CHAPTER XIVA SERIOUS SITUATIONIt was six o’clock when Case awoke that morning. He was dressing when he discovered that the boat was not running.He listened but could hear neither voices nor footsteps on the deck. The other boys were still sleeping soundly, and he did not awaken them. Thede, the surgeon, was stirring, and the boy asked him:“What’s the matter with the boat?”“I hadn’t noticed anything the matter with her,” was the surgeon’s reply.“She has stopped,” explained Case.“Then we’d better see what’s up,” responded Thede.The two finished dressing and went out on deck. Then they saw what was wrong. TheRambler, with no one to guide her, had kept on a straight course until she had reached a bend in the river, and had then tried to climb out on the bank.How the boys slept through all that followed was a mystery.The chain which connected the motor with the rudder was broken and the boat had stopped when the power went astray. There were numerous other things the matter with the boat—enough to keep her in the repairer’s hands for a full day.Case stood looking at the broken rudder for some minutes before he made the discovery that the surgeon and himself were the only persons on the deck.Then he whistled for the dog, but no Captain Joe came at his call. He took a seat on the railing of the boat with a look on his face which told as plainly as words could have done how disgusted he was. He was not at a loss to account for the condition in which he found things.“The boys have left the boat, taking the dog with them,” he said. “But what I want to know is why they didn’t come back.”“They left theRamblerwhen she was in motion,” said Thede, “and there is a mystery about it which can be explained only by the boys themselves. You can see for yourself that the rudder was never broken except by accident—by collision with the bank.”“It seems that way to me,” answered Case. “Now the question is, what has become of them?”“And that is a question that I give up,” answered the surgeon. “You see, we don’t know where to look,” he continued. “We slept soundly all night, and the boys may have left theRambleras early as midnight, for all we know.”That was a serious time for what remained of theRamblercrew. The uncertainty of the situation was baffling.Clay and Paul were soon awake, and the former walked out on deck to discuss the best means for finding the truants.“If we only knew what time they left the boat,” Clay said, “we could start in on the search with more confidence in the ultimate result. But that is just what we don’t know,” he added, with a discouraged look on his pale face.“If I knew that the young scamps were safe and sound,” Clay continued, “I should be in favor of leaving them alone for a couple of days. We’ve got to draw the line somewhere, and I think it should be drawn at the desertion of a boat in midstream.”“I’m in favor of that,” Case said, eagerly, “but perhaps we should learn what excuse they have for their strange conduct before deciding what course to pursue.”“The first thing to do is to find them,” said the surgeon.“Correct!” said both Clay and Case in a breath. “The first thing is to find them.”TheRamblerwas beached on the American side of the river, and very soon a delegation of loafers and waterside characters gathered around. Suggestions were offered in plenty, but none were to the point.The loungers were principally Mexicans, black-eyed and swarthy of skin. They were clad in nondescript garments of all sorts, and they gazed longingly at the trim little motor boat.They talked fair English and were profuse in their offers of assistance, but their covert glances at theRamblerwere not to be mistaken. Their eyes lit up with greed whenever they fell upon it.“Where can we secure boats in which to cross to the other side of the river?” asked Case, reluctant to use the rowboat belonging to theRambler, and realizing that the boys would be without the means of transportation if they had crossed to the opposite side.If they had landed on the American side, a searching party would be effective.The man questioned pointed to a rude rowboat lying on the bank of the river not far away.“Will that serve your purpose?” he asked.“Will it float?” asked Case, in doubt as to the buoyancy of the craft.“Like a bird in the air,” answered the fellow. “But the motor boat? Do you leave it? It will be perfectly safe. We are all honest men, Señor.”“Oh, of course,” answered Case, noting with disgust the greedy glance the fellow cast toward the motor boat. “No one doubts that you are all honest men. However, we have to leave two men on the spot, and they may as well guard the boat.”The fellow gave a quick glance at Clay, who was still on deck, as if estimating the amount of resistance he could offer in case the boat should be taken, and smiled.“Oh, yes, Señor, we are all honest men,” the man continued, with a leer. “You may leave the motor boat here with the assurance that you will find it upon your return.”“How much for the use of the boat?” asked Thede.“A trifle,” said the other. “Perhaps twenty dollars.”“It is not worth it,” replied Case, in a tone of disgust. “I will pay you five, though that is more than the old tub is worth.”The boat was indeed a “tub.” The sides were broken and it leaked badly. The owner, however, insisted on the price named and would not consider a smaller sum.At last, tired of the seemingly endless bickering, and anxious to be away, Case consented to the terms and the rowboat was brought to the side of theRambler.Case took Clay into the cabin of theRamblerand warned him to be on his guard.“We may be away three or four hours,” he said, “and you must, under no circumstances, leave the boat for a minute. My opinion of these men is not a favorable one. I think they want the motor boat. Don’t shoot unless you have to, but shoot to kill if that should be necessary. A shot fired in defense of property is lawful.”“All right,” Clay replied. “I hate like the dickens to have you go, but I suppose there is no help for it. Hurry back and we’ll repair theRamblerand get out of this rotten hole so quick that it will set the heads of the natives swimming.”“Right you are,” responded Case, and with an additional word of warning the leaky boat was pushed into the river.After the departure of Case and the surgeon the boys sought the cabin of theRambler. They had no idea how long the boat would be gone, so they decided to make themselves as comfortable as circumstances permitted.The half-breeds gathered in a group on the bank of the Rio Grande and consulted together for a long time. The conversation was still in Mexican, and of course the boys, being ignorant of the language, could not understand a word of it.As a matter of fact, the tongue spoken was a mixture of Mexican Indian and Spanish, an especially hard combination.“I wish I had the use of my arm for about five minutes,” Clay moaned, “I’d make a scattering up there on the river bank.”“And if I had the use of my leg for the same length of time, there’d be doings,” observed Paul.“Well, we are poor old cripples,” Clay went on, “and can’t help ourselves. One thing we can do, though, we can shoot the tar out of anyone who attacks us. That’s one consolation.”There was silence for a time, each boy being occupied with his own thoughts. Clay was first to speak.“What is your notion about the disappearance of Alex and Jule—mysterious, eh?”“Decidedly so,” was the reply.“Still,” Clay continued, “the fact that Captain Joe went with them gives the affair the appearance of an excursion to the shore. If they left the boat, clothed as they were, intending to be absent only a few minutes, the boat, being under steerway, might be too swift for them and get beyond their reach before they realized what was going on. Anyway, it is a bad mix-up, and I wish we were safely out of it. Now, what’s that?”“That” was a movement of the mob on shore. They were headed for the river bank and looked dangerous.“Here’s where the automatics come into play,” Paul suggested. “I can shoot, if I can’t walk.”But right here a new factor entered the case. “Tommy,” the parrot, opening the conversation.