It would have been hard to find any busier boys in all Hampton thatmorning than the four scouts who have figured so prominently in this story. And about one o'clock of the same day the telephone was kept employed carrying messages from house to house.
In fact, Rob had hardly left the lunch table when he heard a ring, and upon lifting the receiver to his ear, immediately recognized the excited voice of Andy.
"Rob, is that you? Say, it's all right, and I'm going along!"
"Oh! you didn't have to say more than one word to tell me that," answered the patrol leader with a laugh. "Why, the minute you opened your mouth you gave it all away. But I'm mighty glad you convinced your folks, Andy."
"At first father looked kind of glum, and shook his head as though he wouldn't hear of such a thing," continued the other joyously. "But I took your advice, and just started in to tell the whole yarn. I couldsee his face keep getting lighter the further I went, till at the end he shook me by the hand, and says he: 'Andy, I don't mean to refuse you any reasonable thing; and while I'll worry a lot if you go down there to that troubled country, still, it's in a good cause. And if Mrs. Hopkins, Mr. Blake, and Mr. Crawford give their sons permission, I reckon I'll have to do the same. I've found that scouts learn how to take care of themselves no matter where they happen to be!' And so that's settled. How about you?"
"Oh! there wasn't any trouble," replied Rob proudly. "Dad asked me a lot of questions, and then said he was willing to trust me anywhere. He's the finest dad that ever lived, barring none! Now, we're only waiting to hear from Merritt."
"Well, you won't have to wait long, then," said a hearty voice just over Rob's shoulder; and glancing up he saw the other chum, who had reached the door of the room unobserved, even while the excited confab over the wire was in progress.
"There's no need of my asking what luck you've had, Merritt, my boy," chuckled Rob, "because you carry the map on your face. It's all right,do I hear you say?"
"I should say, yes," hastily replied the other with a happy grin that told how much his boyish heart was wrapped up in this grand project.
"Why, I didn't have any trouble at all. Father simply said that while he hardly approved of four lads like us going down into that country where neighbor was warring with neighbor, and everything torn upside-down, still, it would be a shame if Tubby's old uncle, whom he has met, should lose all he had when there was a chance to save it. And so he told me that if the other boys received permission to go, he wouldn't throw anything in the way. You know, Rob, father has a heap of respect for the opinion of your dad."
"Good for you, Merritt," Rob rejoined. "I've been talking with Andy, and everything is lovely over there at his house. I'm holding the wire, and just wait till I tell him to come over here on the jump. He'd better pick up Tubby on the way, because we want to talk things over once more, so as to know just what we ought to take along with us."
This was speedily arranged; and within ten minutes the other twomembers of the Eagle Patrol bustled in, out of breath with the exertion they had put forth in order to save time.
Then the tongues began to wag, and all sorts of suggestions came thick and fast. It seemed as though everybody had been thinking up ideas, as well as getting new ones from outsiders, mostly fellow members of the troop to whom the subject of the great expedition was mentioned.
"My father advised that we go well armed," said Merritt; "not that we would expect to use our guns against anybody, unless in the last pinch; but he says there are ferocious wild beasts down in that country, and he wouldn't feel easy to have us there with just a camp hatchet and our staves along for defense."
"How about that, Tubby? Did you happen to ask Uncle Mark whether we'd be likely to run across any grizzly bears or panthers or big game like that?" inquired Andy.
"Just what I did, because you know my mother said she was worried about my being gobbled up by a pack of hungry wolves," replied the fat scout.
"Guess they would pick you out first pop!" struck in Andy, chuckling.
"Which would show their good taste," Tubby informed him, withouthesitating a second. "But uncle admitted that we might run across wild beasts of prey if we had to make much of a detour to avoid the Federal troops that are combing the country back of Ciudad Juarez, on the Rio Grande just opposite El Paso on the Texas side."
"Did he happen to say what kind of animals?" asked Rob.
"Oh! any old kind. There are wolves and coyotes on the plains, and in the desert; jaguars among the hills; and sometimes even a bear is run across, though not often. But my opinion is we'll have ten times as much worry about rebels and Federal soldiers and some of the Mexican bandits like that Castillo crowd we've read so much about in the papers the last few months."
"I think myself that you hit the target in the bull's-eye that time, Tubby," was Merritt's way of expressing his opinion.
"Well, it's settled then," added Rob, "that we go armed. Every fellow will have to carry some sort of a gun; and if you don't happen to own one, borrow it. Be sure to have some ammunition along, because we mightn't be able to get the kind we need down there. Now, let's makeout a list of things we'll want with us. Of course we wouldn't think of carrying a tent, because we don't mean to have a pack train along, and we'll have to move in a hurry lots of times."
"But what if it rains like all get-out?" questioned Tubby, who did not altogether like the idea of getting his brand new khaki suit water-soaked the first thing.
"Oh! don't bother about such a little thing as that," Merritt told him, with a snort of scorn. "What sort of scouts would we be if we couldn't fix up some sort of shelter against rain? And even if we didn't, none of us are made of salt, are we? Anyway, I don't believe it rains much down there around Chihuahua, because a heap of the territory is only desert; and it wouldn't be that if it had showers, you understand."
By degrees they settled upon what they should take along. Tubby was for loading himself down with such a raft of stuff,—all of which might come in very handy, but could never be carried without breaking the back of his horse,—that Rob finally made out a slip for him, and insisted that he should not pack up more than those essential things contained on the paper.
"I'm going to take my fountain pen along, anyhow," grumbled Tubby, asthough determined to carry some article that was not on the list. "And I bet, Rob, you'll be wanting to borrow it at every city where we stop for ten minutes, to address post cards to somebody in Hampton, like you did the time we went to Panama."
Of course that sly allusion caused a laugh on the part of Merritt and Andy, while Rob turned a bit red in the face.
