The Mexicans continued to shift about, and when two more men came into view Ned"s heart leaped. They were alive! Prisoners they were, but yet alive. He had believed that two so vivid and vital as they could not perish, and he was right.
Obed and the Ring Tailed Panther sat with their backs against the same tree. They were unbound but the armed Mexicans were all about them, and they did not have a chance. They were thirty yards away, and Ned could see them very plainly, yet there was a wall between him and these trusty comrades of his.
Obed and the Panther remained motionless against the tree. Apparently they took no interest in the doings of the Mexicans. Ned, yet seeing no way in which he could help them, watched them a long time. He saw Urrea, after a while, come up and stand before them. The light was good enough for him to see that Urrea"s expression was sneering and triumphant.
Again Ned"s heart swelled with rage. The traitor was exulting over the captives.
Urrea began to speak. Ned could not hear his words, but he knew by the movement of the man"s lips that he was talking fast. Undoubtedly he was taunting the prisoners with words as well as looks. But neither Obed nor the Ring Tailed Panther made any sign that he heard. They continued to lean carelessly against the tree, and Urrea, his desire to give pain foiled for the time, went away.
Now Ned bestirred his mind. Here were the Mexicans, and here were his friends. How should he separate them? He could think of nothing at present and he drew back deeper into the forest. There, lying very close among the bushes, he pondered a long time. He might try to stampede the horses, but the attempt would be more than doubtful, and he gave up the idea.
It was now growing late and the fires in the Mexican camp were sinking.
The wind began to blow, and the leaves rustled dryly over Ned"s head.
Best thoughts sometimes spring from little things, and it was the dry rustle of the leaves that gave Ned his idea. It was a desperate chance, but he must take it. The increasing strength of the wind increased his hope. It was blowing from him directly toward the camp.
He retreated about a quarter of a mile. Then he hunted until he found where the fallen leaves lay thickest, and he raked them into a great heap. Drawing both the flint and steel which he, like other borderers, always carried, he worked hard until the spark leaped forth and set the leaves on fire. Then he stood back.
The forest was dry like tinder. Ned had nothing to do but to set the torch. In an instant the leaves leaped into a roaring flame. The blaze ran higher, took hold of the trees and ran from bough to bough. It sprang to other trees, and, in an incredibly brief s.p.a.ce, a forest fire, driven by the wind, sending forth sparks in myriads, and roaring and crackling, was racing down upon the Mexican camp.
Ned kept behind the fire and to one side. Sparks fell upon him, and the smoke was in his eyes and ears, but he thought little just then of such things. The fire, like many others of its kind, took but a narrow path.
It was as if a flaming sword blade were slashed down across the woods.
Ned saw it through the veil of smoke rush upon the Mexican camp. He saw the startled Mexicans running about, and he heard the shrill neigh of frightened horses. Never was a camp abandoned more quickly. The men sprang upon their horses and scattered in every direction through the woods. Two on horseback crowded by Ned. They did not see him, nor did he pay any attention to them, but when a third man on foot came, running at the utmost speed, the boy seized him by the shoulder, and was dragged from his feet.
"It is I, Obed!" he cried. "It is I, Ned Fulton!"
Obed White stopped abruptly and the Ring Tailed Panther, unable to check himself, crashed into him. The three, men and boy, went to the ground, where they lay for a few moments among the bushes, half stunned. It was a fortunate chance, as Urrea, who had retained his presence of mind, was on horseback looking for the prisoners, and he pa.s.sed so near that he would have seen them had they been standing.
The three rose slowly to their feet and the two men gazed in admiration at Ned.
"You did it!" they exclaimed together.
"I did," replied Ned with pride, "and it has worked beautifully."
"I was never so much in love with a forest fire before," said the Ring Tailed Panther. "How it roars an" tears an" bites! An" just let it roar an" tear an" bite!"
"We"d better go on the back track," said Obed. "The Mexicans are all running in other directions."