“Seven men on a dead man’s chest! Ho! Ho! Ho! And a bottle of rum!”The parrot, wandering from perch to table, from locker to window ledge, lifted up his voice in an uncanny jumble of words until the cabin rang again.The voice was hoarse yet shrill, and the Mexicans paused in wonder and amazement. They, of course, were unaware of the existence of the parrot, and the voice came to them as a distinct shock.They paused and retreated a few steps and listened. The voice of the bird went on, hoarser and lifted higher than before.“Ho, ho, and a bottle of rum!”The Mexicans turned and fled, almost falling over each other in their eagerness to put as much space as possible between themselves and whatever it was that was making the talk.At what seemed a safe distance they paused and gathered in a group for the comparing of impressions regarding the voice which all had heard. Some declared it to be the devil, and some said that there was a man who had not been seen concealed in the cabin.While the arguments were going on the boys were not idle. The revolvers and guns were placed where they could easily be reached, and ammunition belts were buckled on.The river pirates had not disturbed the arms while they were in possession of theRambler, so the weapons, which they intended to appropriate later on, had not been molested.“They seem to be losing their courage!” Paul exclaimed. “It is a good thing! If they come an inch nearer, they’ll receive the contents of this automatic.”“They will soon be here,” Clay reasoned. “When they discover that it is only a bird they are running away from, they will rush the boat. You will have to shoot fast then!”“All right!” was Paul’s reply. “I’ll shoot fast, and shoot to kill. I think they are getting ready to charge the boat right now! Shall we go to the deck and get behind the bullet-proof railing?”CHAPTER XVDEAD IN THE FORESTWhen Alex and Jule were seized they naturally put up a hard fight, but the men who had attacked them were muscular, and, besides, had the advantage of taking the lads by surprise, so they were compelled to submit to the indignity of being searched.After they came to their feet again, and after their heads had stopped whirling, Alex’s first motion was toward his pistol pocket. Then he remembered that the automatic had been left on board theRambler. They were absolutely without weapons of any kind.The outlaw saw the motion and smiled grimly.“So,” he said, “you carried weapons. Some fancy little toy, I presume. What would you say to a weapon like this?”As he spoke he displayed a revolver of enormous size. It was, however, patterned after an old model, and not at all similar to the improved automatics carried by the boys.Alex, however, pretended great admiration for the gun and asked the privilege of taking it into his hands.“I’d like to have one like it,” he declared. “How much do they cost?”All this, of course, to draw the attention of the outlaws away from Jule, who was getting ready to spring Peter Pratt.“What does this mean?” asked Jule, in as hoarse a voice as he was able to assume.The outlaws, who had seated themselves on the turf, instantly sprang to their feet.“Throw up your hands!” went on the voice.But, instead of obeying this command, the men dropped to the earth again and prepared to fight. The attempt was a failure.The boys, however, were on their feet, and the instant the outlaws crouched down they were off, being closely followed by the bulldog, who had all along looked with disfavor upon the proceedings. Captain Joe hesitated for a second, looking longingly at the exposed leg of one of the outlaws and then sprang forward.In a minute the outlaw was on his feet, thundering great oaths at the dog, and doing his best to release his leg from the teeth of the animal. His efforts proved ineffectual, serving only to throw him to the ground again, where he lay foaming with rage.“Call off the dog!” he shouted, writhing about on the turf in agony. “He is killing me!”Hour after hour Jule had spent teaching the dog to obey his Peter Pratt, and now it came into play.“Let go, you cur!” he cried. “Don’t kill the man! Let go, or I’ll have your hide for a foot rug!”By this time the outlaws, regardless of their companion’s oaths and cries for help, were crouching lower in the bushes, mindful only of that first command to “throw up your hands!”Captain Joe, in obedience to the command, released his hold on the outlaw and started after the boys. No sooner was the man released from the jaws of the dog than he drew a weapon and fired, the bullet cutting a long furrow in the dog’s side.“I wish I had a gun with me,” said Alex in a rage. “I’d teach that robber better manners!”“Come here, Joe!” Jule exclaimed. “I don’t think he is seriously hurt,” he added, as Joe came limping to his side.“Find out as quick as you can,” advised Alex, “while I see that the men in front keep in the underbrush. They won’t hold the position long.”As the man who had ordered them to throw up their hands did not appear, the outlaws were already growing suspicious. They cast inquiring glances at each other and moved about restlessly.In the meantime Jule was making as close an examination of the dog’s wound as it was possible to make under the circumstances.“There’s an ugly cut in his side, but that will soon heal,” he reported. “The thing to do now is to get away from here—quick! We are without weapons, and the outlaws will soon begin to smell a rat. They are getting suspicious already, and the fellow Joe bit is prowling about with blood in his eye.”Owing to the underbrush which obstructed the view, the fellow could not locate the boys for a moment, but he was soon on the trail, vowing vengeance at every bound. Of course the boys took to their heels, but the blood from the dog’s side furnished a clew which was not to be mistaken.“Something must be done or the man will catch us!” Alex panted. “Suppose you try Peter Pratt again?”“Nothing doing!” Jule answered. “Do you want the other outlaws to know that they have been tricked?”“That’s a fact,” replied Alex. “They would know that the man had shifted his position, even if they did not suspect trickery. But something must be done and done quick! Poor old Captain Joe is nearly all in.”Although the lads were running at a swift pace, they were still hampered by the dog, who appeared to be growing weaker with every leap he took. The footfalls behind came on regularly and swiftly.“Go on ahead with the dog,” Alex whispered at last. “I’ll stop that fellow! Judging from the way he acts, he is running blindly, and it ought to be easy to trip him. He’ll see the trail of blood and follow that.”Without waiting for Jule to give his consent to this plan, Alex dropped down in the shrubbery. The outlaw came forward on a run, passing the boy without a knowledge of his presence there, which was not at all to the liking of the lad.The boy had planned to trip the fellow as he went by.The next best thing was to take after the fellow, and so divert his attention away from the wounded dog. Captain Joe must be saved in spite of everything!The other outlaws, becoming suspicious that they had been tricked, were now on their feet, running toward the point which was the goal of Alex, the fourth outlaw and the dog.It looked pretty serious for Alex, situated as he was between the three men at the rear and the one man in front. For a moment he trailed the man ahead, not knowing what course to pursue.Then a plan came to him—a plan which might result in placing weapons in the hands of Jule and himself. It was a desperate chance to take, but it appeared to be the only one worth considering at the time.He slackened his pace so as to permit the three in the rear to approach, and then dropped into the underbrush. The men came on at good speed and were promptly tripped.They were running almost breast and breast, so they fell in a heap. Before they could get to their feet again Alex had the huge revolver out of the pocket of the leader and had the three covered.“That’s right! Hands up! That’s the game you made us play a short time ago!”Alex could hardly conceal a grin of triumph as the outlaws hastened to obey the command.“Take the weapons from your pockets and throw them on the ground!” was the next order.“Oh, see here, kid, isn’t this going too far?” said the leader, with a smile. “We were only joking with you.”