"Oh! have your fun if you want to, fellows," the patrol leader said, as though he were proof against their prodding. "I acknowledge that I did send a few cards to Lucy Mainwaring that time; yes, and I calculate to do the same again. Just think up some nice girl, each of you, and invest a few dimes that way yourself. It's lots of fun looking them over afterward, when she's got them so neatly pasted in her post card album."
"Well," Merritt proposed, "now that we know what's what, hadn't we better scatter and get busy? There's an awful lot to be done between now and night, looking over our clothes, having this fixed, or that button sewed on. Suppose we get together after supper and report progress. Howwould my house do?"
"I'll be on deck, never fear," Tubby announced promptly.
"Look for me about half-past seven, Merritt," Andy told him.
"Sorry, fellows," Rob put in, with a shrug of his shoulders and a whimsical smile on his face; "I'll have to plead a previous engagement."
"Oh! sure you do," jeered Andy; "and it'd be a shame to ask you to break it for such a little thing as this. But the rest of us'll be around, Merritt. No need of worrying about Rob, anyhow, because we know he'll have everything in ship-shape style long before our train leaves."
After that the meeting was dissolved, and three of the lads hurried away to start packing their duffel according to arrangements, getting it in as small a compass as possible.
They were frequently interrupted by other boy friends, calling to find out if this startling rumor had any truth back of it. The visitors asked unlimited questions, while they loudly bewailed their hard luck in not getting a chance to accompany the four fortunate ones.
Sim Jeffords and Hiram Nelson, indeed, went so far as to threatenjokingly to start a rival expedition, and clean out all the rebels and Regulars in the Mexican State of Chihuahua. While Fred Mainwaring, Lucy's brother, who was at home at this time, boldly declared he had half a mind to buy a ticket through to El Paso and wait for the four scouts there, in hopes of thus forcing them to take him on.
In the town it became a subject of common talk, and all sorts of ideas were passed around concerning this new and most extraordinary scheme of the scouts. Some people who were not in love with the organization, like old Hiram Applegate, the farmer who had caused the boys so much trouble in a previous story, openly scoffed at the idea of half-grown lads undertaking such a risky mission. He said their parents must be crazy to allow it; but when casual mention was made of his own wild son, Jared, who had gone rapidly to the bad, and had not been heard from since his misdeeds at Panama came near getting him into trouble with the United States Government, Hiram suddenly remembered he had an engagement elsewhere.
Even the old-time enemies of the Eagles, Max Ramsay, Hodge Berry, and a few of the members of the rival Hawk Patrol, investigated the excitingnews, and tried to prove to their own satisfaction that the people of Hampton were prejudiced in favor of Rob Blake and his crowd, because all sorts of splendid things seemed to be continually coming their way. They were wilfully blind to the fact that the boys of the Eagle Patrol had surely deserved all the good fortune that had been showered upon them thus far. This was because they had set their standard high, and tried to conform to the rules that govern the scout movement.
That was a long night to four boys at least in Hampton. At noon on the following day a great crowd gathered at the station to see them leave for New York, where they expected to take the night train for the Far Southwest. Rob and his three chums felt their hearts beat a lively tattoo as they saw the faces of home folks and patrol comrades among those present.
As the train pulled out of the station amidst loud shouts and good wishes, and waving hats and handkerchiefs, the boys could distinguish one sound that thrilled them to the core, and made them remember the vows they had taken always to be true scouts.
This was the shrill "k-r-e-e-e" of the Eagles, given in concert by theother members of the patrol to which all of the travelers belonged; and the last thing they saw as they leaned from the windows was the swarm of campaign hats that went flying up into the air.
Then, as the scene was blotted out in the cloud of fine sand raised by the train, the four boys, thus boldly starting on a long and hazardous journey in quest of Uncle Mark's last remnant of his fortune, sank back in their seats and just looked at each other, too overcome to say a single word. Behind lay home and all the dear ones; while beyond was the land of revolution and turmoil—Mexico!
"Here we are coming into El Paso at last!" called out Rob, as he startedto get his various bundles together, so as to leave the train that had carried them over the last part of their long and tiresome journey across the whole of Texas.
"And I'm about as happy to hear that as if you'd told me I was made a first class scout, and could hang the whole badge on my sleeve, where now I only sport the lower half, 'Be Prepared!'" cried Tubby, also getting busy.
The boys had some time before been warned that they were nearing their objective point on the American side of the border stream known as the Rio Grande. Tubby loudly declared that he could not see anything so very grand about the river; that they had wider creeks up North than this seemed to be, away up here so far away from the Gulf.
When they alighted they stared around them, naturally, because strangesights at once began to meet their eyes, accustomed to other types of people. A great crowd stood around, in which were khaki-clad United States regulars off duty; cowboys; Mexicans with swarthy faces, both men and women; Indians with their curios for sale in the shape of finely-woven baskets and pottery of gaudy hues; and many other classes of people besides.
Of course the four lads came in for return stares, and they could well understand that, for doubtless they were the very first Boy Scouts to drop in on El Paso. Many persons at once believed that they must be new recruits for the army. These observers remarked to one another that things had come to a pretty pass when Uncle Sam found it necessary to enlist half-grown boys in the service, now that it looked as though intervention in Mexico must come about sooner or later.
Rob, however, paid little attention to curious looks. He went about his business with the air of one who had all his plans well matured, and knew just what must be done first.
Asking a few questions, he was directed to a sort of hotel. When theyhad reached it, it did not strike Tubby as giving much promise of good "feeds"; and he did not hesitate to express that opinion when they were alone in the big room with its two beds that had been assigned to them.
"We don't expect to stay here more than the one night," Rob told him; "only to get rested up and be in shape to start across the bridge there after we've purchased horses and found a guide who can run off greaser talk. So I wouldn't make any more row if I were you, Tubby."
