CHAPTER XIALEX GOES FISHING“Never thought of that!” Clay declared.“Give ’em five minutes to vacate!”It was Rube who made the suggestion. By this time both Buck and Rube had climbed back into the boat, and had gathered around the dynamite, though taking good care to keep near the boat’s rail, so they could leap overboard in case anything went off prematurely.“I don’t like that stuff, nohow!” Rube declared, backing away, as Clay prepared to throw a stick. “Why don’t you give ’em a chance to leave the boat?” he added.“I thought I’d give them a taste of the stuff first,” was the reply. “Not enough to hurt—just a little boat-rocker!”“The five minutes are about up!” came a voice from theEsmeralda. “What is your decision?”“Here it is!” shouted Clay.He threw the dynamite as he spoke against a log that lay in the stream just under the bow of theEsmeralda.The boat rocked viciously for some time. Clay waited for the motion to cease and threw again, coming a little nearer the hull of theEsmeraldathis time.“How do you like it?” Case queried.The only reply was a shower of bullets, which bounded from the armor of theRamblerlike so many grains of rice.An effort was now made to back the boat out of the reach of Clay’s arm, but, the craft, having been run into the creek prow first, this could not be done without the person who attempted it coming within the range of the boy’s steady aim.“If you try that,” warned Case, “the boat will be blown up! We have dynamite enough on hand to do the business.”“The best way out of this scrape,” put in Alex, “is for you to stop shooting and also get out of the boat! If you don’t, the craft will be destroyed. Do you get that?”“The first man who tries to get to the anchor-chain will regret it,” Clay put in. “That will be the signal for the blowing up of theEsmeralda.”“The best thing you can do is to quickstep off the boat!” Buck suggested. “The lads have you too dead to skin.”“And no shooting after you get ashore, mind,” added Rube.Had there been a man in the crew with the nerve of either one of the boys, or of Rube or Buck, there would have been “doings,” but all feared the sticks of dynamite in Clay’s hands.While the outlaws consulted together, not knowing what course to pursue, one of their number fired a shot at Clay.The boy staggered and would have fallen had not Alex sprang forward and caught him. Blood was pouring in a stream from a wound in his arm, and he sat down behind the railing to catch his breath.“Close call, that!” he said, with a faint smile.Buck seized the dynamite, which had fallen to the deck, and hurled it across the water in the direction of theEsmeralda.It struck the bow of the boat and shattered it to splinters. The next instant marked an exit from the boat.The robbers fell over each other getting out. In a minute all were out, and theEsmeraldalay rocking in the river.“Turn the motors on—quick!”Clay was on his feet, with the blood still pouring from the bullet hole in his arm, making suggestions for the guidance of the others. It was well that he was quick to speak.Before the motors could be brought to use, a storm of bullets was flying at theRambler.“Turn off the lights,” said Clay.Then he fainted from loss of blood and the pain of the wound.The command was obeyed, theEsmeraldawas taken in tow, and theRamblermoved slowly into the stream.As theRamblerdrew up to theEsmeraldaand passed her, Buck sprang aboard over the wrecked prow and switched off the lights. All was now in darkness, but the robbers continued to fire as long as the boats were in sight.Half a mile down the river the lights were switched on again, and Clay’s wound examined. The boy was still unconscious, an artery having been severed.While the examination was going on a hail was heard from the east shore, and the motor boat checked her speed.“What’s wanted?” asked Buck.“Want to come aboard,” was the reply.“Are you alone?” was the next question. “Stand out where I can see you.”The stranger moved to a position where the rays of light fell full upon him, revealing a slender man of twenty-five or under. He was neatly dressed in black, and wore a slouch hat.“Why do you want to come on board?” Buck demanded.“To get out of the rain,” was the answer. “My shoes are wet through, and I’m chilled to the bone.”“Shall we take him aboard?” Buck asked.“Sure thing!” said Rube, who was the only other person on the deck, the three boys being in attendance on Clay. “I reckon we can handle one man! Besides, the fellow really looks civilized. Anyhow, we’ll give him a chance to tell his story.”“All right!” Buck shouted back. “We’ll give you a chance to dry out, but you’ll have to swim for it.”“I fail to see how I could get any wetter than I am now!” answered the stranger, plunging into the river and striking out for the boat. “In fact, I think the river water an improvement over rain water.”The stranger climbed up on deck and shook himself.“When I had the honor to associate with the crew of theRamblerbefore,” the man began, but Buck seized him by the shoulder and ran him into the cabin.“You look to me,” he declared, “like the man who recently did a job of surgery. ’Cause why? There ain’t been no other people on board the boat, except you and the river pirates and the boys.”Paul struggled into a sitting posture and almost shouted out his recognition of the stranger.“Just in time to save a life!” he said. “Clay must have bled to death in another hour!”Without speaking a word, the surgeon stripped off his coat and set to work on the wounded boy. The men gathered about the lad held their breath while awaiting the surgeon’s verdict.“A bad wound,” he finally said.“Is it fatal?” asked Alex in a whisper.“Not necessarily so,” was the answer. “If I only had a tourniquet,” he added, “the job would be an easy one, but the boy has lost considerable blood, and——”Alex interrupted the surgeon by shouting that there was such an instrument in the medicine box, and dashing off to fetch it.“I guess I’m getting dippy,” the boy said, as he laid the instrument down. “I knew that the tourniquet was in the medicine box. I’m sure getting balmy in the crumpet.”This was slang of the worst kind, but the boys were too excited to remark it. The surgeon took the instrument and put it in position, remarking as he did so that the boy had already lost enough blood to run a mill.“Can you bring him through now?” Jule asked eagerly.“It is simply a question of good care,” was the reply.The surgeon worked over the lad for a long time before he returned to consciousness. When at last he opened his eyes there was a smile in them.He was still very faint, but he was very nervy.“Where did you come from?” he asked the surgeon in a whisper.The surgeon laughed.“I came out of the rain!” was the reply.“That’s Theodore Rand, formerly of the pirate craftRambler,” said Paul. “He’s the quickest man at a broken leg I ever saw! I’m going to have him promoted. He’s going to be Chief Surgeon in the army before he dies!”“Were you really aboard theRamblerbefore?” asked Case.“Of course he was,” interrupted Paul. “Didn’t he set my broken leg? That’s some surgeon!”“But I don’t see how you got away from the pirates,” Jule exclaimed. “They don’t let go when they get hold of a man like you. They cling to him like a puppy to a root!”“Well,” said Theodore, known forever thereafter as “Thede,” “you see, the outlaws had need of my services. They had a man shot through the lungs, and I came along in my skiff just in time to be too late. They rewarded me by stealing my instruments and putting me off the boat just below the spot I set this boy’s leg.”“Then you must have had a long walk in the rain,” Case remarked. “And you must be good and hungry.”