“That’s all right,” was the reply. “But, you see, I’m not joking with you. Throw the weapons down!”The words were spoken so peremptorily that the outlaws lost no time in complying, and the weapons clattered to the ground together. Alex at once took possession of them.In the meantime Jule was making as good time as was possible, hampered, as he was, by the dog, who insisted on stopping every few rods to note the progress made by his pursuer. The fight was not yet all out of the dog.At last he stopped abruptly and refused to budge. While Jule was doing his best to force him along the sound of pursuing footsteps ceased. The boy listened intently, but could hear nothing of either Alex or the men he believed to be in pursuit.“What’s coming off now?” he mused. “If this is a trick, I’m in bad, being without weapons and with this confounded dog on my hands. Captain Joe, why can’t you behave yourself?”Captain Joe gave an extra tug at the collar and broke away, disappearing almost immediately in the thick underbrush, with Jule in hot pursuit and a trail of blood showing where the dog had gone.The dog was out of sight in a second, but the trail of blood, instead of leading directly to the rear, wound off to the right. The trail was growing fainter every minute, which demonstrated that the wound was closing, or that it was becoming filled with clots.While Jule hesitated about following on after the dog, thinking that he had gone crazy, the sound of a revolver came to his ears, and the pursuit was taken up again.The lad reached an opening in the shrubbery just in time to see the dog and the outlaw in what seemed to be a death struggle. The man had evidently fired one shot at the dog and been too late to fire again. He had been seized by the dog and thrown to the ground.His revolver lay by his side, just beyond his reach. The fellow was already in the agonies of death.Jule sprang forward, but it was too late. The blood which was scattered liberally over the rank grass told him that. The dog had severed the jugular vein.“I don’t blame you, Captain Joe,” the boy said, kneeling by the side of the fast-failing outlaw, “not a little bit! He shot you while you were running away from him, and you got even in the only way you knew; still, I wish you had let him live.”There came a gurgle of blood at the throat, the wounded man struggled for a second for breath, and all was over.Jule laid the head of the man back reverently. Whatever he had been in life, death had canceled. The record was of his own making and must be judged by One wiser than the combined wisdom of earth.Captain Joe, to tell the truth, did not appear in the last downcast by the manner in which the incident had terminated, for he frisked about the boy as if expecting to be praised for what he had done. Seeing that words of commendation were not likely to be forthcoming, he darted away down the river.Jule followed on behind, leaving the dead outlaw to be cared for later on. He reached an opening in the tangle of underbrush just in time to witness Alex’s capture of the three outlaws.When he approached the spot where Alex stood the lad was facing the three men about.“What’s doing?” he asked. “Likely pair and a half you have there! How did you manage it—the capture, I mean?”“They just came and gave themselves up!” was the reply. “Got a rope or anything to tie ’em up with?”“Nothing doing in that way,” answered Jule. The leader of the outlaws now appealed to the newcomer for release.“This lad,” he said, “is inclined to take the incident which took place recently rather seriously. I can’t make him understand that it was all a joke.”“Joke, was it?” asked Jule. “Well, the joke cost the life of your chum!”And the boy related the scene he had just witnessed.Just how it was done the boys never knew. One minute the three men stood facing the lads, the next they were crunching their way through the underbrush. And Alex had not fired a shot. He had been too busy listening to Jule’s recital of the scene in the forest.The boys knew the outlaws would lose no time in making an effort to regain possession of the weapons, so they took to their heels.“Why didn’t you shoot?” demanded Jule.“I was too much interested in the story you were telling,” was the panting reply. “I think I must be a chump!”The river was not far away, and the boys struck out for it with all the running ability they possessed, halting only when they stood on its southern bank.The outlaws had not yet made their appearance, and the boys fancied they, too, were running only in an opposite direction.“Now what?” asked Jule. “We can’t swim across, can we?”“I should say not!” was the reply, as Alex threw himself down on the turf. “To tell the truth, I’m about all in! Do you see anything of Captain Joe?” he added. “I presume the fool dog followed the outlaws away.”Jule grinned, thinking of the figure cut by Alex as he stood with the huge revolver, threatening the three men.“I wonder if the gun is loaded?” he said, taking it into his hand. “I have known men to carry empty weapons. For the love of Mike, it sure is empty!”The boy rolled over and over on the grass, making faces at his chum and laughing softly.“Nice time you would have had if they had turned on you!” he said tauntingly, but just at that moment the chum was too busy watching the dog to pay the slightest attention to him.The dog had again made his appearance on the bank of the river showing all his teeth, and back of him came the outlaws!They were laughing uproariously, because they, too, remembered that the weapons were empty, all save the one in possession of the outlaw who had set off in pursuit of the dog. They had discharged them and forgotten all about it.CHAPTER XVIJULE IN GREAT DANGERCase and Thede made the most of the leaky boat, but the most was not fast enough.“If we only had theRambler, and had it in as good condition as it was at midnight, we could soon learn something of the missing boys, but there is no knowing how far the boat sailed after they left it, and so it is all a guess,” said Case, as he set to work bailing out the boat. “I guess this trip settles the excursions of theRambler.”Thede laughed. When Case was blue he was always ready to cancel all the dates made for the motor boat.Thede let him sputter away until he was tired of grumbling, and then suggested:“The chances are that theRamblerran only a short distance after the boys left her. If the boys have the good sense which they have previously shown, they will follow on down the river, and so make the distance we shall be obliged to travel in this old tub all the shorter. In fact, I am looking for them at every bend in the river. We ought to meet them in a few minutes now.”“But if they are on the opposite shore, we are going the wrong away about it,” replied Case. “The river is very wide here, and we never could paddle this old tub across it in the face of the current. I don’t see what the boys ever left the boat for. But some people never will learn by experience.”Thede’s view of the case was certainly a hopeful one, but it was hours before they saw any signs of the lads. Then Case saw Captain Joe running along the river bank barking furiously.“There’s the first signal!” Thede exclaimed, turning the prow of the boat toward the south shore. “And the dog seems to be in trouble. He seems to be wounded and is just about all in.”“It strikes me that we had better get to the shore just as soon as possible.”As Case spoke Alex came out to the river bank alone. Jule was nowhere in sight, and Alex’s clothing was so torn that he looked like a ragman.“Alex has been up against something pretty strong to give that tired look to his face,” Thede exclaimed as he turned the boat toward the south shore. “Did you ever see a more disreputable human being?”“Never!” was the reply.The old tub of a boat struck the beach at last, and was promptly boarded by Alex, who was gasping for breath.“Did you bring your automatics?” was the first question.“Sure!” was Case’s answer.As the boy spoke he took a weapon from his pocket and handed it to the lad.“What’s doing?” he asked as he did so. “And where is Jule?”