"We'll see that you get enough to eat if that is what worries you," Merritt went on to say consolingly; and at that the fat scout managed to smile a little.
"Well," he remarked with a sigh, "if the rest of you can stand for it, I guess I'll just have to, that's all. But, jiminy crickets, things look pretty shady after coming straight from a nice clean home!"
"You'll have to put up with lots worse than that, Tubby; so cheer up," said Andy. "And now, what is the first thing on the program, Rob?"
"Clean up the best we can, and rest till after we've had our dinner," the other advised. "Then we'll try to get an interview with thecommander of the forces here, and see what he thinks we'd better do."
"Huh! like as not he'll tell us we must not dream of venturing across to the other side, unless General Villa happens to be in Juarez right now, which I reckon would be too good luck," Tubby replied disconsolately. "And I hope, Rob, that if he does talk that way he won't influence you to call it all off. Think what silly guys we'd feel like, starting back home without even making a try to invade Mexico!"
"Don't let that keep you on edge, Tubby," the patrol leader told him; "you ought to know me by this time, and that I never give up a thing I've set my mind on till the last horn blows. We've started on this business of your Uncle Mark's; and we'll see it through, or know the reason why!"
"Hurray! them's my sentiments!" exclaimed Andy, and even Merritt waved his hand above his head, as though he fully agreed with the other comrades; so Tubby was able to appear at ease once more, as a great load had been removed from his heart.
When they had partaken of a wretched dinner that made Tubby look quiteblue because there was hardly a thing that seemed to taste right, the four boys started out to look the border town over. They cast frequent glances across the guarded bridge connecting El Paso with the Mexican shore of the river, and finally asked of a passing soldier the way to headquarters.
Already they had learned who was in command at El Paso at that time, and had even glimpsed the general at a distance. It happened that they found the commander at leisure, which was a wonder, for he had his hands full during these troublous times trying to keep the peace, when there were so many chances of Americans and Mexicans coming into armed conflict along the river for miles.
The officer looked them over as they were ushered into the room. Rob had been wise enough to send in a note telling who they were, and that they wished to consult him on a very important piece of business.
"So, you are the four Boy Scouts whose arrival created so much furor, are you?" the general asked, as he frankly held out his hand toward Rob, whom he immediately recognized as the leader. Perhaps this was due to Rob's manner of carrying himself; or else to the fact that he wore hisbadge upon his left shoulder, showing that he was a scout master, and hence in command. Soldiers have quick eyes to catch these things that might slip past an ordinary citizen.
"We are Boy Scouts, General," Rob replied; "but we did not know that our coming to El Paso had made more than a ripple. My name is Rob Blake; this is Corporal Merritt Crawford; the one next him is Andy Bowles, our bugler; and this last member goes by the name of Tubby Hopkins!"
The officer in command at the border town shook hands warmly with each of the boys. He tried his best not to smile as he noted how well named Tubby seemed to be; for one could hardly look at him without being forcibly reminded of a butter firkin, or else of the most useful family utensil on wash days.
"Why, I understand that for a time, until they learned who you were," the general went on to remark, with a quizzical look, "there was considerable indignation going around that our great Government should send out boys to help patrol the Rio Grande, and to keep the fighting Mexicans on their own side of the river. But you say you wish toconsult me about something; so, as my time may be limited, suppose you start in and give me the facts. I want to assure you in the start, though, that I've watched the growth of the scout movement from a small beginning; and that I'm heart and soul in favor of it as the finest thing that ever happened for uplifting the American youth. It's going to make a great difference in the kind ofmenwe'll be having ten and twenty years from now."
After hearing that, of course, Rob knew they would have the full sympathy of the general in the carrying out of their mission. However, he might fear that they were undertaking too great a task in risking the dangers of travel through so disturbed a country as Mexico at that time, since both Federals and rebels were feeling anything but friendly toward Americans.
So Rob started in to narrate the entire story, and he made such a fine thing of it that the interested listener only interrupted him a few times to ask further particulars concerning certain points.
All the while his eyes kindled with growing admiration for these brave lads, who were ready to take such great risks in order to save UncleMark's cattle, if it so happened that they had not been already seized by one side or the other of the contending forces.
"I suppose it would do no good for me to try and discourage you, boys," he said heartily, after the whole story had been told; "because I can easily see that you would try to carry out your plans at any rate. And that being the case, I might as well give you what advice I can, and help you in that way."
His words caused every boyish face to be wreathed in smiles.
"That is very kind of you, General," said Rob; "and we will try to act on the advice you give us, you may be sure. All we want is to meet General Pancho Villa; and from what Uncle Mark told us about his being a man of his word, we think the rest will be easy."
The experienced officer smiled grimly. Possibly he had opinions of his own about whether one who had been a lawless bandit for years would remember a kind deed to the point of throwing protection about the ranch of his former friend; but he did not venture to disturb the belief of the sanguine scouts.
"First of all you must have horses. I'll put you in touch with a man whocan supply those, for I understood you to say you had plenty of money to pay for an outfit. Then you must take enough supplies along to do you for a week; because you may be that long getting to the town of Chihuahua, where we have reason to believe Villa is at present. He has forced many rich Mexicans and trades people there to pay tribute; and hundreds have made a pilgrimage across the desert with the two thousand Federal soldiers who were forced to leave Chihuahua when the Constitutionalists, as Villa's men call themselves, captured the place. And last of all, I know the very man you will need to serve you as a guide. He is a Mexican, but I have always found him entirely trustworthy; and he will be glad to favor me. So I will give you a few lines to Mardo Lopez, and tell you at what inn you can find him."
It was certainly cheering to hear the general say such kind things; and later on, when he shook hands all around again and told them to come and see him if he could do them any further favor, the four boys felt that they had indeed great reason to rejoice, because "all things seemed tobe coming their way," as Andy put it.