“I could eat a rhinoceros right now!” said the surgeon. “I have been waiting for an invitation to eat.”Alex sprang to his feet.“That makes me think that I haven’t had a square meal since I left theRambler!” he exclaimed. “Now, if the river thieves haven’t cleaned out the refrigerator, I’ll get you a supper that’ll make you sit up and take notice!”It was pretty poor picking in the refrigerator, but there was plenty of tinned goods, and the boys managed to get a very satisfying meal. Alex washed the dishes under protest!“Where do you want to get off?” asked Case, as theRambler, still with theEsmeraldain tow, headed toward the Gulf of Mexico.“I’m going to any old point in the South,” was the answer. “You see,” explained the doctor, “I didn’t do very well at the town I set up my office in, so I took my instruments and started to walk to the next place.“I was having rather a pleasant time of it when hailed from theRambler. It seems that there had been a row on board, and that one of the gang had received a bullet through the lungs.“Of course I did what I could for the man; but that was not much. He died just before I was put off the boat.”“And was buried on the river bank,” explained Paul. “That must have been about dark.”“It seems longer ago than that,” laughed the surgeon. “Anyway, it appears to me that I’ve been walking in the rain ever since the Deluge! Now I haven’t got any more tools to work with than a rabbit! And the scamps took what little money I had with me, too!”“That is easily fixed,” said Rube, producing his roll. “Just have one of the boys go good for it, and tell me how much you want!”“I’ll go good for $10,” declared Case. “The doctor has certainly earned that much.”Rube peeled off a bank note and passed it over to the surgeon, who took it hesitatingly.“But this is a $20,” he explained.“That’s all right,” Rube announced. “You may pay me the other $10 when you get on your feet.” The surgeon expressed his thanks, and Rube put away his roll and asked Case to slow down so he could board theEsmeralda.“You see, Buck,” he explained, “we’ve got to be getting a move on if we get theEsmeraldain shape again.”“Tell you what,” Alex proposed, “suppose we have a fish breakfast. I just know there’s bullheads in this river.”“Bullheads in the Rio Grande!” scoffed Jule.“Just you wait!” replied the boy.So Alex and Jule went over theRambler’s side after fish.CHAPTER XIIA QUEER PASSENGERThere was a faint flush of dawn in the east when the rowboat left theRambler’s side and struck out into the river. The motor boat had been slowed down to the pace of the other, and the surgeon and Case watched the boys from the deck.As the prow light was still burning, their view of the scene was exceptionally good. The rain had ceased, and the morning stars were shining. The day promised to be a fine one.Clay was asleep when the rowboat was launched, so the two boys had nothing to worry over. They had every confidence in the surgeon, and believed in the ultimate recovery of their chum.“It is a trifle light to fish for bullheads, but the burning of the prow light will make the fish think we have a torch especially for their benefit, so they may bite after all!”It was Jule who emitted this bit of wisdom about fish thinking, and Alex laughed him to scorn.“Fish can’t think,” he laughed. “They haven’t the machinery for thought in their make-up.”“Much you know about fish!” Jule answered. “I’ve seen fish that would come to the surface when their master whistled! And there is a fish at Lincoln Park which——”There is no knowing how much longer the fish story would have continued if just at that instant Alex had not seen his bobber, making little circles in the river.“You’ve got a bite, Alex,” Case shouted from the deck of theRambler. “Look out or he’ll pull you under!”“Never you mind about his pulling me under!” Alex answered. “This is a pet fish, and he knows his business! When he gets done playing with the hook, he’ll come to the surface and give himself up, like a good little fish!”But the fish did not come to the surface and give himself up as he was scheduled to do! Alex leaned too far over the edge of the boat and went down to meet the fish!Jule doubled up with laughter, and Case gave advice from the deck of theRambler.“Dive under the fish and bring him to the surface when you are on your way up!” he shouted. “You don’t often get a chance to embrace a live fish!”Alex paid no attention to this advice, but kept his hold on the line. He took time, however, to wrinkle a freckled nose at his tormentor. He seized the rowboat by the prow, and drew himself up.“I always take a bath in the morning,” he said, “it’s good for the health.”“Do you always employ a fish to pull you in?” asked Jule. “I should think you’d run shy of fish!” “See! He never got off the hook!” exclaimed Alex. “Didn’t I explain to you that this was a pet fish? I’ll have him giving a song and dance in a second.”“I hope the song and dance will be given in the frying pan!” contributed Case, speaking from the deck of theRambler. “I’m hungry enough to eat stones out of the river.”“Just you wait a second and I’ll have this one simmering in the frying pan!” Alex said, getting a better hold on the line by winding it around his wrist. “Wonder what kind of fish this is? He’s a corker for weight, anyway.”When the “fish” was at last brought to the surface it proved to be a long and vexatious snag!“Hi!” laughed Case, from theRambler’s deck, “how do you work it when you want to exercise that fish? Pet of yours, eh?”Alex scratched his head and joined in the laugh.“Anyway,” he declared, “if there’s a fish in the Rio Grande I’ll introduce him to you! We’ve got to have that fish breakfast!”By this time Rube and Buck, having inspected theEsmeraldaand discovered that the injury to the prow was not as serious as at first supposed, had joined the surgeon and Case on the deck of theRambler. The two boats were now tied together, so that the prow of theEsmeraldaran flush with the aft deck of theRambler.“What’s that about a fish breakfast?” asked Buck.“You just hold your horses for a couple of minutes, and you’ll see!” was Alex’s reply. “I’m so hungry, right now, that I’m turning black in the face.”“How would you like to have a good, steady job driving a pie wagon?” questioned Case. “That might suit you as long as the pie held out! Of all the nice, good-looking, long-distance pie-destroyers you take the cake.”For reply Alex wrinkled his nose and pointed to Captain Joe, who had left the deck of theRamblerfor the river, and was now swimming round and round the rowboat.“He’s taking his morning bath,” he said. “Go away, dog, don’t spoil my fishing,” he added, as Captain Joe attempted to get into the boat.“Captain Joe!” called the parrot. “Good Captain Joe! Come to me, you cur dog!”If the dog had any objections to being called a cur dog he said nothing on the subject, but continued to swim round and round the rowboat.“What’s the matter with the dog?” Alex asked, moving over to a side of the boat where he could get a full view of the dog, “I wonder if he isn’t going crazy.”He called to the dog, but he continued to swim round and round the boat.