“Come with me and I’ll show you where Jule is,” was Alex’s reply. “Walk softly! There are others with him. When I give the word you just rush, and rush to some purpose.”Without knowing what they were to meet, Case and Thede swept down into a thicket and, in obedience to a motion from Alex, drew up for a minute and waited.The three outlaws had captured Jule and were about to burn his feet if he did not tell where his chum was.“Oh, he’ll answer fast enough as soon as he feels the flames tickling his toes,” the leader said. “We’re going to exterminate this nest of vipers, and don’t you forget it!”“Go as far as you like,” Jule answered. “I still refuse to tell. Nice boy I’d be, if I betrayed my chum!”“We’ll see about that!”One of the outlaws was evidently opposed to what was about to be done, for he drew the leader aside and whispered in his ear for several minutes. At the end of that time the leader shook his head and turned, with a sharp order, to an evil-faced, scowling outlaw who appeared equal to any piece of deviltry.The man addressed was quick to obey the command. He took a handful of matches from a pocket and proceeded to light one of them.All the time there was a grin upon his face which told how much he enjoyed the assignment.Jule did not believe that he would be deserted by his chum. He had no idea in what shape the assistance would come, but he was perfectly well satisfied that it would come. Alex had broken away from the robbers and taken to his heels and would be sure to return at the critical moment.As Jule saw the preparations for torture going on he wished that Alex would hasten to the rescue, but he had no doubt of the final result. Alex was loyal.“Now,” said Case, taking out his automatic, “you see what the intention is. I have a notion that it is the deliberate intention of the devils to torture the boy to death. How should he know where Alex is? It is a subterfuge to make the act appear more humane. This being the case, what ought we to do to the outlaws?”“If you don’t decide on something pretty soon Jule will get his feet cooked!” interposed Alex. “What ought we to do with the devils? Kill ’em, I say!”“It does seem that drastic measures should be adopted,” the surgeon put in. “Of course, we can’t decide what to do with them while they are still at large, but we can make up our minds. It ought to be an easy thing to catch them.”“Oh, we’ve got ’em now!” Alex added. “None of them has a weapon in sight! It will be just like taking candy away from babies! See! they are taking his shoes off! Mother of Moses! What was that? Looked like a white flash!”Captain Joe was once more in evidence.The dog had appeared astonished at the inaction of the rescuing party and reached the conclusion that if anything was done he must do it himself.As the dog charged in between the leader and the man to whom the duty of burning the boy’s feet had been assigned the former drew a revolver and fired, missing the canine by a foot or more. The others drew their revolvers, too, but did not discharge them.A peremptory order came from the bushes and they dropped the weapons as if they had been red hot.“Up with your hands!”Almost before the words were out of the speaker’s mouth, the firearms were on the ground. But the leader still retained his huge revolver and was about to use it when the dog seized him by the leg in a vise-like hold.The revolver dropped to the ground while the man tumbled about in agony, saying many things against the character of the dog. To all of which the dog, who was performing what he regarded as a sacred duty in defending the boy, paid not the slightest heed.“Call him off!” the leader cried. “If you don’t want him killed, call him off!”By way of reply Alex picked up the long weapon and used it to such good purpose on the head of the fellow that he was soon quite unconscious. In fact, so enraged was the boy that there is little doubt that the man would have been beaten to death if Case had not interfered to prevent his murder.“What are you doing?” Case demanded. “Do you want to kill the man? I think you would better take a rest and cool off a little.”“Look what was done to Jule by his orders!” answered the lad, still struggling to continue the attack. “Killing is none too good for the likes of him!”“Save him for the hangman!” advised Jule as he cut the cords which bound him and regained his feet. “We’ll tie the bunch up and if they get away all right. If they don’t, why that’s all right, too!”“We ought to kill him,” was Alex’s rejoinder.“Oh, let him live,” laughed Case. “We can afford that much, seeing Jule escaped with whole feet. The chances were against that at one time.”“What shall we do with the others?” asked the surgeon. “They are all equally guilty, I presume.”“The fellow who lighted the match deserves to have his head knocked off,” Alex answered. “Did you notice the diabolical grin on his face when given the order?”One fellow protested in broken Spanish that he had been opposed to the leader all the time, and it was finally decided to bind all three outlaws and leave them on the river bank.“If we should leave the one who interfered in the interest of mercy,” Thede insisted, “he would release the others as soon as our backs were turned, so we may as well treat all alike.”So the outlaws were tied up good and tight, and the four took to the boat again. It was necessary to bail the row boat out frequently as it was still leaking badly, but in time the long stretch of river was passed and the boys came in sight of theRambler.The last thing the boys heard of the outlaws was a volley of curses from the lips of the leader of the party, who had regained consciousness and was stating in strong words what he would do to the boys if they ever came in his way again.“What’s doing on theRambler?” Jule asked, as they came in view of the motor boat.There certainly was “something doing,” for the deck swarmed with men, and only the cabin was held by Clay and Paul. When the boat came nearer the boys could hear the voice of the parrot ordering the men off the boat.“Cut it out, cut it out!” he cried. “Get back, get back! You ain’t wanted here! Cut it out!”“Tommy seems to be doing his part, all right,” said Alex. “I wonder how long this has been going on?”“How are we going to get on board theRambler?” asked the surgeon. “All the seats seem to be taken.” The men who had taken possession of the boat were now shaking their fists at the boys in the rowboat and offering to beat them up on the most liberal terms.“The boat now belongs to me!” one of the river thieves shouted, waving his arms in the air. “I take it as abandoned property.”“We’ll soon show you!” Alex shouted back.“Go chase yourself!” shouted Jule. The rowboat kept steadily on her course toward theRamblerand some of the more timid of the occupants of the deck began climbing over the rail, but others stood their ground, making a display of firearms.The boys were all armed now, Case having thoughtfully provided himself with arms for all, and for a moment it looked serious. When the boats touched, however, theRamblerwas abandoned by those who had taken possession of her and not a shot was fired.“Had a little mix-up?” asked Case.“It looked serious about the time you arrived,” Clay responded. “They had us cooped up in the cabin, and there is no knowing what would have happened if you had not come.”“Now,” said Alex, “suppose we celebrate with a good, square, all-to-the-good meal! It seems about a month since I had anything to eat.”“You’re always hungry,” commented Case.“Always hungry!” responded Alex. “Look here! If you get up without going to bed, and butt into a crowd of river thieves, and come near having your feet burned off, wouldn’t that make you hungry? I’ll bet you it would!”All this time the men on the shore had been shaking their fists and shouting out oaths and cuss words.CHAPTER XVIION MEXICAN SOIL AGAIN
CHAPTER XIV
A SERIOUS SITUATION
It was six o’clock when Case awoke that morning. He was dressing when he discovered that the boat was not running.
He listened but could hear neither voices nor footsteps on the deck. The other boys were still sleeping soundly, and he did not awaken them. Thede, the surgeon, was stirring, and the boy asked him:
“What’s the matter with the boat?”