They soon found the man called Mardo Lopez. While he did not impress them very favorably, because he seemed to have what they thought to be a dark, crafty face, he readily agreed to do everything in his power to oblige the general, and to prove that he could be trusted.
After that they took the guide with them to pick out the horses, knowing that his judgment would be better than their own; for Mardo was accustomed to traveling across the desert lands that stretched in many places between the river and the capital of Chihuahua, some two hundred miles and more from the border, and almost due south.
By the middle of the afternoon they had bought everything needed, and had their mounts, together with equipments for the same, safely housed at the tavern where they put up. Then, at Andy's suggestion, the Mexican took them for a little stroll, meaning to ask many questions concerning the organization to which they belonged; for Mardo had, it seemed, heard about the scouts, but up to that time had never been told what they stood for.
Rob, it may be set down as certain, was only too glad to pass the wordalong; for he himself believed so thoroughly in the uplifting power of the Boy Scout movement, that he wanted everybody to understand it in the same light.
The four boys and their new guide were walking along close to the bank of the river, the latter telling them many things that they would have to run up against once they found themselves on Mexican soil, when far away across the river there came the dull report of a gun; and then, just over their heads something cut through the air, making a whining sound that gave them all a thrill.
That was the first time they had really been under fire; but even Tubby seemed to know instinctively what the queer whistle meant, and that a bullet had passed within a few yards of their heads.
"Whee! hunt cover, fellers! Somebody's making a target of us!" exclaimedTubby, looking wildly around for a convenient tree or adobe hut behind which he might hide his ample form.
But the Mexican guide showed them how they could quickly find shelter back of the bank; and, possibly, all of the boys breathed easier when assured that they were no longer exposed to the fire of the unseen marksman far back on the other side of the narrow river.
"But what does it mean?" asked Rob. "I thought the rebels were in force across the bridge, and that they did all in their power to make Uncle Sam look on their side with favor."
"It is so, young señor," the guide replied; "but often have the bullets come across here when the Federals and the rebels, they have fight it out over there. But now it is that some man thinks if Americans are shot it must come that the soldiers in El Paso will have to cross the international bridge, and that would mean what they call intervention."
"Oh! I see what you mean," Rob told him. "Then that was only some crazy man with a gun who wanted to bother Uncle Sam and make him real mad so he would send his soldiers across to punish him. And once they stepped on Mexican soil it would mean we'd have a war on our hands."
After that they were careful not to expose themselves more than seemed necessary as they continued their walk; and coming back they kept further away from the river so as to avoid a repetition of the bombardment. There was not much chance of the wretched marksman hitting them; but then, even bullets fired at random have been known to find a lodging place, as Rob had been told.
One of the first things the guide had assured them was that it would never do for the scouts to think of trying to enter Mexico by openly crossing the bridge. It was closely guarded on the one side by Uncle Sam's soldiers, and across the line by squads of rebels. The latter examined every one wishing to come or go, in many cases forcibly preventing the exit of some promising subject who might be made toyield tribute to the cause of the revolutionists, as well as refusing to allow others to enter Mexico, whom they believed might have some object contrary to the interests of their side.
But then the guide had informed them that he knew a ford where they might with perfect safety cross the river, now at a low stage. Once on the opposite shore they must depend on the fleet heels of their horses to take them inland, and in this manner avoid a meeting with any hostile force.
It was all arranged that they start early on the following morning. Mardo was ready to do whatever they asked; and Tubby expressed himself as decidedly anxious to meet General Villa with as little delay as possible. He felt just as Uncle Mark had declared it might be, that the rebel commander in Chihuahua would by now believe he had done all that could be expected of him in serving the man who years before had saved his life, and who had been also a friend of the lamented President Madero. And as Villa's army needed rations and money desperately, possibly he would be planning either to kill off the fine steers on the Matthews Ranch, or else sell them to some enterprising Americanspeculator for shipment across the line.
Perhaps none of the boys expected to sleep any too soundly that night, thinking of what a novel experience was before them; though all of them were tired after their long train ride.
Not a great while after supper, however, a soldier came to the inn and asked for Rob. He bore a message from the commandant to the effect that he would be pleased to have another little chat with the young assistant scout master to hear how his plans were coming on.
This decided interest which the general seemed to take in their enterprise gave Rob considerable pleasure. He eagerly availed himself of the privilege of meeting the soldier once more, and only regretted that his three chums had not been included in the invitation.
And Rob spent a very satisfactory half hour with the general, to whom he confided all his plans. He told so much about the previous experiences of the Eagle scouts, also, that the interested soldier felt reluctant to terminate the interview.
"I could go on chatting with you for hours, my son," he said, shaking hands as he dismissed the boy, "because I am so deeply interested inyour ambitions and in what you have already gone through, you and your fine comrades. But I have appointed a meeting with some of my officers to plan for the new emergencies that are continually arising. Believe me, you have my best wishes, and if I do not see you again on your return—for something tells me youwillreturn, and after successfully carrying out your mission, too,—let me hear from you. It will give me great pleasure to reply."
This sort of talk was encouraging, to say the least. It gave Rob renewed ambition to push on along the course he had mapped out.
Of course, when he arrived at the inn he found the other boys still sitting up waiting for him; so that by degrees everything that the general had said had to be repeated before they consented to go to bed.
With the coming of morning they were all up. Tubby kept declaring that he did not have a wink of sleep all night on account of the hard bed and the various strange noises that came from without. But Andy returned that every timehewaked up, and it must have been in the neighborhood of a dozen separate occasions, he had particularly noticed that Tubbywas sprawled over two-thirds of their bed, and snoring "to beat the band." After that Tubby closed up, possibly under the impression that the others would call him a fake.