“Well, of all the fool capers that I ever came across, you certainly are the whole biscuit! What do you see down there in the river, Captain Joe?”The thing Joe saw took the form of a man. So far as the boys could see, he was rather neatly dressed in clothing which was wet with the wash of the river.He was clinging to the side of the rowboat when first seen, but let go his hold and struck out for the shore. Evidently an expert in the water, he was halfway to the land before the occupants of either theRambleror the rowboat recovered from their amazement and thought of stopping him.Taking advantage of the darkness, the fellow had traveled for perhaps an hour, perhaps two, in the bottom of the rowboat. Then, when the boys had use for the boat, the only thing he could do was to take to the river.They remembered that the rowboat had not been used since the robbers had been driven off with dynamite. The man might be a river pirate for all any member of the party knew.TheRambler, being nearer to the swimmer than the other boat, at once turned her prow in his direction, but he reached shoal water before they overtook him, and disappeared in the thicket.“Wouldn’t that frost you?” exclaimed Alex, bending over the edge of the boat and looking as if he expected to see more men where the swimmer had released his hold. “Say, but that man, whoever he is, can go some in the water!”“I should say he could!” said Jule. “Where did he come from? Where did he go? If that act of his was a disappearing one, he certainly did it right!”“I guess theRamblerobstructed our view,” explained Alex. “I’d like to know how long we’ve been carrying passengers, anyhow.”TheRamblernow returned from her fruitless quest of the stranger and anchored by the side of the rowboat.“How long have you been leaking passengers?” Case demanded. “How many more have you got concealed in the boat?”“Go ahead and get that fish!” said Rube, rubbing his stomach. “I feel like the Mammoth Cave!”“Lock him up in a bakery, then, for I don’t think there’s any fish in the blooming river. If he’s hungry enough to chew buns, turn him loose on em!It was Alex who gave this advice. For the next few minutes he busied himself making a closer examination of the boat.“Look here,” he exclaimed, “who is there in this party that can read Greek? There’s a lot of queer writing on the rear end of the boat. I’d like to know what it means.”All was excitement after this announcement, and Case and Buck climbed down into the rowboat.The writing was in pencil, and was already half obliterated.“Can you make anything of it?” asked Case, bending over the side of the boat.“Not a thing,” was the reply. “I think it must be Hebrew! Anyway, it’s some sort of warning. Or it may be a threat.”“Much you know about it!” laughed Case.“What about that fish breakfast?” Rube called out from the motor boat. “I’m so hungry I could eat nails.”“Well, I presume that means me,” Alex replied. “If I’ve got to catch a fish for breakfast, you’ve got to get out of this boat. How can I get a fish with all you people on board?”“But we haven’t read the writing yet,” urged Jule.“That can wait for a time. Rube will be crying his eyes out in a minute! Anyway, the writing will keep.”“No, it won’t,” Buck cut in. “If you’re ever going to read it, it strikes me that now’s the time.”“All right!” declared Alex, “if you want to delay the fish breakfast, give me a knife, and I’ll cut the letters out.”“Better use a saw,” advised Buck.“Happy thought!” said Alex. “But where’s your saw? Do you happen to have one in your pocket?”Case clambered to the deck of the motor boat and soon returned with a saw from the tool-chest.Buck took the tool and fell to work so vigorously that the rim of the boat, where the writing was, soon lay in his hand.“Now you can order your fish breakfast as soon as you like,” he said, putting the piece of wood he had removed into a pocket ... “I suspect that Rube will be referring to it until he gets fed.”“You bet he will!” came from the deck of theRambler.“Could you eat a piece of cherry pie?”Jule asked the question, and was answered in a quick affirmative. Then he said he’d see about getting one when he got to El Paso!“You’re a fraud!” laughed Rube. “I don’t want anything to eat, anyway.”“No, you don’t!” Alex said, with a wrinkle in his nose. “I’ve got a photograph of you refusing food!”Case and Buck soon left the rowboat for the deck of theRambler, and Alex went ahead with his fishing, with such good success that a fine string was carried on board theRambler.“Now,” said the lad, “if you’ll get me some butter, I’ll see what I can do with these fishes! You put the ‘-es’ on when you want to put on style.”“Look at this translation Paul made of the writing on the boat! He says it’s French.”Buck came out on deck with a paper in his hand and handed it to Case. The boy took it and read:“The meaning of ‘a l’outrance’ is to the death.”“Who furnished the translation?” questioned Jule.“Paul did,” was the reply.“Can anyone give the meaning of the translation?” asked Case.“Why, it means just what it says, ‘to the death,’” said Jule.“Is that a threat or a promise?” asked Buck.“It may be either,” was the answer.CHAPTER XIIION THE MEXICAN SIDEAlex’s fish breakfast was a culinary success, but over it hung the shadow of that threat. But was it a threat?The boys discussed it from every possible angle only to come back to the original question:Was it a threat or a promise?“Well, he’ll have a fine time catching theRambler,” said Case. “He’s got to go some if he does. And he’ll need an aeroplane in order to do it.”“He may have an aeroplane secreted in his pocket,” Jule said.However, two days passed and they heard nothing of either the river thieves or the stranger. When El Paso was reached Buck and Rube prepared for departure.“You boys started out with accommodations for four,” said Buck, “and you’ve kept collecting about every person you came across until you’ve doubled the crew.”“I can’t see what we should have done without you three men,” Case answered. “In the first place, we never could have got through without Rube’s roll! He was perfectly willing that it should be used, and we accommodated him.”“Then what should we have done without Thede? There’s a man that knows how to set a leg or bind up an artery! We certainly couldn’t have left him out. I think, when you come to size the whole thing up, we carried just enough people to do what had to be done. How does that strike you, Alex?”“Right you are,” answered the boy addressed. “We haven’t been a bit crowded, and we’ve had plenty to eat. I wish Rube and Buck were going on with us.”“I’d eat you out of house and home,” laughed Rube. “I presume you boys noticed that I have quite an appetite.”“Just about the size of mine!” said Alex.El Paso was the scene of great activity a year ago, when the Rio Grande was the dividing line between the United States and Mexico. Streets were crowded with men in uniform, and restaurants and saloons contributed their full quota to the general confusion.The city, however, was quieter now, and the boys had no difficulty in finding their way about. Troops still guarded the Mexican line, but they were inconspicuous.Clay had, in a measure, recovered, though he was still weak. He was able to sit on deck and watch the moving panorama which is to be seen in all frontier cities.The first trip taken by Case and Alex was to the bank, where they found the money waiting for them. As the telegram had instructed the cashier to pay the money over “without identification, at the risk of the remitter,” the boys had no difficulty whatever in securing it. They paid Rube in full, and insisted on his taking an extra $20, for being “a good fellow in the time of trouble.”TheEsmeralda’sprow had been repaired on the way down, and she was now in perfect condition. The boys saw her disappear around a bend in the river with sincere regret.They had been friends in need, and “a friend in need is a friend indeed,” as the old saying runs. But they had not seen the last of either one of them.Thede, the surgeon, decided, at the earnest solicitation of the boys, to remain on board the motor boat. Clay was still in a feeble condition, and Paul’s broken leg needed constant care, so it was decided that the doctor should remain on board.Captain Joe, the parrot, and even Teddy Junior, the bear cub, seemed to extend a welcoming paw and claw to the doctor and Paul. Provisions for the remainder of the trip were laid in at El Paso, and on the second day theRambler, as trim a boat as ever plowed the waters of the Rio Grande, lifted her anchor and sailed away.Those were glorious days for theRamblercrew. The time was late in May, and at that season Nature is at her best in the South.The boys fished and loafed about the deck of the motor boat until Clay was almost well again, and Paul insisted on being taken to the deck to watch the life on the river.They heard no more of the river thieves, and everything moved along as placidly as if they had never interfered with the current of their lives. But this was only for a time.One brilliant night when theRamblerwas given just sufficient motion to give steerage way, when Alex and Jule were on watch, the former asked, abruptly:“Was it a threat or a promise?”