“I hadn’t noticed anything the matter with her,” was the surgeon’s reply.
“She has stopped,” explained Case.
“Then we’d better see what’s up,” responded Thede.
The two finished dressing and went out on deck. Then they saw what was wrong. TheRambler, with no one to guide her, had kept on a straight course until she had reached a bend in the river, and had then tried to climb out on the bank.
How the boys slept through all that followed was a mystery.
The chain which connected the motor with the rudder was broken and the boat had stopped when the power went astray. There were numerous other things the matter with the boat—enough to keep her in the repairer’s hands for a full day.
Case stood looking at the broken rudder for some minutes before he made the discovery that the surgeon and himself were the only persons on the deck.
Then he whistled for the dog, but no Captain Joe came at his call. He took a seat on the railing of the boat with a look on his face which told as plainly as words could have done how disgusted he was. He was not at a loss to account for the condition in which he found things.
“The boys have left the boat, taking the dog with them,” he said. “But what I want to know is why they didn’t come back.”
“They left theRamblerwhen she was in motion,” said Thede, “and there is a mystery about it which can be explained only by the boys themselves. You can see for yourself that the rudder was never broken except by accident—by collision with the bank.”
“It seems that way to me,” answered Case. “Now the question is, what has become of them?”
“And that is a question that I give up,” answered the surgeon. “You see, we don’t know where to look,” he continued. “We slept soundly all night, and the boys may have left theRambleras early as midnight, for all we know.”
That was a serious time for what remained of theRamblercrew. The uncertainty of the situation was baffling.
Clay and Paul were soon awake, and the former walked out on deck to discuss the best means for finding the truants.
“If we only knew what time they left the boat,” Clay said, “we could start in on the search with more confidence in the ultimate result. But that is just what we don’t know,” he added, with a discouraged look on his pale face.
“If I knew that the young scamps were safe and sound,” Clay continued, “I should be in favor of leaving them alone for a couple of days. We’ve got to draw the line somewhere, and I think it should be drawn at the desertion of a boat in midstream.”
“I’m in favor of that,” Case said, eagerly, “but perhaps we should learn what excuse they have for their strange conduct before deciding what course to pursue.”
“The first thing to do is to find them,” said the surgeon.
“Correct!” said both Clay and Case in a breath. “The first thing is to find them.”
TheRamblerwas beached on the American side of the river, and very soon a delegation of loafers and waterside characters gathered around. Suggestions were offered in plenty, but none were to the point.
The loungers were principally Mexicans, black-eyed and swarthy of skin. They were clad in nondescript garments of all sorts, and they gazed longingly at the trim little motor boat.
They talked fair English and were profuse in their offers of assistance, but their covert glances at theRamblerwere not to be mistaken. Their eyes lit up with greed whenever they fell upon it.
“Where can we secure boats in which to cross to the other side of the river?” asked Case, reluctant to use the rowboat belonging to theRambler, and realizing that the boys would be without the means of transportation if they had crossed to the opposite side.
If they had landed on the American side, a searching party would be effective.
The man questioned pointed to a rude rowboat lying on the bank of the river not far away.
“Will that serve your purpose?” he asked.
“Will it float?” asked Case, in doubt as to the buoyancy of the craft.
“Like a bird in the air,” answered the fellow. “But the motor boat? Do you leave it? It will be perfectly safe. We are all honest men, Señor.”
“Oh, of course,” answered Case, noting with disgust the greedy glance the fellow cast toward the motor boat. “No one doubts that you are all honest men. However, we have to leave two men on the spot, and they may as well guard the boat.”
The fellow gave a quick glance at Clay, who was still on deck, as if estimating the amount of resistance he could offer in case the boat should be taken, and smiled.
“Oh, yes, Señor, we are all honest men,” the man continued, with a leer. “You may leave the motor boat here with the assurance that you will find it upon your return.”
“How much for the use of the boat?” asked Thede.
“A trifle,” said the other. “Perhaps twenty dollars.”
“It is not worth it,” replied Case, in a tone of disgust. “I will pay you five, though that is more than the old tub is worth.”
The boat was indeed a “tub.” The sides were broken and it leaked badly. The owner, however, insisted on the price named and would not consider a smaller sum.
At last, tired of the seemingly endless bickering, and anxious to be away, Case consented to the terms and the rowboat was brought to the side of theRambler.
Case took Clay into the cabin of theRamblerand warned him to be on his guard.
“We may be away three or four hours,” he said, “and you must, under no circumstances, leave the boat for a minute. My opinion of these men is not a favorable one. I think they want the motor boat. Don’t shoot unless you have to, but shoot to kill if that should be necessary. A shot fired in defense of property is lawful.”
“All right,” Clay replied. “I hate like the dickens to have you go, but I suppose there is no help for it. Hurry back and we’ll repair theRamblerand get out of this rotten hole so quick that it will set the heads of the natives swimming.”
“Right you are,” responded Case, and with an additional word of warning the leaky boat was pushed into the river.
After the departure of Case and the surgeon the boys sought the cabin of theRambler. They had no idea how long the boat would be gone, so they decided to make themselves as comfortable as circumstances permitted.
The half-breeds gathered in a group on the bank of the Rio Grande and consulted together for a long time. The conversation was still in Mexican, and of course the boys, being ignorant of the language, could not understand a word of it.
As a matter of fact, the tongue spoken was a mixture of Mexican Indian and Spanish, an especially hard combination.
“I wish I had the use of my arm for about five minutes,” Clay moaned, “I’d make a scattering up there on the river bank.”
“And if I had the use of my leg for the same length of time, there’d be doings,” observed Paul.
“Well, we are poor old cripples,” Clay went on, “and can’t help ourselves. One thing we can do, though, we can shoot the tar out of anyone who attacks us. That’s one consolation.”
There was silence for a time, each boy being occupied with his own thoughts. Clay was first to speak.
“What is your notion about the disappearance of Alex and Jule—mysterious, eh?”
“Decidedly so,” was the reply.
“Still,” Clay continued, “the fact that Captain Joe went with them gives the affair the appearance of an excursion to the shore. If they left the boat, clothed as they were, intending to be absent only a few minutes, the boat, being under steerway, might be too swift for them and get beyond their reach before they realized what was going on. Anyway, it is a bad mix-up, and I wish we were safely out of it. Now, what’s that?”
“That” was a movement of the mob on shore. They were headed for the river bank and looked dangerous.
“Here’s where the automatics come into play,” Paul suggested. “I can shoot, if I can’t walk.”
But right here a new factor entered the case. “Tommy,” the parrot, opening the conversation.
“Seven men on a dead man’s chest! Ho! Ho! Ho! And a bottle of rum!”
The parrot, wandering from perch to table, from locker to window ledge, lifted up his voice in an uncanny jumble of words until the cabin rang again.