As soon as they had had breakfast they found the guide waiting, mounted on his own horse; and then the bustle of preparation began. Tubby had to be helped more than a few times, for he became so excited that he could not remember where he had left a number of important things. Andy finally declared that it was lucky that the fat scout's head was firmly attached to his body, for otherwise he would be losing that also!
"Well," answered Tubby, grinning, "even if that did happen, I wouldn't be the first feller who'd gone and lost his head, would I? I'd like to have ten dollars for every time you have, Andy Bowles."
Finally everything was in readiness, and they started; but there were no cheers wafted after them on this occasion. The boys, acting under the advice of the general, had been very careful not to tell a single person other than Mardo Lopez what they intended doing. The rebels had manysecret sympathizers on that shore of the Rio Grande; and perhaps one of these might think it worth while to transmit the news across that a little party of gringo boy soldiers contemplated invading the sacred soil of Mexico.
Leaving the lively town of El Paso behind, the little party struck along the river, and continued to gallop for several hours, until they came to the place where the ford mentioned by Lopez lay.
The cautious native guide was very careful to keep a bright lookout, not wishing to have his charges fired on from either bank of the stream while crossing.
"Better you wait here, young señors," he observed, as they pulled up in the shelter of some scrub trees that grew on a rise; "as for me, I will go over and take a look around on the other side. When you hear me call, and I wave my hand, it is a sign that you cross safely."
"All right, Lopez, we're on to what you mean," Andy told him.
They watched him crossing the stream, taking note of what he did, so as to keep the current from pushing his mount from the shelf that made the water so shallow.
"We must copy exactly that way of doing," Rob directed the rest. "Inever crossed a river at a ford in my life; and certainly not on horseback. But it seems easy enough once you've got the hang of things."
"Huh! won't be any trouble at all," Tubby assured him, being confident of his ability to keep his horse headed right; and Andy also declared that it looked "just as easy as falling off a log."
Lopez, after pulling out on the other side, rode some distance up and down, as well as back from the river, in order to make sure that there might not be a party of natives, whether Federals, rebels, or bandits, lying in ambush. Should such a party open fire upon the boys while they were in the middle of the stream, they would be next to helpless to return the shots.
"There, he's waving his hat, now, and beckoning to us to come on!" exclaimed Merritt, as the guide came galloping down close to the edge of the river. "That means the coast is clear, and we can cross over in peace. Rob, after you!"
Rob started in, and so well had he taken note of his landmarks, that he was able to follow exactly after the guide. At the same time he kept his horse's head turned partly up-stream, so that it could resist the sweepof the swift current. Had the flank of the animal caught the full force of the rushing water the crossing would have been more difficult.
Merritt came after Rob, then Andy, and last, but far from least, Tubby. No sooner did the latter find himself in water deep enough to wet his half-drawn-up feet than he realized that to a novice this crossing a ford was not such a simple thing after all. He tried his best to follow Andy, and in so doing exposed the side of his horse to the swing of the current more than policy would seem to dictate.
In consequence of this indiscretion, presently Tubby began to find that he could no longer keep exactly in the wake of the scout just ahead of him. Then he discovered that he was constantly losing ground, so to speak, and being carried further and further down the river, a foot at a time.
He could hear Lopez shouting something, but as the Mexican had unconsciously lapsed into Spanish, of course poor Tubby failed to understand a single word of the instructions he was calling.
"Hey, I'll have to swim for it, fellers!" the fat boy shouted; thoughjust what good it would do to inform his comrades of his predicament he could not have told had he been asked.
Rob turned in the saddle and saw that unless a miracle came to pass, Tubby was bound to get a wetting. He started to call out something, and then stopped short, for it was useless to try and tell the luckless scout what to do. Already his horse had reached the end of the ford and was in deep water, swimming lustily for the shore; while the alarmed Tubby threw both arms around the animal's neck, and held on for dear life.
Whether there was any real danger in the situation or not the other boys could not, of course, say; but Tubby's way of clasping his short arms about his horse's neck so as to prevent himself from being washed overboard was so comical that they had to laugh, even while urging their own mounts to the farther shore, so as to be on hand to render assistance if such should be needed.
To Tubby it was all serious enough; and no doubt just then he imagined that he stood a fair chance of being separated from his possessions and carried down the Rio Grande, perhaps to an untimely death.
"Hey, Rob, tell me what to do!" Tubby could be heard shouting at the topof his voice, as he kept on hugging his horse about the neck, being evidently determined not to allow the current to pluck him out of his saddle, at any rate so long as he could maintain that rigid grip.
Even in that sudden emergency Tubby found himself depending on Rob as usual; and to hear him asking for information, one would believe that the young patrol leader knew more about river fords than a dozen native guides who had been used to crossing by this means all their lives.
Rob had reached shallow water, and immediately urged his horse down-stream, in order to come opposite the drifting scout.
"Just keep holding on, and the horse will bring you to land!" he called out encouragingly. "He is making a plucky fight, and getting in closer all the while. As soon as he strikes bottom it will be all over; so keep your grip, Tubby."
This the fat scout did; and just as Rob had said, presently the swimminganimal reached a more shallow point, where he could get his footing and manage to swing in closer than ever. And in another five minutes Tubby emerged from the river, "looking like a half-drowned rat," as Andy assured him, for streams were dripping from each foot, and he was soaked from his waist down.
"Anyway, I had horse sense enough to keep my gun dry," Tubby observed. "But what shall I do now, Rob? I'm weighing half a ton, I guess."
"You're not apt to catch cold in this warm air," Rob told him; "and so you might as well let your duds dry on you. At noon, when we halt for a bite, you can open up your bundle and spread your blanket out for the sun to dry. After all, there wasn't any damage done."
"Only to my feelings," Tubby reminded him.