“I’ve been thinking the matter over,” was the answer, “and I find there is not a thing the river robbers had to give or offer. So we may as well cut out the promise part. On the other hand, we know pretty well what the devils would do to us if we again came into their power.“Therefore,” he continued, “we don’t welcome a meeting. Still, if it comes, I don’t think we’ll dodge. That wouldn’t be good form, would it now?”“No,” replied Alex, “I don’t think it would. But we ought to do everything in our power to avoid a collision with them. Some day, if we don’t watch out, we’ll get the worst of it. We can’t expect to win out in every encounter.”“Right you are!” declared Jule.“I wonder how those Greasers, over there, live?” asked Alex. “Dirty and greasy as ever, I presume?”“You bet!” answered Jule.“Some day when we are not on watch, and the boat is lying at anchor. I’ll stump you to go and see,” continued Alex. “Some of the sights in a Mexican town must be worth seeing.”“You’re on!” answered Jule.“I have the meaning of that French writing,” decided Alex, after a long pause. “It is this: ‘Wait until I catch you!’ How’s that for a free translation?”“It’s free enough,” laughed Jule. “Only I don’t see how we can wait, as the river insists on bearing us along on its noble and rather muddy bosom.”“I’ve got a hunch,” said Alex soberly, “that the next time we run afoul of the river thieves it won’t be so easy to get away. In other words, I’ve got a premonition of approaching danger.”“Nonsense!” Jule exclaimed. “You’ve got a case of indigestion, if anybody should ask you! I thought at the time that you were making rather free with that potato salad.”“Oh, all right! Make fun of the hunch if you want to, but it is a really, truly, warranted-not-to-shrink-or-fade-in-the-washing hunch. Just you mark that down and keep for future reference.”Captain Joe now came out to Alex and stood rubbing his nose against the boy’s hand.“Look here!” the dog appeared to be trying to say, “if you’ve got anything important coming off, produce it. I have a few hours which are hanging rather heavily on my hands.”“Want to go to shore, Captain Joe?” Alex asked.The dog said that he did as plainly as ever a dog said anything and Alex got to his feet with a yawn.He whistled about the deck for a time with hands in pockets, as if about to say something which he was positive would not meet with the sanction of his chum. At last, however, he found words for it.“I suppose I’ll have to go and give the dog a run on the bank. That seems to be about the only way I can keep him quiet.”“No, you don’t!” laughed Jule. “If you get ashore that will be the last of you until someone comes and looks you up. The last time you got away——”Alex, followed by the dog, sprang to the rail and leaped into the river. Pausing only long enough to turn a laughing face toward his chum, very much wrinkled as to nose, the boy, closely followed by the dog, struck out for the Mexican shore.“I’ve a good mind to jump in after you!” Jule called out. “You have all the fun!”“Come on in!” Alex called back. “The water’s fine! I’ll just give Captain Joe a run on shore and come right back.”Jule hesitated only an instant. What boy can resist a night in May, when the moon shines, and the waves make music on the beach? It is a shame to tempt a boy with a stream of water which ripples and murmurs on such a night.Jule was tempted—and fell.The Rio Grande is quite wide at the point where the boys entered the water, and theRamblerwas about in the center of the stream, making the swim a long one. The lads, however, struck out bravely and soon landed on a swampy tongue of land which formed a peninsula at that point.“Say, but this is great!” cried Alex. “I wish Case was here to enjoy it with us.”Captain Joe seemed to think his frolic in the moonlight about the correct thing. He dived under the surface and pretended to catch the boys by their legs; he brought chips and driftwood from the stream and invited the boys to play tag with him.At last he lay down on a bit of grass, signifying that his play spell was over, and that he would like to return to the boat.But there was no boat in sight.Then, and not until then, did the boys recollect that the boat was in motion—under steerway motion, it is true, but even steerway motion will sometimes carry a boat a long way, especially when the boys who should be guarding it are giving their attention to something else.“The boys will wake up and come back after us,” said Jule.“Of course they will,” agreed Alex.Alex and Jule waited a long time, but there were no signs of the boat coming back after them.“If we remain right where we landed,” Jule finally said, “they will be certain to find us.”“That would be all right if they knew where we landed, but they don’t. The thing for them to do is to look along the shore until they see us. What a fool trick that was, leaving the boat unguarded. Unless someone on board wakes up, they may sail half the forenoon. I feel like giving myself a swift kick.”“I reckon you don’t feel that way more than I do,” replied Jule. “I suppose the boys will think we have deserted them.”“Or that we have been lured from the boat and murdered,” added Alex. “What’s the matter with you now, Captain Joe? What have you found in the bushes?”The thing which showed in the bushes where the dog was looking was the pointed hat of a Mexican.“Look there!” Alex said, not in the least alarmed, but with the notion that in some way the man could assist.The next moment a gun was leveled at the two boys and a voice said in excellent English:“Throw up your hands!”As the boys were without weapons, the command was instantly obeyed. Then four rough-looking men came out of the thicket in single file and stood in front of the astonished boys.“What is the meaning of this?” Alex demanded. “Is it a hold-up? If it is, we haven’t got a cent.”Daylight was coming now and the moon was sinking in the West. The faces of the four men were in the shadow, but still it was plain to be seen that they were not out for a morning stroll.The man who appeared to be the leader of the party gave a significant motion and instantly both boys were turned bottom side up while their pockets were being examined.
CHAPTER XI
ALEX GOES FISHING
“Never thought of that!” Clay declared.
“Give ’em five minutes to vacate!”
It was Rube who made the suggestion. By this time both Buck and Rube had climbed back into the boat, and had gathered around the dynamite, though taking good care to keep near the boat’s rail, so they could leap overboard in case anything went off prematurely.