The voice was hoarse yet shrill, and the Mexicans paused in wonder and amazement. They, of course, were unaware of the existence of the parrot, and the voice came to them as a distinct shock.
They paused and retreated a few steps and listened. The voice of the bird went on, hoarser and lifted higher than before.
“Ho, ho, and a bottle of rum!”
The Mexicans turned and fled, almost falling over each other in their eagerness to put as much space as possible between themselves and whatever it was that was making the talk.
At what seemed a safe distance they paused and gathered in a group for the comparing of impressions regarding the voice which all had heard. Some declared it to be the devil, and some said that there was a man who had not been seen concealed in the cabin.
While the arguments were going on the boys were not idle. The revolvers and guns were placed where they could easily be reached, and ammunition belts were buckled on.
The river pirates had not disturbed the arms while they were in possession of theRambler, so the weapons, which they intended to appropriate later on, had not been molested.
“They seem to be losing their courage!” Paul exclaimed. “It is a good thing! If they come an inch nearer, they’ll receive the contents of this automatic.”
“They will soon be here,” Clay reasoned. “When they discover that it is only a bird they are running away from, they will rush the boat. You will have to shoot fast then!”
“All right!” was Paul’s reply. “I’ll shoot fast, and shoot to kill. I think they are getting ready to charge the boat right now! Shall we go to the deck and get behind the bullet-proof railing?”
CHAPTER XV
DEAD IN THE FOREST
When Alex and Jule were seized they naturally put up a hard fight, but the men who had attacked them were muscular, and, besides, had the advantage of taking the lads by surprise, so they were compelled to submit to the indignity of being searched.
After they came to their feet again, and after their heads had stopped whirling, Alex’s first motion was toward his pistol pocket. Then he remembered that the automatic had been left on board theRambler. They were absolutely without weapons of any kind.
The outlaw saw the motion and smiled grimly.
“So,” he said, “you carried weapons. Some fancy little toy, I presume. What would you say to a weapon like this?”
As he spoke he displayed a revolver of enormous size. It was, however, patterned after an old model, and not at all similar to the improved automatics carried by the boys.
Alex, however, pretended great admiration for the gun and asked the privilege of taking it into his hands.
“I’d like to have one like it,” he declared. “How much do they cost?”
All this, of course, to draw the attention of the outlaws away from Jule, who was getting ready to spring Peter Pratt.
“What does this mean?” asked Jule, in as hoarse a voice as he was able to assume.
The outlaws, who had seated themselves on the turf, instantly sprang to their feet.
“Throw up your hands!” went on the voice.
But, instead of obeying this command, the men dropped to the earth again and prepared to fight. The attempt was a failure.
The boys, however, were on their feet, and the instant the outlaws crouched down they were off, being closely followed by the bulldog, who had all along looked with disfavor upon the proceedings. Captain Joe hesitated for a second, looking longingly at the exposed leg of one of the outlaws and then sprang forward.
In a minute the outlaw was on his feet, thundering great oaths at the dog, and doing his best to release his leg from the teeth of the animal. His efforts proved ineffectual, serving only to throw him to the ground again, where he lay foaming with rage.
“Call off the dog!” he shouted, writhing about on the turf in agony. “He is killing me!”
Hour after hour Jule had spent teaching the dog to obey his Peter Pratt, and now it came into play.
“Let go, you cur!” he cried. “Don’t kill the man! Let go, or I’ll have your hide for a foot rug!”
By this time the outlaws, regardless of their companion’s oaths and cries for help, were crouching lower in the bushes, mindful only of that first command to “throw up your hands!”
Captain Joe, in obedience to the command, released his hold on the outlaw and started after the boys. No sooner was the man released from the jaws of the dog than he drew a weapon and fired, the bullet cutting a long furrow in the dog’s side.
“I wish I had a gun with me,” said Alex in a rage. “I’d teach that robber better manners!”
“Come here, Joe!” Jule exclaimed. “I don’t think he is seriously hurt,” he added, as Joe came limping to his side.
“Find out as quick as you can,” advised Alex, “while I see that the men in front keep in the underbrush. They won’t hold the position long.”
As the man who had ordered them to throw up their hands did not appear, the outlaws were already growing suspicious. They cast inquiring glances at each other and moved about restlessly.
In the meantime Jule was making as close an examination of the dog’s wound as it was possible to make under the circumstances.
“There’s an ugly cut in his side, but that will soon heal,” he reported. “The thing to do now is to get away from here—quick! We are without weapons, and the outlaws will soon begin to smell a rat. They are getting suspicious already, and the fellow Joe bit is prowling about with blood in his eye.”
Owing to the underbrush which obstructed the view, the fellow could not locate the boys for a moment, but he was soon on the trail, vowing vengeance at every bound. Of course the boys took to their heels, but the blood from the dog’s side furnished a clew which was not to be mistaken.
“Something must be done or the man will catch us!” Alex panted. “Suppose you try Peter Pratt again?”
“Nothing doing!” Jule answered. “Do you want the other outlaws to know that they have been tricked?”
“That’s a fact,” replied Alex. “They would know that the man had shifted his position, even if they did not suspect trickery. But something must be done and done quick! Poor old Captain Joe is nearly all in.”
Although the lads were running at a swift pace, they were still hampered by the dog, who appeared to be growing weaker with every leap he took. The footfalls behind came on regularly and swiftly.
“Go on ahead with the dog,” Alex whispered at last. “I’ll stop that fellow! Judging from the way he acts, he is running blindly, and it ought to be easy to trip him. He’ll see the trail of blood and follow that.”
Without waiting for Jule to give his consent to this plan, Alex dropped down in the shrubbery. The outlaw came forward on a run, passing the boy without a knowledge of his presence there, which was not at all to the liking of the lad.
The boy had planned to trip the fellow as he went by.
The next best thing was to take after the fellow, and so divert his attention away from the wounded dog. Captain Joe must be saved in spite of everything!
The other outlaws, becoming suspicious that they had been tricked, were now on their feet, running toward the point which was the goal of Alex, the fourth outlaw and the dog.
It looked pretty serious for Alex, situated as he was between the three men at the rear and the one man in front. For a moment he trailed the man ahead, not knowing what course to pursue.
Then a plan came to him—a plan which might result in placing weapons in the hands of Jule and himself. It was a desperate chance to take, but it appeared to be the only one worth considering at the time.
He slackened his pace so as to permit the three in the rear to approach, and then dropped into the underbrush. The men came on at good speed and were promptly tripped.
They were running almost breast and breast, so they fell in a heap. Before they could get to their feet again Alex had the huge revolver out of the pocket of the leader and had the three covered.
“That’s right! Hands up! That’s the game you made us play a short time ago!”
Alex could hardly conceal a grin of triumph as the outlaws hastened to obey the command.
“Take the weapons from your pockets and throw them on the ground!” was the next order.