"And they don't count," said Andy, laughing at the recollection of the tragic way in which Tubby had embraced that horse. He had held to it about as a leech might have clung when applied to the arm of a patient in the old days when they bled sick men.
They at once turned their backs on the Rio Grande, and according towhat Lopez told them, they were not likely to set eyes on the river again until their mission had either been successfully carried out, or proven a failure.
Rob took a fond look at the stream. Some-how it seemed to be the very last link binding them to their home land; for across the running water lay the good old United States. And they were now on foreign soil, where the Starry Flag at present was powerless to protect them from a multitude of perils.
Presently they could see the river no longer, because they were rising over a level stretch of country through which the flood at some time in the far past had cut a deep channel.
From now on, what was around and before them was to serve fully to occupy their attention.
When half a dozen miles had been passed over, Rob began to notice that Tubby was not looking as happy as he might; and he feared that the pace was telling more or less on the stout chum.
"Are we going too fast for you, Tubby?" he called out; and instantly the other tried to look utterly unconcerned, as though he were enjoying himself to the utmost.
"What, for me?" he immediately answered, with a ring of indignation inhis voice; though every jump of his horse caused him to shake like a mould of jelly. "Well, I should say not! You couldn't move too fast to suit my mind, Rob. If I had an aeroplane right now you'd see me sailing away at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, and headed for that same old town of Chihuahua. Why didn't we think to bring something like that along? Aeroplanes may be dangerous things, but then they're a heap more comfortable than some nags I know!"
No matter how Tubby suffered, he seemed bound not to admit the fact; and knowing his stubborn nature, Rob did not try to show any further sympathy for him. If things really became too bad, perhaps Tubby would consent to ask them to hold up and let him have a breathing spell. But at any rate, they were surely putting the miles behind them, and before night-time would have made "quite a dent in that journey to the capital of the State," as Andy said.
Before the middle of the day came, Rob had the guide call a halt, for he knew it was punishment to Tubby to keep this up as they were doing. The sun was so scorchingly hot that the fat boy seemed very nearly as wetwith perspiration as he had been soaked with river water a little earlier. But even then he complained at the stop, and told Rob he should have been able to hold out another half-hour or until noon. This caused the other scouts to exchange winks, and behind their hands tell each other that for dogged perseverance Tubby surely had them all "beaten a mile."
While they rested their mounts and had a cold bite, Tubby was induced to open his pack and spread out such things as seemed damp, so that when night came he would not have to lie down under a blanket that gave him a chill. Lopez warned the boys that while the day had been very hot, they would find good reason to wish they had two blankets apiece before morning.
"We found that out the time we were down at Panama," said Rob; "though, perhaps, being further north now may make a difference. But Tubby's just got to have his blanket good and dry, and that goes."
Tubby managed to accomplish this; and as they packed up later on to continue their gallop, he told the others that the sun had done the business all right.
Several times during the morning's run the keen-sighted guide haddiscovered moving figures far off. Rob had been thoughtful enough to bring a small but powerful pair of field-glasses, along with many other things; and these now came in handy to tell them whether the distant parties were seemingly Federal soldiers or members of Villa's rebel army foraging for supplies.
"But if Villa's men are holding all the ground between Chihuahua, from which they chased Salazar's forces a little while ago, and Juarez on the river, why do we need to fear running across any Federal soldiers?" Andy wanted to know, when once Lopez, after taking a look through the glasses, declared that he believed the half dozen riders they watched going further away might be men in the uniform of Mexican regulars.
"Generally speaking, they do hold this territory, which mostly used to belong to the wealthy Terrazas family," Rob explained; "but reports have come in that several bodies of mounted regulars were dispatched from Ojinaga, where half a dozen generals and their men are fortifying their positions to make a stubborn stand against the rebels. These raiders have orders to cut the telegraph lines, and destroy all the bridgesthey can between Chihuahua and the border on both lines of railroad. And so you see, we are apt to run across one of these flying columns at any old time. That is what the good general warned me to look out for; because, of course, we have more to fear from Salazar's men than from the rebels."
"Ginger snaps and pop-guns! I should say we had," exclaimed Tubby, "when we remember what precious document—er, I mean how much we want to see General Villa!"
Rob had not thought it wise to tell everything to the guide until they came to know him better; and hence his frown and vigorous shake of the head toward the talkative Tubby, when the other came within an ace of "letting the cat out of the bag."
They did not ride quite so fast during the afternoon, all on Tubby's account, though no one dared let him know that, or he would have been very angry. As the day began to wane, and they seemed to be in a part of the wild country free from either rebels or Government troops, Rob suggested that they come to a halt and go into camp.
"We must have made as much as forty miles and more since morning, and sobe that much nearer Chihuahua," he remarked; "and that's good enough for one day. Perhaps to-morrow we may work closer to the railroad, and try to get in touch with some of Villa's men, who will take us to him. There's Lopez dismounting, boys, so let's do the same."
Merritt and Andy both grunted as they managed with some difficulty to get out of their saddles, after Rob had set the example. As for Tubby, he seemed to be glued in his seat, for while they saw him make a desperate effort several times, he did not seem able to accomplish a separation. Finally, with a foolish grin on his face, he beckoned to Rob to come nearer.
"I'm afraid you'll have to give me a lift, Rob," he confessed; "fact is, I don't seem able to raise either leg, I'm that stiff. That's a good feller, just get me started and I'll be all right, sure I will. And after I've jumped around a few dozen times I'll be ready to dance a hoedown if you ask me."
But it was noticed that Tubby was unusually quiet all that evening, hardly bothering to move more than to reach out for his share of supper; nor did he volunteer to do his part in the cooking. "For whatis the use," he complained, "when we have an experienced guide along who loves to cook?" And at one time, when Rob leisurely got to his feet and reached for a tin cup, Tubby even had the assurance to call out softly after him:
"If so be you're meaning to go to the creek for a drink, Rob, wish you'd fetch a cup of water for me, and thank you!"