“I don’t like that stuff, nohow!” Rube declared, backing away, as Clay prepared to throw a stick. “Why don’t you give ’em a chance to leave the boat?” he added.
“I thought I’d give them a taste of the stuff first,” was the reply. “Not enough to hurt—just a little boat-rocker!”
“The five minutes are about up!” came a voice from theEsmeralda. “What is your decision?”
“Here it is!” shouted Clay.
He threw the dynamite as he spoke against a log that lay in the stream just under the bow of theEsmeralda.
The boat rocked viciously for some time. Clay waited for the motion to cease and threw again, coming a little nearer the hull of theEsmeraldathis time.
“How do you like it?” Case queried.
The only reply was a shower of bullets, which bounded from the armor of theRamblerlike so many grains of rice.
An effort was now made to back the boat out of the reach of Clay’s arm, but, the craft, having been run into the creek prow first, this could not be done without the person who attempted it coming within the range of the boy’s steady aim.
“If you try that,” warned Case, “the boat will be blown up! We have dynamite enough on hand to do the business.”
“The best way out of this scrape,” put in Alex, “is for you to stop shooting and also get out of the boat! If you don’t, the craft will be destroyed. Do you get that?”
“The first man who tries to get to the anchor-chain will regret it,” Clay put in. “That will be the signal for the blowing up of theEsmeralda.”
“The best thing you can do is to quickstep off the boat!” Buck suggested. “The lads have you too dead to skin.”
“And no shooting after you get ashore, mind,” added Rube.
Had there been a man in the crew with the nerve of either one of the boys, or of Rube or Buck, there would have been “doings,” but all feared the sticks of dynamite in Clay’s hands.
While the outlaws consulted together, not knowing what course to pursue, one of their number fired a shot at Clay.
The boy staggered and would have fallen had not Alex sprang forward and caught him. Blood was pouring in a stream from a wound in his arm, and he sat down behind the railing to catch his breath.
“Close call, that!” he said, with a faint smile.
Buck seized the dynamite, which had fallen to the deck, and hurled it across the water in the direction of theEsmeralda.
It struck the bow of the boat and shattered it to splinters. The next instant marked an exit from the boat.
The robbers fell over each other getting out. In a minute all were out, and theEsmeraldalay rocking in the river.
“Turn the motors on—quick!”
Clay was on his feet, with the blood still pouring from the bullet hole in his arm, making suggestions for the guidance of the others. It was well that he was quick to speak.
Before the motors could be brought to use, a storm of bullets was flying at theRambler.
“Turn off the lights,” said Clay.
Then he fainted from loss of blood and the pain of the wound.
The command was obeyed, theEsmeraldawas taken in tow, and theRamblermoved slowly into the stream.
As theRamblerdrew up to theEsmeraldaand passed her, Buck sprang aboard over the wrecked prow and switched off the lights. All was now in darkness, but the robbers continued to fire as long as the boats were in sight.
Half a mile down the river the lights were switched on again, and Clay’s wound examined. The boy was still unconscious, an artery having been severed.
While the examination was going on a hail was heard from the east shore, and the motor boat checked her speed.
“What’s wanted?” asked Buck.
“Want to come aboard,” was the reply.
“Are you alone?” was the next question. “Stand out where I can see you.”
The stranger moved to a position where the rays of light fell full upon him, revealing a slender man of twenty-five or under. He was neatly dressed in black, and wore a slouch hat.
“Why do you want to come on board?” Buck demanded.
“To get out of the rain,” was the answer. “My shoes are wet through, and I’m chilled to the bone.”
“Shall we take him aboard?” Buck asked.
“Sure thing!” said Rube, who was the only other person on the deck, the three boys being in attendance on Clay. “I reckon we can handle one man! Besides, the fellow really looks civilized. Anyhow, we’ll give him a chance to tell his story.”
“All right!” Buck shouted back. “We’ll give you a chance to dry out, but you’ll have to swim for it.”
“I fail to see how I could get any wetter than I am now!” answered the stranger, plunging into the river and striking out for the boat. “In fact, I think the river water an improvement over rain water.”
The stranger climbed up on deck and shook himself.
“When I had the honor to associate with the crew of theRamblerbefore,” the man began, but Buck seized him by the shoulder and ran him into the cabin.
“You look to me,” he declared, “like the man who recently did a job of surgery. ’Cause why? There ain’t been no other people on board the boat, except you and the river pirates and the boys.”
Paul struggled into a sitting posture and almost shouted out his recognition of the stranger.
“Just in time to save a life!” he said. “Clay must have bled to death in another hour!”
Without speaking a word, the surgeon stripped off his coat and set to work on the wounded boy. The men gathered about the lad held their breath while awaiting the surgeon’s verdict.
“A bad wound,” he finally said.
“Is it fatal?” asked Alex in a whisper.
“Not necessarily so,” was the answer. “If I only had a tourniquet,” he added, “the job would be an easy one, but the boy has lost considerable blood, and——”
Alex interrupted the surgeon by shouting that there was such an instrument in the medicine box, and dashing off to fetch it.
“I guess I’m getting dippy,” the boy said, as he laid the instrument down. “I knew that the tourniquet was in the medicine box. I’m sure getting balmy in the crumpet.”
This was slang of the worst kind, but the boys were too excited to remark it. The surgeon took the instrument and put it in position, remarking as he did so that the boy had already lost enough blood to run a mill.
“Can you bring him through now?” Jule asked eagerly.
“It is simply a question of good care,” was the reply.
The surgeon worked over the lad for a long time before he returned to consciousness. When at last he opened his eyes there was a smile in them.
He was still very faint, but he was very nervy.
“Where did you come from?” he asked the surgeon in a whisper.
The surgeon laughed.
“I came out of the rain!” was the reply.
“That’s Theodore Rand, formerly of the pirate craftRambler,” said Paul. “He’s the quickest man at a broken leg I ever saw! I’m going to have him promoted. He’s going to be Chief Surgeon in the army before he dies!”
“Were you really aboard theRamblerbefore?” asked Case.
“Of course he was,” interrupted Paul. “Didn’t he set my broken leg? That’s some surgeon!”
“But I don’t see how you got away from the pirates,” Jule exclaimed. “They don’t let go when they get hold of a man like you. They cling to him like a puppy to a root!”
“Well,” said Theodore, known forever thereafter as “Thede,” “you see, the outlaws had need of my services. They had a man shot through the lungs, and I came along in my skiff just in time to be too late. They rewarded me by stealing my instruments and putting me off the boat just below the spot I set this boy’s leg.”
“Then you must have had a long walk in the rain,” Case remarked. “And you must be good and hungry.”