“Oh, see here, kid, isn’t this going too far?” said the leader, with a smile. “We were only joking with you.”
“That’s all right,” was the reply. “But, you see, I’m not joking with you. Throw the weapons down!”
The words were spoken so peremptorily that the outlaws lost no time in complying, and the weapons clattered to the ground together. Alex at once took possession of them.
In the meantime Jule was making as good time as was possible, hampered, as he was, by the dog, who insisted on stopping every few rods to note the progress made by his pursuer. The fight was not yet all out of the dog.
At last he stopped abruptly and refused to budge. While Jule was doing his best to force him along the sound of pursuing footsteps ceased. The boy listened intently, but could hear nothing of either Alex or the men he believed to be in pursuit.
“What’s coming off now?” he mused. “If this is a trick, I’m in bad, being without weapons and with this confounded dog on my hands. Captain Joe, why can’t you behave yourself?”
Captain Joe gave an extra tug at the collar and broke away, disappearing almost immediately in the thick underbrush, with Jule in hot pursuit and a trail of blood showing where the dog had gone.
The dog was out of sight in a second, but the trail of blood, instead of leading directly to the rear, wound off to the right. The trail was growing fainter every minute, which demonstrated that the wound was closing, or that it was becoming filled with clots.
While Jule hesitated about following on after the dog, thinking that he had gone crazy, the sound of a revolver came to his ears, and the pursuit was taken up again.
The lad reached an opening in the shrubbery just in time to see the dog and the outlaw in what seemed to be a death struggle. The man had evidently fired one shot at the dog and been too late to fire again. He had been seized by the dog and thrown to the ground.
His revolver lay by his side, just beyond his reach. The fellow was already in the agonies of death.
Jule sprang forward, but it was too late. The blood which was scattered liberally over the rank grass told him that. The dog had severed the jugular vein.
“I don’t blame you, Captain Joe,” the boy said, kneeling by the side of the fast-failing outlaw, “not a little bit! He shot you while you were running away from him, and you got even in the only way you knew; still, I wish you had let him live.”
There came a gurgle of blood at the throat, the wounded man struggled for a second for breath, and all was over.
Jule laid the head of the man back reverently. Whatever he had been in life, death had canceled. The record was of his own making and must be judged by One wiser than the combined wisdom of earth.
Captain Joe, to tell the truth, did not appear in the last downcast by the manner in which the incident had terminated, for he frisked about the boy as if expecting to be praised for what he had done. Seeing that words of commendation were not likely to be forthcoming, he darted away down the river.
Jule followed on behind, leaving the dead outlaw to be cared for later on. He reached an opening in the tangle of underbrush just in time to witness Alex’s capture of the three outlaws.
When he approached the spot where Alex stood the lad was facing the three men about.
“What’s doing?” he asked. “Likely pair and a half you have there! How did you manage it—the capture, I mean?”
“They just came and gave themselves up!” was the reply. “Got a rope or anything to tie ’em up with?”
“Nothing doing in that way,” answered Jule. The leader of the outlaws now appealed to the newcomer for release.
“This lad,” he said, “is inclined to take the incident which took place recently rather seriously. I can’t make him understand that it was all a joke.”
“Joke, was it?” asked Jule. “Well, the joke cost the life of your chum!”
And the boy related the scene he had just witnessed.
Just how it was done the boys never knew. One minute the three men stood facing the lads, the next they were crunching their way through the underbrush. And Alex had not fired a shot. He had been too busy listening to Jule’s recital of the scene in the forest.
The boys knew the outlaws would lose no time in making an effort to regain possession of the weapons, so they took to their heels.
“Why didn’t you shoot?” demanded Jule.
“I was too much interested in the story you were telling,” was the panting reply. “I think I must be a chump!”
The river was not far away, and the boys struck out for it with all the running ability they possessed, halting only when they stood on its southern bank.
The outlaws had not yet made their appearance, and the boys fancied they, too, were running only in an opposite direction.
“Now what?” asked Jule. “We can’t swim across, can we?”
“I should say not!” was the reply, as Alex threw himself down on the turf. “To tell the truth, I’m about all in! Do you see anything of Captain Joe?” he added. “I presume the fool dog followed the outlaws away.”
Jule grinned, thinking of the figure cut by Alex as he stood with the huge revolver, threatening the three men.
“I wonder if the gun is loaded?” he said, taking it into his hand. “I have known men to carry empty weapons. For the love of Mike, it sure is empty!”
The boy rolled over and over on the grass, making faces at his chum and laughing softly.
“Nice time you would have had if they had turned on you!” he said tauntingly, but just at that moment the chum was too busy watching the dog to pay the slightest attention to him.
The dog had again made his appearance on the bank of the river showing all his teeth, and back of him came the outlaws!
They were laughing uproariously, because they, too, remembered that the weapons were empty, all save the one in possession of the outlaw who had set off in pursuit of the dog. They had discharged them and forgotten all about it.
CHAPTER XVI
JULE IN GREAT DANGER
Case and Thede made the most of the leaky boat, but the most was not fast enough.
“If we only had theRambler, and had it in as good condition as it was at midnight, we could soon learn something of the missing boys, but there is no knowing how far the boat sailed after they left it, and so it is all a guess,” said Case, as he set to work bailing out the boat. “I guess this trip settles the excursions of theRambler.”
Thede laughed. When Case was blue he was always ready to cancel all the dates made for the motor boat.
Thede let him sputter away until he was tired of grumbling, and then suggested:
“The chances are that theRamblerran only a short distance after the boys left her. If the boys have the good sense which they have previously shown, they will follow on down the river, and so make the distance we shall be obliged to travel in this old tub all the shorter. In fact, I am looking for them at every bend in the river. We ought to meet them in a few minutes now.”
“But if they are on the opposite shore, we are going the wrong away about it,” replied Case. “The river is very wide here, and we never could paddle this old tub across it in the face of the current. I don’t see what the boys ever left the boat for. But some people never will learn by experience.”
Thede’s view of the case was certainly a hopeful one, but it was hours before they saw any signs of the lads. Then Case saw Captain Joe running along the river bank barking furiously.
“There’s the first signal!” Thede exclaimed, turning the prow of the boat toward the south shore. “And the dog seems to be in trouble. He seems to be wounded and is just about all in.”
“It strikes me that we had better get to the shore just as soon as possible.”
As Case spoke Alex came out to the river bank alone. Jule was nowhere in sight, and Alex’s clothing was so torn that he looked like a ragman.
“Alex has been up against something pretty strong to give that tired look to his face,” Thede exclaimed as he turned the boat toward the south shore. “Did you ever see a more disreputable human being?”
“Never!” was the reply.
The old tub of a boat struck the beach at last, and was promptly boarded by Alex, who was gasping for breath.
“Did you bring your automatics?” was the first question.
“Sure!” was Case’s answer.