"My horse is back that way, too," said Ned. "Come on."
They started back, running along the edge of the burned area. Before they had gone far the Ring Tailed Panther caught a saddled and bridled horse which was galloping through the woods, and, they were so much emboldened, that they checked their flight, and hunted about until they found a second.
"There must be at least thirty or forty of "em dashin" about through the woods, mad with fright," said Obed.
"Three are all we can use, includin" Ned"s," said the Ring Tailed Panther, "but I wish we had more weapons."
They had found across the saddle of one of the horses a couple of pistols in holsters, but they had no other weapons except those that Ned carried. But they were free and they had horses. The Ring Tailed Panther"s customary growl between his teeth became a chant of triumph.
"Did the Mexicans capture Obed an" me?" he said. "They did. Did they keep us? They didn"t. Why didn"t they? There was a boy named Ned who escaped. He was a smart boy, a terribly smart boy. Did he run away an"
leave us? He didn"t. There was only one trick in the world that he could work to save us, an" he worked it. Oh, it was funny to see the Mexicans run with the fire scorchin" the backs of their ears. But that boy, Ned, ain"t he smart? He whipped a hundred Mexicans all by himself."
Ned blushed.
"Stop that, you Panther," he said, "or I"ll call for Urrea to come and take you back."
"Having horses," said Obed, "there is no reason why we shouldn"t ride.
Here, jump up behind me, Ned."
They were very soon back at the point where Ned had left his own horse, and found him lying contentedly on his side. Then, well mounted each on his own horses they resumed their broken journey.
CHAPTER XXI
THE TEXAN STAR
Just after the three started, they looked back and saw a faint light over the trees, which they knew was caused by the forest fire still traveling northward.
"It seemed almost a sin to set the torch to the woods," said the boy, "but I couldn"t think of any other way to get you two loose from the Mexicans."
"It"s a narrow fire," said the Ring Tailed Panther, "an" I guess it will burn itself out ag"inst some curve of the creek a few miles further on."
This, in truth, was what happened, as they learned later, but for the present they could bestow the thought of only a few moments upon the subject. Despite the Mexican interruption they intended to go on with their mission. With good horses beneath them they expected to reach the Brazos settlements the next day unless some new danger intervened.
They turned from the forest into the prairie and rode northward at a good gait.
"That was a fine scheme of yours, Ned," repeated the Ring Tailed Panther, "an" n.o.body could have done it better. You set the fire an"
here we are, together ag"in."
"I was greatly helped by luck," said Ned modestly.
"Luck helps them that think hard an" try hard. Didn"t that fellow, Urrea, give you the creeps? I had my doubts about him before, but I never believed he was quite as bad as he is."
But Ned felt melancholy. It seemed to him that somebody whom he liked had died.
"I saw him talking to you and Obed," he said. "What was he saying?"
The Ring Tailed Panther frowned and Ned heard his teeth grit upon one another.
"He was sayin" a lot of things," he replied. "He was talkin" low down, hittin" at men who couldn"t hit back, abusin" prisoners, which the same was Obed an" me. He was doin" what I guess you would call tauntin", tellin" of all the things we would have to suffer. He said that they"d get you, too, before mornin" an" that we"d all be hanged as rebels an"
traitors to Mexico. He laughed at the way he fooled us. He said that spat he had with Sandoval was only make-believe. He said that we"d never get San Antonio; that he"d kept Cos informed about all our movements an"
that Santa Anna was comin" with a great army. He said that most of us would be chawed right up, an" that them that wasn"t chawed up would wish they had been before Santa Anna got through with "em."
"Many a threatened man who runs away lives to fight another day," said Obed cheerfully.
"That"s so," said the Ring Tailed Panther, "an" I say it among us three that if we don"t take San Antonio we"ll have a mighty good try at it, an" if it comes to hangin" an" all that sort of business there"s Texan as well as Mexican ropes."