Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho Part 14

"But how do we know what we shall find on the other side? Perhaps it leads into a room full of Mexicans."

"We must run that risk. Venture nothing, gain nothing, you know."

Frank awaited the issue of events with a good deal of anxiety. He heard the heavy scuttle lifted slowly and cautiously from its place, then a smothered cry of exultation, and the weight was suddenly lifted from his shoulders. Upon looking up, he saw the stars shining down upon him through the scuttle-hole, and his cousin's heels disappearing over the combings.

"We are safe now," whispered Archie, thrusting his head into the opening, and extending his hand down into the darkness. "I am on the roof of the rancho. Give us your fist."

"I can't reach you," replied Frank.

Archie hesitated a moment, and then pulled off his jacket, and firmly grasping one of the sleeves, threw the other down to his cousin. One hundred and fifty pounds was no light weight for a boy of his size to sustain, but he clung manfully to the jacket, while Frank went up, hand-over-hand, as a sailor goes up a rope. He soon ascended high enough to seize the combings of the scuttle, and in a moment more stood safe upon the roof.

The cousins did not stop to congratulate themselves upon their good fortune. Time was much too precious for that, and, besides, they did not yet regard their escape as a settled thing. There was the creek to be crossed; a belt of timber to be pa.s.sed; and five miles of lonely prairie to be traversed, before they reached their uncle's rancho; and there was no knowing what might happen to them while they were making this journey. Their first care was to put the scuttle back in its place, so that the Don, when he returned to the dungeon, should not immediately discover the manner of their escape, and the next to reconnoiter the ground before them. They found themselves on the roof of a wing of the rancho--a s.p.a.ce about twenty feet square. On three sides was a stone parapet, two feet high, and on the fourth loomed up the walls of the main building. In this wall was a door, which opened upon the wing. The boys merely glanced at it, and scarcely thought of it again; but they afterward had good cause to remember it. They looked all around them, but there was no one in sight; they listened intently, but could hear nothing.

"The coast seems to be clear," said Archie, walking to the parapet and looking cautiously over, "and we had better be off. It isn't more than fifteen or twenty feet to the ground, and we can hang by our hands and drop without much danger of injuring ourselves."

"Be careful," said Frank. "A sprained ankle wouldn't be a funny thing, just now."

The boys jumped upon the wall, and were on the point of swinging themselves over, when an interruption they had not dreamed of arrested their movements. Frank's quick ear caught the faint tramping of horses' hoofs. He laid his hand upon his cousin's arm, and they sprang back to the roof, and concealed themselves behind the parapet.

"Something is always bothering us," said Archie, straining his eyes through the darkness in the direction from which the sound came.

"What's up now, I wonder!"

If Frank had known just what was about to transpire, he could not have described it in less time than the scene occupied in taking place.

While Archie was speaking, the sound of the horses' hoofs ceased, and a faint light, like that emitted by a match, blazed up in the bushes on the opposite side of the creek. The signal (for the boys were sure it was a signal) was repeated twice, and then arose a commotion in the house, as if men were running hurriedly about. This continued for a few seconds, and then a flatboat suddenly made its appearance in the creek. Where it came from, the boys could not imagine; but there it was, and there was a man in it, who was sculling it toward the opposite bank.

"By--gracious!" whispered Archie, in great excitement. "We are going to witness the very scene that frightened old Bob so badly."

"But Bob must have been dreaming," answered Frank. "He said the boat was ferried across without hands, and that man is using an oar."

Our heroes were too deeply interested in what was going on to continue the conversation. Archie pulled off his sombrero, and pushed back his sleeves, as if he were preparing for a trial of strength with somebody, while Frank settled himself into a comfortable position behind the parapet, after the manner of a boy who had selected his favorite book from the library, and seated himself in an easy chair to enjoy it. They kept a sharp lookout, for they were determined that not even the smallest incident should escape their notice. They had an opportunity now to learn the secret of these strange doings, and, when they were over, they would know as much about them as Don Carlos himself.

At the same moment that the flatboat appeared, the boys heard the grating noise below them, and suddenly the banks of the creek and the woods, for two hundred yards around, which had been shrouded in darkness an instant before, were flooded with light.

"I know what Bob's 'streaks of fire' are now," said Frank.

"That light comes from a dark-lantern," chimed in Archie. "There's only one thing, so far, that I can't understand, and that is, where that boat came from in such a hurry. What's that?"

Just then a large white object, which appeared to unfold itself as it moved along, came into view, and rolled down the bank toward the creek. It stopped when it reached the water's edge, thus forming a walk, which extended from the creek to the walls of the rancho. This was another thing that Archie could not understand, and neither could Frank. They knew that it was what the trapper had called the "bridge of clouds,"--and there it was, "rolling and tumbling, like the smoke from the mouth of a cannon," just as d.i.c.k had described it to them--but what was it made of? that was the question. Of course it couldn't be a cloud, but it certainly looked like one. Archie sank lower behind the parapet, and muttered his favorite expression a good many times, and Frank puffed out his cheeks, and scratched his head to stir up his ideas.