As the boy spoke he took a weapon from his pocket and handed it to the lad.
“What’s doing?” he asked as he did so. “And where is Jule?”
“Come with me and I’ll show you where Jule is,” was Alex’s reply. “Walk softly! There are others with him. When I give the word you just rush, and rush to some purpose.”
Without knowing what they were to meet, Case and Thede swept down into a thicket and, in obedience to a motion from Alex, drew up for a minute and waited.
The three outlaws had captured Jule and were about to burn his feet if he did not tell where his chum was.
“Oh, he’ll answer fast enough as soon as he feels the flames tickling his toes,” the leader said. “We’re going to exterminate this nest of vipers, and don’t you forget it!”
“Go as far as you like,” Jule answered. “I still refuse to tell. Nice boy I’d be, if I betrayed my chum!”
“We’ll see about that!”
One of the outlaws was evidently opposed to what was about to be done, for he drew the leader aside and whispered in his ear for several minutes. At the end of that time the leader shook his head and turned, with a sharp order, to an evil-faced, scowling outlaw who appeared equal to any piece of deviltry.
The man addressed was quick to obey the command. He took a handful of matches from a pocket and proceeded to light one of them.
All the time there was a grin upon his face which told how much he enjoyed the assignment.
Jule did not believe that he would be deserted by his chum. He had no idea in what shape the assistance would come, but he was perfectly well satisfied that it would come. Alex had broken away from the robbers and taken to his heels and would be sure to return at the critical moment.
As Jule saw the preparations for torture going on he wished that Alex would hasten to the rescue, but he had no doubt of the final result. Alex was loyal.
“Now,” said Case, taking out his automatic, “you see what the intention is. I have a notion that it is the deliberate intention of the devils to torture the boy to death. How should he know where Alex is? It is a subterfuge to make the act appear more humane. This being the case, what ought we to do to the outlaws?”
“If you don’t decide on something pretty soon Jule will get his feet cooked!” interposed Alex. “What ought we to do with the devils? Kill ’em, I say!”
“It does seem that drastic measures should be adopted,” the surgeon put in. “Of course, we can’t decide what to do with them while they are still at large, but we can make up our minds. It ought to be an easy thing to catch them.”
“Oh, we’ve got ’em now!” Alex added. “None of them has a weapon in sight! It will be just like taking candy away from babies! See! they are taking his shoes off! Mother of Moses! What was that? Looked like a white flash!”
Captain Joe was once more in evidence.
The dog had appeared astonished at the inaction of the rescuing party and reached the conclusion that if anything was done he must do it himself.
As the dog charged in between the leader and the man to whom the duty of burning the boy’s feet had been assigned the former drew a revolver and fired, missing the canine by a foot or more. The others drew their revolvers, too, but did not discharge them.
A peremptory order came from the bushes and they dropped the weapons as if they had been red hot.
“Up with your hands!”
Almost before the words were out of the speaker’s mouth, the firearms were on the ground. But the leader still retained his huge revolver and was about to use it when the dog seized him by the leg in a vise-like hold.
The revolver dropped to the ground while the man tumbled about in agony, saying many things against the character of the dog. To all of which the dog, who was performing what he regarded as a sacred duty in defending the boy, paid not the slightest heed.
“Call him off!” the leader cried. “If you don’t want him killed, call him off!”
By way of reply Alex picked up the long weapon and used it to such good purpose on the head of the fellow that he was soon quite unconscious. In fact, so enraged was the boy that there is little doubt that the man would have been beaten to death if Case had not interfered to prevent his murder.
“What are you doing?” Case demanded. “Do you want to kill the man? I think you would better take a rest and cool off a little.”
“Look what was done to Jule by his orders!” answered the lad, still struggling to continue the attack. “Killing is none too good for the likes of him!”
“Save him for the hangman!” advised Jule as he cut the cords which bound him and regained his feet. “We’ll tie the bunch up and if they get away all right. If they don’t, why that’s all right, too!”
“We ought to kill him,” was Alex’s rejoinder.
“Oh, let him live,” laughed Case. “We can afford that much, seeing Jule escaped with whole feet. The chances were against that at one time.”
“What shall we do with the others?” asked the surgeon. “They are all equally guilty, I presume.”
“The fellow who lighted the match deserves to have his head knocked off,” Alex answered. “Did you notice the diabolical grin on his face when given the order?”
One fellow protested in broken Spanish that he had been opposed to the leader all the time, and it was finally decided to bind all three outlaws and leave them on the river bank.
“If we should leave the one who interfered in the interest of mercy,” Thede insisted, “he would release the others as soon as our backs were turned, so we may as well treat all alike.”
So the outlaws were tied up good and tight, and the four took to the boat again. It was necessary to bail the row boat out frequently as it was still leaking badly, but in time the long stretch of river was passed and the boys came in sight of theRambler.
The last thing the boys heard of the outlaws was a volley of curses from the lips of the leader of the party, who had regained consciousness and was stating in strong words what he would do to the boys if they ever came in his way again.
“What’s doing on theRambler?” Jule asked, as they came in view of the motor boat.
There certainly was “something doing,” for the deck swarmed with men, and only the cabin was held by Clay and Paul. When the boat came nearer the boys could hear the voice of the parrot ordering the men off the boat.
“Cut it out, cut it out!” he cried. “Get back, get back! You ain’t wanted here! Cut it out!”
“Tommy seems to be doing his part, all right,” said Alex. “I wonder how long this has been going on?”
“How are we going to get on board theRambler?” asked the surgeon. “All the seats seem to be taken.” The men who had taken possession of the boat were now shaking their fists at the boys in the rowboat and offering to beat them up on the most liberal terms.
“The boat now belongs to me!” one of the river thieves shouted, waving his arms in the air. “I take it as abandoned property.”
“We’ll soon show you!” Alex shouted back.
“Go chase yourself!” shouted Jule. The rowboat kept steadily on her course toward theRamblerand some of the more timid of the occupants of the deck began climbing over the rail, but others stood their ground, making a display of firearms.
The boys were all armed now, Case having thoughtfully provided himself with arms for all, and for a moment it looked serious. When the boats touched, however, theRamblerwas abandoned by those who had taken possession of her and not a shot was fired.
“Had a little mix-up?” asked Case.
“It looked serious about the time you arrived,” Clay responded. “They had us cooped up in the cabin, and there is no knowing what would have happened if you had not come.”
“Now,” said Alex, “suppose we celebrate with a good, square, all-to-the-good meal! It seems about a month since I had anything to eat.”
“You’re always hungry,” commented Case.
“Always hungry!” responded Alex. “Look here! If you get up without going to bed, and butt into a crowd of river thieves, and come near having your feet burned off, wouldn’t that make you hungry? I’ll bet you it would!”
All this time the men on the shore had been shaking their fists and shouting out oaths and cuss words.
CHAPTER XVII
ON MEXICAN SOIL AGAIN