“I could eat a rhinoceros right now!” said the surgeon. “I have been waiting for an invitation to eat.”
Alex sprang to his feet.
“That makes me think that I haven’t had a square meal since I left theRambler!” he exclaimed. “Now, if the river thieves haven’t cleaned out the refrigerator, I’ll get you a supper that’ll make you sit up and take notice!”
It was pretty poor picking in the refrigerator, but there was plenty of tinned goods, and the boys managed to get a very satisfying meal. Alex washed the dishes under protest!
“Where do you want to get off?” asked Case, as theRambler, still with theEsmeraldain tow, headed toward the Gulf of Mexico.
“I’m going to any old point in the South,” was the answer. “You see,” explained the doctor, “I didn’t do very well at the town I set up my office in, so I took my instruments and started to walk to the next place.
“I was having rather a pleasant time of it when hailed from theRambler. It seems that there had been a row on board, and that one of the gang had received a bullet through the lungs.
“Of course I did what I could for the man; but that was not much. He died just before I was put off the boat.”
“And was buried on the river bank,” explained Paul. “That must have been about dark.”
“It seems longer ago than that,” laughed the surgeon. “Anyway, it appears to me that I’ve been walking in the rain ever since the Deluge! Now I haven’t got any more tools to work with than a rabbit! And the scamps took what little money I had with me, too!”
“That is easily fixed,” said Rube, producing his roll. “Just have one of the boys go good for it, and tell me how much you want!”
“I’ll go good for $10,” declared Case. “The doctor has certainly earned that much.”
Rube peeled off a bank note and passed it over to the surgeon, who took it hesitatingly.
“But this is a $20,” he explained.
“That’s all right,” Rube announced. “You may pay me the other $10 when you get on your feet.” The surgeon expressed his thanks, and Rube put away his roll and asked Case to slow down so he could board theEsmeralda.
“You see, Buck,” he explained, “we’ve got to be getting a move on if we get theEsmeraldain shape again.”
“Tell you what,” Alex proposed, “suppose we have a fish breakfast. I just know there’s bullheads in this river.”
“Bullheads in the Rio Grande!” scoffed Jule.
“Just you wait!” replied the boy.
So Alex and Jule went over theRambler’s side after fish.
CHAPTER XII
A QUEER PASSENGER
There was a faint flush of dawn in the east when the rowboat left theRambler’s side and struck out into the river. The motor boat had been slowed down to the pace of the other, and the surgeon and Case watched the boys from the deck.
As the prow light was still burning, their view of the scene was exceptionally good. The rain had ceased, and the morning stars were shining. The day promised to be a fine one.
Clay was asleep when the rowboat was launched, so the two boys had nothing to worry over. They had every confidence in the surgeon, and believed in the ultimate recovery of their chum.
“It is a trifle light to fish for bullheads, but the burning of the prow light will make the fish think we have a torch especially for their benefit, so they may bite after all!”
It was Jule who emitted this bit of wisdom about fish thinking, and Alex laughed him to scorn.
“Fish can’t think,” he laughed. “They haven’t the machinery for thought in their make-up.”
“Much you know about fish!” Jule answered. “I’ve seen fish that would come to the surface when their master whistled! And there is a fish at Lincoln Park which——”
There is no knowing how much longer the fish story would have continued if just at that instant Alex had not seen his bobber, making little circles in the river.
“You’ve got a bite, Alex,” Case shouted from the deck of theRambler. “Look out or he’ll pull you under!”
“Never you mind about his pulling me under!” Alex answered. “This is a pet fish, and he knows his business! When he gets done playing with the hook, he’ll come to the surface and give himself up, like a good little fish!”
But the fish did not come to the surface and give himself up as he was scheduled to do! Alex leaned too far over the edge of the boat and went down to meet the fish!
Jule doubled up with laughter, and Case gave advice from the deck of theRambler.
“Dive under the fish and bring him to the surface when you are on your way up!” he shouted. “You don’t often get a chance to embrace a live fish!”
Alex paid no attention to this advice, but kept his hold on the line. He took time, however, to wrinkle a freckled nose at his tormentor. He seized the rowboat by the prow, and drew himself up.
“I always take a bath in the morning,” he said, “it’s good for the health.”
“Do you always employ a fish to pull you in?” asked Jule. “I should think you’d run shy of fish!” “See! He never got off the hook!” exclaimed Alex. “Didn’t I explain to you that this was a pet fish? I’ll have him giving a song and dance in a second.”
“I hope the song and dance will be given in the frying pan!” contributed Case, speaking from the deck of theRambler. “I’m hungry enough to eat stones out of the river.”
“Just you wait a second and I’ll have this one simmering in the frying pan!” Alex said, getting a better hold on the line by winding it around his wrist. “Wonder what kind of fish this is? He’s a corker for weight, anyway.”
When the “fish” was at last brought to the surface it proved to be a long and vexatious snag!
“Hi!” laughed Case, from theRambler’s deck, “how do you work it when you want to exercise that fish? Pet of yours, eh?”
Alex scratched his head and joined in the laugh.
“Anyway,” he declared, “if there’s a fish in the Rio Grande I’ll introduce him to you! We’ve got to have that fish breakfast!”
By this time Rube and Buck, having inspected theEsmeraldaand discovered that the injury to the prow was not as serious as at first supposed, had joined the surgeon and Case on the deck of theRambler. The two boats were now tied together, so that the prow of theEsmeraldaran flush with the aft deck of theRambler.
“What’s that about a fish breakfast?” asked Buck.
“You just hold your horses for a couple of minutes, and you’ll see!” was Alex’s reply. “I’m so hungry, right now, that I’m turning black in the face.”
“How would you like to have a good, steady job driving a pie wagon?” questioned Case. “That might suit you as long as the pie held out! Of all the nice, good-looking, long-distance pie-destroyers you take the cake.”
For reply Alex wrinkled his nose and pointed to Captain Joe, who had left the deck of theRamblerfor the river, and was now swimming round and round the rowboat.
“He’s taking his morning bath,” he said. “Go away, dog, don’t spoil my fishing,” he added, as Captain Joe attempted to get into the boat.
“Captain Joe!” called the parrot. “Good Captain Joe! Come to me, you cur dog!”
If the dog had any objections to being called a cur dog he said nothing on the subject, but continued to swim round and round the rowboat.
“What’s the matter with the dog?” Alex asked, moving over to a side of the boat where he could get a full view of the dog, “I wonder if he isn’t going crazy.”
He called to the dog, but he continued to swim round and round the boat.
“Well, of all the fool capers that I ever came across, you certainly are the whole biscuit! What do you see down there in the river, Captain Joe?”
The thing Joe saw took the form of a man. So far as the boys could see, he was rather neatly dressed in clothing which was wet with the wash of the river.
