," th other declared.