CHAPTER XVI.
WHAT HAPPENED TO COYOTE PETE.
Let us now retrace our steps to the Haunted Mesa, and ascertain how itfared with Coyote Pete and the professor, after the boys' astonishingdisappearance through the balanced trap-door in the base of the hollowaltar. As we know, the lads' elders were crouched at the opposite endof the former sacrificial structure, when, before their eyes, the ladswere swallowed up.
For an instant--as well they might have been--the two onlookers werefairly paralyzed with amazement. The occurrence seemed to be withoutnatural explanation. But an investigation by Pete, crawling on hishands and knees while he made it, soon revealed the nature of thedevice which, as we know, was nothing more nor less than a balancedtrap-door of stone. An unusual weight placed upon one end of itinstantly tilted it and projected whatever was on it upon the staircasebelow.
The professor, who recalled having read of such devices in otherdwelling-places of ancient communities, was at first for following theboys into the unknown interior of the mesa, but before any move couldbe made in that direction, one of the newly-arrived party shoved hisface over the top of the hollow altar in a spirit of investigation. Hefell back with a yell, crying out that there were spirits within it, ashis eyes encountered the crouching forms of its two occupants.
"What's the matter, you fool?" demanded Ramon himself, who happened tobe close at hand.
"Oh, the spirits! The spirits of the hollow altar!" howled the Mexicanin abject terror, his knees knocking together and his face taking on asickly pallor.
"Hey! What's that the crazy galoot's after saying?"
The question came from a thickset man, of about middle age, upon whoseupper lip bristled a fringe of reddish hair. His eyes were blue,narrow and evil, and his face was scarred in half a dozen places.
"Why, Hickey, my amigo, he says that the place is haunted," laughedRamon.
The man addressed as Hickey turned to his two companions, one of whomwas a tall, lanky chap, with straggly black hair, and bristly, unshavenchin. The other was a short, fat, rather good-natured looking littleman, whose truculent chin, however, gave the lie to his incessantsmile. Somehow, you felt, after a lengthy inspection of this latter,that he was by no means the amiable personage his fixed smile seemed toindicate. Small wonder, considering that his smile was fixed upon hisface by reason of an old knife wound, which, in severing some facialmuscles, had drawn up the corners of his mouth into a perpetual grin.
"Hullo! Here's Rafter and Con Divver!" exclaimed thebristly-moustached one. "Well, fellows, what d'ye think of this herecountry?"
"All right, as fur as we've gone," grunted the lanky man, "but I'mitching to git across the border and git my paws on some of that gold."
"Ye're right, Rafter," agreed the man with the perpetual smile, "that'swhat we're after. I ain't made a good haul since we cleaned out thesafe of that asphalt company in Venezuela."
"Well, gentlemen," smiled Ramon, in his most ingratiating manner, "youwill have ample opportunity shortly. I happen to know that one of thefirst things that General Madero intends to do is to move upon themines of the robber Americanos, and get some of their gringo gold."
"Hooray! That's the talk," grunted Jim Hickey, who, like his mates,styled himself "soldier of fortune." But, alas! that high-soundingtitle in his case, as in many others, was simply a polite way ofdisguising his true calling, to-wit, that of an unscrupulousadventurer, whose object was to line his own pockets. A fashion hasarisen of late of writing about soldiers of fortune as if they werenoble, Quixotic persons. Those with whom the author has come incontact, however, have, without exception, been mercenary andcold-blooded men, to whom the name highway robber could be applied withfar more justice than the higher sounding term. Such men were JimHickey and his two companions, who had flocked like buzzards to theborder at the first word of trouble.
"Waal, thar's that greaser of yours still cuttin' up didoes," drawledDivver. "What's ther matter with ther coyote, anyhow? Say, Ramon,ain't that the main station of yer subway, yonder in ther rock pile?"
He pointed to the hollow altar, in which crouched Pete and theprofessor. They had heard every word of this conversation, of course,and its effect upon them may be imagined.
"That, senors, is indeed the entrance to our convenient littleunderground river. Ha! ha! an excellent joke on the worthy ColonelBriggs. He is guarding every point of the border but this one. Ofcourse, he concluded, in his wise way, that nobody could cross thosebarren hills yonder, but, as you know, gentlemen, we go under, and notover them."
"Trust you greasers?" grinned Rafter, who was a New Englander; "ye'reas slick ez paint, and thet's a fact. But, let's see what in ther nameof juniper scairt thet feller o' yourn. Seems like he's teetotelabstinence on thet altar."
"Yes, there is a superstition that the mesa is haunted," rejoinedRamon. "That is the reason why I could never get a man to ascend itwithout myself. If you gentlemen noticed the tracks upon the pathway,you would have seen they went only to the top of the path. Beyond thatmy men would in no manner go on the night we came here to reconnoiter."
"That was before you sent the order through fer the arms?" inquiredHickey.
"_Si, senor_. But now, as you see, everything bids fair to go well,and----"
"By hemlock!" broke in Rafter's sharp voice, as he drew his pistol,"thar's two cusses hidin' in ther altar."
The New Englander had separated from the others, and taken a peek overthe edge of the ancient sacrificial device, to ascertain what hadcaused the sudden alarm of the Mexican. What he had seen had causedhis amazed exclamation.
"What's that?" came the bull-throated roar of Hickey, "two men in thatbrick pile?"
"That's whatsoever. One on 'em is a big, long, rangy cuss, like ayearlin' colt, by gosh, and ther other's the dead spit of the schoolteacher at ther Four Corners, back er hum."