He was clinging to the side of the rowboat when first seen, but let go his hold and struck out for the shore. Evidently an expert in the water, he was halfway to the land before the occupants of either theRambleror the rowboat recovered from their amazement and thought of stopping him.
Taking advantage of the darkness, the fellow had traveled for perhaps an hour, perhaps two, in the bottom of the rowboat. Then, when the boys had use for the boat, the only thing he could do was to take to the river.
They remembered that the rowboat had not been used since the robbers had been driven off with dynamite. The man might be a river pirate for all any member of the party knew.
TheRambler, being nearer to the swimmer than the other boat, at once turned her prow in his direction, but he reached shoal water before they overtook him, and disappeared in the thicket.
“Wouldn’t that frost you?” exclaimed Alex, bending over the edge of the boat and looking as if he expected to see more men where the swimmer had released his hold. “Say, but that man, whoever he is, can go some in the water!”
“I should say he could!” said Jule. “Where did he come from? Where did he go? If that act of his was a disappearing one, he certainly did it right!”
“I guess theRamblerobstructed our view,” explained Alex. “I’d like to know how long we’ve been carrying passengers, anyhow.”
TheRamblernow returned from her fruitless quest of the stranger and anchored by the side of the rowboat.
“How long have you been leaking passengers?” Case demanded. “How many more have you got concealed in the boat?”
“Go ahead and get that fish!” said Rube, rubbing his stomach. “I feel like the Mammoth Cave!”
“Lock him up in a bakery, then, for I don’t think there’s any fish in the blooming river. If he’s hungry enough to chew buns, turn him loose on em!
It was Alex who gave this advice. For the next few minutes he busied himself making a closer examination of the boat.
“Look here,” he exclaimed, “who is there in this party that can read Greek? There’s a lot of queer writing on the rear end of the boat. I’d like to know what it means.”
All was excitement after this announcement, and Case and Buck climbed down into the rowboat.
The writing was in pencil, and was already half obliterated.
“Can you make anything of it?” asked Case, bending over the side of the boat.
“Not a thing,” was the reply. “I think it must be Hebrew! Anyway, it’s some sort of warning. Or it may be a threat.”
“Much you know about it!” laughed Case.
“What about that fish breakfast?” Rube called out from the motor boat. “I’m so hungry I could eat nails.”
“Well, I presume that means me,” Alex replied. “If I’ve got to catch a fish for breakfast, you’ve got to get out of this boat. How can I get a fish with all you people on board?”
“But we haven’t read the writing yet,” urged Jule.
“That can wait for a time. Rube will be crying his eyes out in a minute! Anyway, the writing will keep.”
“No, it won’t,” Buck cut in. “If you’re ever going to read it, it strikes me that now’s the time.”
“All right!” declared Alex, “if you want to delay the fish breakfast, give me a knife, and I’ll cut the letters out.”
“Better use a saw,” advised Buck.
“Happy thought!” said Alex. “But where’s your saw? Do you happen to have one in your pocket?”
Case clambered to the deck of the motor boat and soon returned with a saw from the tool-chest.
Buck took the tool and fell to work so vigorously that the rim of the boat, where the writing was, soon lay in his hand.
“Now you can order your fish breakfast as soon as you like,” he said, putting the piece of wood he had removed into a pocket ... “I suspect that Rube will be referring to it until he gets fed.”
“You bet he will!” came from the deck of theRambler.
“Could you eat a piece of cherry pie?”
Jule asked the question, and was answered in a quick affirmative. Then he said he’d see about getting one when he got to El Paso!
“You’re a fraud!” laughed Rube. “I don’t want anything to eat, anyway.”
“No, you don’t!” Alex said, with a wrinkle in his nose. “I’ve got a photograph of you refusing food!”
Case and Buck soon left the rowboat for the deck of theRambler, and Alex went ahead with his fishing, with such good success that a fine string was carried on board theRambler.
“Now,” said the lad, “if you’ll get me some butter, I’ll see what I can do with these fishes! You put the ‘-es’ on when you want to put on style.”
“Look at this translation Paul made of the writing on the boat! He says it’s French.”
Buck came out on deck with a paper in his hand and handed it to Case. The boy took it and read:
“The meaning of ‘a l’outrance’ is to the death.”
“Who furnished the translation?” questioned Jule.
“Paul did,” was the reply.
“Can anyone give the meaning of the translation?” asked Case.
“Why, it means just what it says, ‘to the death,’” said Jule.
“Is that a threat or a promise?” asked Buck.
“It may be either,” was the answer.
CHAPTER XIII
ON THE MEXICAN SIDE
Alex’s fish breakfast was a culinary success, but over it hung the shadow of that threat. But was it a threat?
The boys discussed it from every possible angle only to come back to the original question:
Was it a threat or a promise?
“Well, he’ll have a fine time catching theRambler,” said Case. “He’s got to go some if he does. And he’ll need an aeroplane in order to do it.”
“He may have an aeroplane secreted in his pocket,” Jule said.
However, two days passed and they heard nothing of either the river thieves or the stranger. When El Paso was reached Buck and Rube prepared for departure.
“You boys started out with accommodations for four,” said Buck, “and you’ve kept collecting about every person you came across until you’ve doubled the crew.”
“I can’t see what we should have done without you three men,” Case answered. “In the first place, we never could have got through without Rube’s roll! He was perfectly willing that it should be used, and we accommodated him.”
“Then what should we have done without Thede? There’s a man that knows how to set a leg or bind up an artery! We certainly couldn’t have left him out. I think, when you come to size the whole thing up, we carried just enough people to do what had to be done. How does that strike you, Alex?”
“Right you are,” answered the boy addressed. “We haven’t been a bit crowded, and we’ve had plenty to eat. I wish Rube and Buck were going on with us.”
“I’d eat you out of house and home,” laughed Rube. “I presume you boys noticed that I have quite an appetite.”
“Just about the size of mine!” said Alex.
El Paso was the scene of great activity a year ago, when the Rio Grande was the dividing line between the United States and Mexico. Streets were crowded with men in uniform, and restaurants and saloons contributed their full quota to the general confusion.
The city, however, was quieter now, and the boys had no difficulty in finding their way about. Troops still guarded the Mexican line, but they were inconspicuous.
Clay had, in a measure, recovered, though he was still weak. He was able to sit on deck and watch the moving panorama which is to be seen in all frontier cities.
The first trip taken by Case and Alex was to the bank, where they found the money waiting for them. As the telegram had instructed the cashier to pay the money over “without identification, at the risk of the remitter,” the boys had no difficulty whatever in securing it. They paid Rube in full, and insisted on his taking an extra $20, for being “a good fellow in the time of trouble.”