While the bridge of clouds (the boys did not know what else to call it) was placing itself in position on that side of the creek, a similar operation had been going on on the opposite bank. The boat had by this time crossed the creek, and a white object, like the one just described--another bridge of clouds--extended from it into the woods.

Presently, two hors.e.m.e.n appeared, riding down the bridge toward the boat. One was mounted on Roderick, and the other on King James; and each led a horse which had doubtless been stolen that night. They rode upon the flatboat, the bridge along which they had just pa.s.sed rolled itself up after them, and the boat began to move across the creek. It was plain, now, that the old trapper had not been dreaming. The hors.e.m.e.n were still in their saddles; the Mexican, who had gone over in the boat, was standing quietly in the stern; the oar lay upon the bottom where he had thrown it; and yet the boat moved rapidly through the water. There was no mistake about it, for the boys could see the whole proceeding as plainly as though it had been broad daylight. The boat was certainly coming across the creek, and it was equally certain that not one of its three pa.s.sengers was propelling it. A dozen oarsmen could not have sent it through the water as rapidly as it was moved by that invisible power. It was not more than half-a-minute in crossing the creek, and as soon as it touched the bank, the hors.e.m.e.n rode out on the bridge of clouds, and came toward the rancho. Frank and Archie kept close watch of their movements, thrusting their heads as far over the parapet as they dared, and it seemed to them that the hors.e.m.e.n went into the wall. They suddenly disappeared somewhere very suddenly; and no sooner were they out of sight, than the bridge of clouds rolled itself up behind them, the light was extinguished, and darkness once more settled down over the rancho.

These various incidents followed one another with a rapidity that was utterly bewildering. The hors.e.m.e.n had crossed the creek, and were safe in the rancho, almost before the boys knew it. They had moved as swiftly and silently as spirits; and when they had pa.s.sed out of sight, Archie struck the parapet with his fist, to make sure that he was awake. He felt the cold chills creeping along his back, and he did not wonder now that old Bob had been frightened. He was willing to confess that he was frightened himself.

"Well!" said Frank, after a moment's pause.

"Don't ask me any questions," replied Archie. "I don't know any more about it now than I did before. Where did those fellows go?"

"What was that white thing the horses walked on, and what moved it? I didn't see any one near it!"

"Where did that flatboat come from, and where could it have gone so suddenly? It disappeared the instant the hors.e.m.e.n left it."

"No doubt we shall know all about it some day," said Frank--"that is, if we succeed in making our escape. I wonder if the coast is clear now?"

"No, it isn't," answered Archie. "See there!"

Frank looked over the parapet, and saw a Mexican standing in the shadow of the wall beneath them. He had doubtless been stationed there to see if the hors.e.m.e.n were pursued. The boys wished him a thousand miles away, for he was sadly interfering with their arrangements. They waited impatiently for him to follow the robbers into the rancho, but he seemed to have no such intention. He stood there as upright as a post, and as silent and motionless.

"Are we not having miserable luck?" asked Archie, impatiently. "Let's jump down on him, before he knows it. We can both manage him."

"But we would alarm the rest of the band," replied Frank. "Let's drop down on the other side, and go around the rancho."

The attention of the boys had been so fully occupied with what had just transpired, that they had not thought of looking for enemies in their rear. While they were watching the Mexican beneath them, the door in the wall of the main building, of which we have before spoken, was noiselessly opened, and several Rancheros, headed by Don Carlos, came out and approached the boys on tip-toe. As the latter arose to their feet to carry out the plan Frank had suggested, Archie's collar was seized in a strong grasp, and his cousin looked up just in time to see a long, bony hand stretching out toward him. It was the robber chief's hand; but it was much too slow in its movements to make a prisoner of Frank Nelson. The boy lingered just long enough to see that the Don was backed up by a force too strong to be successfully resisted, and then, striking up the threatening hand, he jumped to the parapet and swung himself over. He did not immediately let go his hold, but looked down to take a survey of the ground beneath him. He wanted to strike squarely on his feet, in order to be on equal terms with the sentinel who would doubtless pounce upon him at once. He hung suspended in the air but a moment, but that was long enough for the Don to reach the parapet, and bend over and seize him by the collar.

"Hold on, leetle poys," exclaimed the chief. "It's petter you comes back here. Ach! Dis ish von grand shwindle," he yelled, changing his tone very suddenly. "Vat you making here, leetle poys?"

The Don was greatly alarmed now, for he was being dragged over the parapet. When he seized Frank, he did not attempt to pull him back upon the roof, but braced himself, intending to hold fast to his prisoner until some of his men could come to his a.s.sistance. Frank understood his plans; and knowing that the loss of a single instant might be fatal to him, he quickly loosened his grasp upon the wall, and seized the Don by the hair. He hoped by this move to compel his enemy to let go his hold; but it had a very different result. The chief, not being equal to the task of sustaining a dead weight of one hundred and fifty pounds by the hair of his head, suddenly lost his balance, and he and Frank fell whirling through the air.