The truth of the matter was that ride had been a terrible experience to the fat scout, and he had suffered much more than anybody suspected. But by slow degrees he would grow accustomed to the exercise, and perhaps even enjoy life in the saddle before they were done scouring the country in search of Villa.
Lopez had taken every sort of precaution to avoid having their camp seen by any hostile eyes. In the first place, he had selected for a site a spot that was fairly well screened by dense thickets; it was also in a sort of little depression or basin, where the glow of the small fire they had lighted to prepare their meal might not be discovered.
This blaze had been allowed to die out after it had served the purposefor which Lopez had started it; so that as they sat there, talking in low voices, only the soft starlight looked down upon them.
Tubby was later on discovered to be sound asleep; and as Andy and Merritt admitted feeling pretty drowsy themselves, Rob told them they had better get their blankets ready to do duty. He himself fixed that of Tubby, and managed to draw the sleeping scout under it without awakening him.
All seemed deathly quiet when Rob lay down to secure some rest. The guide had assured him that there was no need of their keeping watch, because his horse had been trained by a cowboy to give the alarm if any enemy came prowling around.
Confident that all would be well, the patrol leader settled himself as comfortably as was possible, under the conditions, and after some little time spent in running over in his mind various matters that had a connection with their mission to Mexico, he fell asleep.
Rob did not know whether it was half an hour that he had been lost in slumber, or five times that long, when he was rudely disturbed by some one kicking his shins. And at the same time he became conscious of alow whispering voice saying:
"Rob, oh! Rob, are you awake? What under the sun is making that queer noise?"
It was Andy calling; and becoming conscious that there were some strange noises rising on the night air close by at the same time, Rob raised his head the better to listen.
Andy's question must have been overheard by Merritt, for he at once let them know he was awake and on the alert; but as for Tubby, he only wheezed, and breathed harder than ever; for he was a thousand miles away in his dreams.
The first thing that Rob noticed was that it did not seem nearly as darkand gloomy as when he had lain down. Could it be he had slept the whole night through, and that daylight was at hand? He settled this mystery with his first glance upward; for there he discovered that a pale fragment of a once proud moon had arisen in the east, and was looking mournfully down upon their hidden camp.
Next he made out the form of Lopez, the Mexican guide, who was sitting with his back against a tree, as though that might be his favorite way of sleeping. But he was very much awake now, for he moved even as Rob took notice of his presence.
The queer chorus of sounds continued to arise from various points near by. Rob made up his mind that they must be actually surrounded by some species of animal that certainly sang away off the proper key, for they made a noise that jarred on his ear terribly.
"Hear 'em, don't you, Rob?" continued Andy, who doubtless must have beenobserving the movements of the acting scout master all this while by the aid of that friendly moonlight.
"Do I? Well, I'd have to be pretty deaf not to, Andy," Rob replied.
"What do you reckon it can be? I never in all my life heard such an awful lot of discord," continued the other scout apprehensively.
"I'm only giving a wide guess," Rob told him; "but I should think only a pack of wolves could make a racket like that; or perhaps now, coyotes."
"How about that, Lopez?" Merritt struck in; and the guide, chuckling, replied:
"Last is what it is, young señors; kiote make much noise when hungry. It is our food they scent. Kiote happen to have a very keen nose. No trouble, no danger as long as they hang around. Too much coward to sneak in; and long as we hear kiote sing, we know no spy can be near, or they run away."
"Sing!" burst out Andy with a snort; "is that what they call it down here? Mebbe some folks like that sort of song, but let me tell you it grates on my ears like the screeching of a pack of cats at night. Sing!Whoo-ee! are you joshing us poor tenderfeet, Lopez?"
"Oh! there's nothing like getting used to things, Andy," Rob assured him, while at the same time he was in doubt whether he himself could go to sleep again if all that noise kept up right along. "After a while, when you've heard that chant nightly, you may think it's the finest lullaby ever invented, and miss it the worst kind after you hike away north."
"Don't you believe it, Rob," returned the other positively. "I wouldn't mind being soothed to sleep by sweet sounds, like the thrumming of a guitar or a mandolin; but excuse me from that caterwauling. Listen to it rise and fall! That is just the way our old Tom used to sit on the back fence and talk to the moon till I rigged up a wire along there and connected it with our electric circuit. After that, when I woke and heard him tuning up, all I had to do was to press the button, and everything was still again. But he did always give one awful screech as he lit out!"
"Well, suppose you rig up a switch and circuit here, so you can give these singing coyotes some of the same medicine?" laughed Merritt.
"You know I can't do that," Andy admitted mournfully; "wish I couldright now; and let me tell you there'd be a heap of scatterin' out there when the circuit was closed. But what's the matter with me sneaking out and giving them a shot or two from my rifle? We didn't lug our guns all this way just for ornament, did we? And surely they couldn't be used in a nobler cause than to get us poor tired fellows decent sleep."
"How about that, Lopez?" asked Rob. "Do you think there would be any danger of the shots betraying our camp to others who might happen to be around?"
"The danger it is not much," came the reply; "and as for that, the singing of the kiote pack, it tell that a camp must be here; so there is no difference."
"That settles it, then," said Andy exultantly, as he began to unwrap himself from his blanket and grope for his rifle; "and mebbe I won't surprise a few of the noisy gents out there!"
"Don't go too far," Rob warned him, as he started to crawl away on his hands and knees, trailing his gun after him.
"I won't," Andy whispered back, turning his head and then giving alittle flirt with one hand in his customary jolly way.
"No use trying to go to sleep till the circus ends, is there?" Merritt demanded, as he shuffled around, trying to get into an easier position.
"Just what I'd made up my mind to myself," replied Rob, following suit.