TheEsmeralda’sprow had been repaired on the way down, and she was now in perfect condition. The boys saw her disappear around a bend in the river with sincere regret.
They had been friends in need, and “a friend in need is a friend indeed,” as the old saying runs. But they had not seen the last of either one of them.
Thede, the surgeon, decided, at the earnest solicitation of the boys, to remain on board the motor boat. Clay was still in a feeble condition, and Paul’s broken leg needed constant care, so it was decided that the doctor should remain on board.
Captain Joe, the parrot, and even Teddy Junior, the bear cub, seemed to extend a welcoming paw and claw to the doctor and Paul. Provisions for the remainder of the trip were laid in at El Paso, and on the second day theRambler, as trim a boat as ever plowed the waters of the Rio Grande, lifted her anchor and sailed away.
Those were glorious days for theRamblercrew. The time was late in May, and at that season Nature is at her best in the South.
The boys fished and loafed about the deck of the motor boat until Clay was almost well again, and Paul insisted on being taken to the deck to watch the life on the river.
They heard no more of the river thieves, and everything moved along as placidly as if they had never interfered with the current of their lives. But this was only for a time.
One brilliant night when theRamblerwas given just sufficient motion to give steerage way, when Alex and Jule were on watch, the former asked, abruptly:
“Was it a threat or a promise?”
“I’ve been thinking the matter over,” was the answer, “and I find there is not a thing the river robbers had to give or offer. So we may as well cut out the promise part. On the other hand, we know pretty well what the devils would do to us if we again came into their power.
“Therefore,” he continued, “we don’t welcome a meeting. Still, if it comes, I don’t think we’ll dodge. That wouldn’t be good form, would it now?”
“No,” replied Alex, “I don’t think it would. But we ought to do everything in our power to avoid a collision with them. Some day, if we don’t watch out, we’ll get the worst of it. We can’t expect to win out in every encounter.”
“Right you are!” declared Jule.
“I wonder how those Greasers, over there, live?” asked Alex. “Dirty and greasy as ever, I presume?”
“You bet!” answered Jule.
“Some day when we are not on watch, and the boat is lying at anchor. I’ll stump you to go and see,” continued Alex. “Some of the sights in a Mexican town must be worth seeing.”
“You’re on!” answered Jule.
“I have the meaning of that French writing,” decided Alex, after a long pause. “It is this: ‘Wait until I catch you!’ How’s that for a free translation?”
“It’s free enough,” laughed Jule. “Only I don’t see how we can wait, as the river insists on bearing us along on its noble and rather muddy bosom.”
“I’ve got a hunch,” said Alex soberly, “that the next time we run afoul of the river thieves it won’t be so easy to get away. In other words, I’ve got a premonition of approaching danger.”
“Nonsense!” Jule exclaimed. “You’ve got a case of indigestion, if anybody should ask you! I thought at the time that you were making rather free with that potato salad.”
“Oh, all right! Make fun of the hunch if you want to, but it is a really, truly, warranted-not-to-shrink-or-fade-in-the-washing hunch. Just you mark that down and keep for future reference.”
Captain Joe now came out to Alex and stood rubbing his nose against the boy’s hand.
“Look here!” the dog appeared to be trying to say, “if you’ve got anything important coming off, produce it. I have a few hours which are hanging rather heavily on my hands.”
“Want to go to shore, Captain Joe?” Alex asked.
The dog said that he did as plainly as ever a dog said anything and Alex got to his feet with a yawn.
He whistled about the deck for a time with hands in pockets, as if about to say something which he was positive would not meet with the sanction of his chum. At last, however, he found words for it.
“I suppose I’ll have to go and give the dog a run on the bank. That seems to be about the only way I can keep him quiet.”
“No, you don’t!” laughed Jule. “If you get ashore that will be the last of you until someone comes and looks you up. The last time you got away——”
Alex, followed by the dog, sprang to the rail and leaped into the river. Pausing only long enough to turn a laughing face toward his chum, very much wrinkled as to nose, the boy, closely followed by the dog, struck out for the Mexican shore.
“I’ve a good mind to jump in after you!” Jule called out. “You have all the fun!”
“Come on in!” Alex called back. “The water’s fine! I’ll just give Captain Joe a run on shore and come right back.”
Jule hesitated only an instant. What boy can resist a night in May, when the moon shines, and the waves make music on the beach? It is a shame to tempt a boy with a stream of water which ripples and murmurs on such a night.
Jule was tempted—and fell.
The Rio Grande is quite wide at the point where the boys entered the water, and theRamblerwas about in the center of the stream, making the swim a long one. The lads, however, struck out bravely and soon landed on a swampy tongue of land which formed a peninsula at that point.
“Say, but this is great!” cried Alex. “I wish Case was here to enjoy it with us.”
Captain Joe seemed to think his frolic in the moonlight about the correct thing. He dived under the surface and pretended to catch the boys by their legs; he brought chips and driftwood from the stream and invited the boys to play tag with him.
At last he lay down on a bit of grass, signifying that his play spell was over, and that he would like to return to the boat.
But there was no boat in sight.
Then, and not until then, did the boys recollect that the boat was in motion—under steerway motion, it is true, but even steerway motion will sometimes carry a boat a long way, especially when the boys who should be guarding it are giving their attention to something else.
“The boys will wake up and come back after us,” said Jule.
“Of course they will,” agreed Alex.
Alex and Jule waited a long time, but there were no signs of the boat coming back after them.
“If we remain right where we landed,” Jule finally said, “they will be certain to find us.”
“That would be all right if they knew where we landed, but they don’t. The thing for them to do is to look along the shore until they see us. What a fool trick that was, leaving the boat unguarded. Unless someone on board wakes up, they may sail half the forenoon. I feel like giving myself a swift kick.”
“I reckon you don’t feel that way more than I do,” replied Jule. “I suppose the boys will think we have deserted them.”
“Or that we have been lured from the boat and murdered,” added Alex. “What’s the matter with you now, Captain Joe? What have you found in the bushes?”
The thing which showed in the bushes where the dog was looking was the pointed hat of a Mexican.
“Look there!” Alex said, not in the least alarmed, but with the notion that in some way the man could assist.
The next moment a gun was leveled at the two boys and a voice said in excellent English:
“Throw up your hands!”
As the boys were without weapons, the command was instantly obeyed. Then four rough-looking men came out of the thicket in single file and stood in front of the astonished boys.
“What is the meaning of this?” Alex demanded. “Is it a hold-up? If it is, we haven’t got a cent.”
Daylight was coming now and the moon was sinking in the West. The faces of the four men were in the shadow, but still it was plain to be seen that they were not out for a morning stroll.
The man who appeared to be the leader of the party gave a significant motion and instantly both boys were turned bottom side up while their pockets were being examined.