CHAPTER XVI.

A RACE IN THE DARK.

It seemed to Frank that while he was falling he lost his senses. When he came to himself, he was sitting on the ground about ten feet from the wall, the Don was lying motionless by his side, and the Mexican, with whom Frank expected to have a desperate fight, or a hotly-contested foot-race, was kneeling upon him and holding him down.

More than that, a huge door in the wall of the rancho--the same one through which the hors.e.m.e.n had disappeared a few minutes before--had been thrown open; the light of a locomotive lamp was streaming out; and a crowd of mounted men, all armed to the teeth, were charging up the bank with furious yells. Frank gazed at them with mouth and eyes wide open; and so bewildered was he, that the Mexican, if he had felt so inclined, might have bound him hand and foot without the least difficulty. But it was plain that he was not there for that purpose; he was devoting himself entirely to Don Carlos.

"That was well done, Master Frank," said he, as he pa.s.sed his sash around the chiefs arms. "But there's going to be a fight here, and you had better get out of the way."

It was Carlos who spoke, and his words brought Frank to his feet immediately. He understood it all now. The men, who were pouring through the door into the rancho, were the settlers, who had come there to rescue him and Archie. Frank, however, was not disposed to run away because there was going to be a fight. A dozen or two men, at least, would be killed or wounded, and his cousin might be one of the number, unless he was immediately liberated. The last Frank saw of him, he was struggling in the grasp of a powerful Mexican, who had thrown him upon the roof, and was holding his hands behind his back, while a companion was getting ready to bind him. And there were Roderick and King James to be looked after, too. During the confusion some of the robbers might make off with them, and that would be a misfortune indeed. Frank thought of all these things, and to the utter amazement of Carlos, pulled his revolver from his pocket, and followed the settlers into the rancho.

When he reached the door he stopped, astonished at the scene presented to his view. The court was filled with men, some on foot, and some on horseback; rifles and pistols were cracking in every direction; knives were flashing in the air; and the din that arose was almost deafening.

One thing Frank noticed immediately, and that was, that the fight was not so much of a fight after all. The robbers, taken by surprise, and alarmed at the numbers and determination of the attacking party, did not stop to resist, but made every exertion to escape. Some, of course, succeeded; while others were pulled down by la.s.sos, and bound hand and foot before they could realize what was going on.

Frank stood at the door but a moment, but that was long enough for a friend of his to find and recognize him. It was Marmion. The dog jumped upon him with every demonstration of joy, and then turned and attacked the first man he came to, who happened to be none other than Carlos. The latter had taken care of his prisoner, and was hurrying in to a.s.sist the settlers. Marmion discovered his mistake after he had bitten the Ranchero, but did not seem to be sorry for it. He, no doubt, considered it his duty to bite somebody, and it made little difference to him who it was. He afterward had an opportunity to try his teeth upon an old enemy of his, and he made the most of it.

Frank's first care was to look around for Archie. He was not in sight, but something else was. Roderick was standing near the middle of the court, and one of the robbers had just grasped the bridle, preparatory to springing upon his back. There was not a single instant to be lost.

That man must not be allowed to mount the horse, for, if he once got fairly into the saddle, he would go out of the court with the speed of the wind, and that would be the last of Roderick. Frank bounded forward, discharging his revolver at the robber as he ran; but, although the man looked around to see where the bullet came from, he was not frightened from his purpose. His leg was already over the saddle, and Roderick was beginning to move.

"Stop, there!" yelled Frank, who was so close to the horse that he could almost seize him by the tail. "Stop, I say!"

The noise in the court was so great that he could scarcely hear his own voice. The Mexican did not hear it, and it is not probable that he would have paid any attention to it if he had. The revolver cracked once more, but something made Frank's hand unsteady, and the bullet went wide of the mark. Roderick was certainly lost to him. Again and again the six-shooter spoke in decided tones, until the last load was discharged; and still the robber rode on. With a cry of impatience Frank dashed the now useless weapon to the ground, and, scarcely knowing what he was doing, started in hot pursuit of the mustang; but Marmion, his friend and ally, was swifter than he, and now beginning to understand that the Mexican ought to be stopped, he ran up beside the horse, bounded into the air, seized the man by the shoulder, and pulled him from the saddle in a twinkling.

The wild Indian yell to which Frank gave utterance as he witnessed this proceeding, would have done credit to d.i.c.k Lewis himself. He did not stop to see what Marmion was going to do with the robber, but kept on after the mustang, which he now believed would make straight for the gate. Roderick, however, seemed to be in no hurry to leave the rancho; nor was he frightened by the noise and confusion around him.

On the contrary, he appeared to enjoy it. He arched his neck, laid back his ears, and pranced about among the excited, struggling men as though he were in his natural element; but, being well-trained and obedient, he stopped when his master succeeded in making him hear his voice, and in a few seconds more Frank was safe in the saddle. How proud the boy was then! He was not afraid of Don Carlos' whole band.