"Look at Tubby here, sleeping as sweetly as an overgrown baby," the corporal of the Eagle Patrol went on to say with a low laugh.
"Oh! Tubby is the best sleeper I ever knew," Rob assured him. "He often talks as if he had been wakeful all the night, but it's a false alarm. He can sleep through a pretty good thunder-storm, and then remark in the morning that he thinks it must have rained a little during the night. But wait and see if he hears the noise when Andy lets fly with his repeating rifle!"
"Cracky! that's a fact. Chances are he'll just sit up and say the mosquitoes are beginning to get bothersome, for he just heard one singing near his ear; and then he'll call out to ask you for the dope to rub on," Merritt remarked, humorously.
"Wait and see," said Rob; "and it can't be long coming now, because I should think Andy must have crawled far enough to glimpse the circle ofmourners."
Hardly had Rob spoken than there came a loud report, instantly followed by a series of yelps, that were drowned in snarls and howls as the other coyotes took after their wounded comrade.
Both boys had their eyes focused on the mound that stood for the sleeping Tubby. There was a sudden upheaval, and the blanket flew aside, revealing the fat scout trying to scramble to his knees with every symptom of alarm.
"Oh! what was that terrible noise?" he stammered. "Rob! Oh, Rob, are we attacked by Injuns? Or was that thunder? Where am I at? Who's got a torch lighted up there? Whatever does it all mean, anyway?"
"Keep cool, Tubby," said Rob, while Merritt laughed at a great rate, although rather softly; "it's all right, no danger. The camp was surrounded by a pack of coyotes, that's all; and their singing kept Andy awake, so he asked permission to crawl out and knock a few of them over. You heard him shoot, and he must have wounded a prowler, for the whole pack took after it at a hot pace. That's all!"
"Oh, is it, Rob? Then, what's the sense of sitting up in the cold andwasting time, when you might be getting forty winks?" With which remark the fat boy cuddled down again under his blanket, and settled himself to resume his interrupted slumbers.
Rob and Merritt laughed again and again over his matter-of-fact way; but beyond a grunt or two, Tubby paid no attention to them. Presently Andy came back, a satisfied grin resting on his good-natured face.
"Told you I'd pickle one silly old coyote, anyway," he remarked, as he prepared to settle down again in his nest.
"We heard him call out, and then the whole pack seemed to chase away after him. Was that the way, Andy?" Merritt asked.
"They all went spinning off in the direction of the desert there; and the one I hit must have been ahead of the pack, because I could hear him tooting up at a great rate. Sho! there must have been all of a dozen in the lot! Bet you they don't come around here in a hurry again after that lesson!"
But Andy was mistaken. In less than half an hour the howls started in once more, at first from some distance, but gradually drawing closer,until apparently the coyote concert band was again at the old stand, appealing to Andy to try it once more, and provide them with some further pickings.
Andy, however, refused to be tempted, for Rob, who was also awake, told him he would have to sit up the balance of the night, since the animals were bound to return time and again; nor would he be able to induce them to stop their wailing, since, driven from the vicinity of the camp, they would stand afar off and start a new chant.
All of the boys were glad when the first peep of dawn drove the coyotes to their dens among the rocks in the hills, or some barranca near by.
Just as Rob had said, they would undoubtedly become more or less accustomed to such nightly serenades in time, and pay little heed to the howling. To one used to sleeping in the open, where wolves and coyotes abound, the chorus comes to be a species of protection; and if it suddenly ceased in the middle of the night he would immediately rouse himself to investigate what had driven the pack away, for it must either be a human enemy, or a jaguar.
The boys expected, after partaking of hot coffee and a light breakfast, to resume their gallop toward the south. Andy busied himself in layingthe fire, which they had allowed the guide to do on the previous evening, although any one of the boys knew as much about arranging this as Lopez. He had had actual experience all his adventurous life; but, then, they had practiced the art of building cooking fires as one of the duties with which a scout should be familiar, and they knew just how to get the best results.
Besides, the boys had learned something from the way Lopez selected their camp site. They could guess why it was screened by thickets on nearly all sides; and also why it lay in a slight depression, so that the glow of the little blaze might not draw inquisitive strangers, as an exposed light would.
They had learned long ago to keep their eyes open so as to see everything that went on around them. Rob in particular was always on the alert, and if he thought any of the others failed to grasp what a certain thing meant, it was his habit to call their attention to the circumstances. For that is what a patrol leader is expected to do when he has been elevated to his important position.
Andy had just managed to get the cooking fire ready, and was askingTubby to bring him the frying-pan, because they expected to have a rasher of bacon for breakfast, to go with the hardtack and coffee. At that moment the horse of the guide, staked near by, began to snort and prance, as well as give other indications of excitement. Lopez had been in the act of rolling up his blanket into a small bundle that could easily be carried behind his saddle. He seemed to know instinctively what these riotous actions on the part of his mount stood for; because, with an exclamation of alarm, he jumped for his gun that rested against a tree trunk.
Rob did the same, ditto Merritt; while Andy continued to kneel there in front of his little fire as though frozen stiff. As for Tubby, he dropped the frying-pan in a panic and snatched up the camp hatchet.
Rob had already caught the sound of horses' hoofs near by; and even as he turned his eyes in the quarter from which the sounds seemed to spring, there came around the end of the thicket a couple of horsemen, who, on discovering the camp with its surprised inmates, drew their mounts in abruptly and sat there in their saddles staring hard.
Rob could see that the men were garbed in a sort of dirty white uniform; and from this he quickly judged that they must be a couple of Salazar's cavalrymen, sent out to burn bridges and demoralize the railroad completely between Chihuahua and Juarez. As Federals were bound to look upon all Americans as their bitter enemies, on account of the attitude taken by the Washington authorities concerning President Huerta, the patrol leader guessed that they were in for another experience.