"We must see into this."
It was Ramon who spoke. As he did so, he advanced in his agile,cat-like way upon the altar. In his hand he held his revolver. But,as he reached the edge of the pit and raised himself to peep over,something--which something was Coyote Pete's fist--caught him fullbetween the eyes, and sent him toppling backward into the arms ofRafter. Together the lanky New Englander and the Mexican crashed tothe ground, while Pete set up a defiant yell.
"Come on!" he cried. "Any of your outfit thet's jes' pinin' fer afacial massage, hed better step this way, an' be accommodated."
Ill-advised as Pete's hasty action was, it at least created a briefspell in which he had time to leap over the edge of the altar, and,before Ramon or any of the rest could recover from their astonishment,the cow-puncher had seized the Mexican's pistol and was standing atbay, his back against the altar.
"Now, then, any gent desirous uv heving his system ventilated free ofcharge, will kin'ly step this way," he mocked. "Ah----" as Hickey'shand slid to his waist, "don't touch thet gun, mister, or yer friendswill be sendin' you flowers."
"Waal, by Juniper!" drawled Rafter, as he gathered his spidery formtogether and scrambled to his feet. "You seem ter hev ther drop on us,stranger."
"Thet's what," retorted the cow-puncher, "and I mean to keep it till wecan come to terms. That Mexican gent yonder knows me of old--don'tyou, Ramon?--and he knows thet what I say I'll do, I'll do."
"So you are spying upon me again, are you?" grated out Ramon viciously."Not content with driving me out of the Hachetas, you must eveninterfere with my political activities."
"Waal, if yer gitting perlitically active with machine guns andshootin' irons, I reckon Mister Diaz ull interfere with yer 'bout asmuch as I will," grunted Pete, keeping the men before him covered withthe Mexican's pistol. The part of this speech referring to the machineguns was a mere guess of the shrewd cow-puncher. But, as the readerknows, he had struck the nail on the head. "But see here, Ramon," hewent on, dropping his tone, "we ain't here to molest you. We come outhere with a scientific gent, to measure the mesa. We was going backhome te
r-night, an' was takin' a last look around when you come along.I'll give you my word--and you know it's good--that we don't want termeddle with your affairs so long as they don't affect us. Run all theguns you want--for I know that's your little game--but we've got somekids with us, and it's up to me to get 'em back home safe. Let us gitout of here peaceable, and no more will be said."
"Hum!" grunted the Mexican. "You forget that I owe you a little debtfor some things that happened across the border some time ago. BlackRamon does not forget, nor does he forgive. I can guess who those boysare you have with you, and here is my proposal: You leave that cub,Jack Merrill, with me, and the rest of you can go, and----"
_Swish_!
Before Coyote Pete realized it, a raw-hide lariat circled through theair from behind, and settled about his neck. The next instant he wasjerked from his feet, as Con Divver, who had crept unobserved aroundthe altar, drew the rope tight. Ramon had seen the other creeping up,and had been talking against time till the crucial moment arrived.
Now, with a howl of triumph, he rushed at the cow-puncher, and wasabout to aim a terrific kick at his prostrate body, when a lanky formsuddenly appeared over the edge of the altar, and fixing ten bonyfingers in Ramon's inky locks, tugged till the Mexican yelled with pain.
"Well may you cry aloud for mercy, sir!" exclaimed the professor, forhe it was who had suddenly come to the rescue, forgetting even the painof his ankle in the crisis. "Even in Homer you may find it written,'Never kick a man when he's down.'"
"_Phew_!" whistled Hickey, his smile puckering up his whole face in anevil grimace. "This is growing interesting."
"Sanctissima Santos! Take him off! Make him let go!" yelled Ramon,dancing in agony. But the professor's long digits were entwined in hislocks, and the man of science showed no disposition to let go.
"Sa-ay, yo-ou animated hop-toad, I reckin you'd better let go uv therMexican gent's draperies, er I'll be compelled ter drill yer, byhemlock."
It was Rafter who drawled out the words, and, as he spoke, he held arevolver leveled at the professor's head.
"Better drop the varmint, perfuss," directed Pete, from the ground,"they've got us hog-tied and ready fer the brand."
"By ginger! I cal-kerlate ther ain't no de-oubt uv thet," drawledRafter, as the professor dropped his hold on Ramon's locks, and beganflourishing a small geological hammer.
It would be wearisome to relate in detail all that took place at themesa after this, but suffice it to say that Ramon's rage on thediscovery that the lads had accidentally found the undergroundpassageway was what it might have been imagined to be. As we know, afruitless pursuit of them followed.
This over, the rascals were faced with a dilemma. The boat in which ithad been arranged that Hickey, Divver and Rafter were to take passagehad been appropriated by the boys.
"A thousand evils light upon them," raged Ramon, as he stood drippingon the bank of the stream. "It is a hundred to one that they alsoseize the three horses I had reserved for your use, gentlemen."
"Waal, I calkerlate thet sooner er later we'll cotch up ter these youngcatermounts, and then, by chowder, we'll mek it quite interesting ferthem, whatsoever," promised Rafter significantly.
"Looks like we'll hev ter trek across ther mountains, after all,"commented Hickey, no more moved by what had occurred than he ever wasby anything.
But in this he reckoned without Ramon's resourcefulness. The Mexicanwas as clever as he was unscrupulous. Necessity being the mother ofinvention, he soon devised a plan to avoid the long and perilousexcursion across the barren hills.
Under his direction, the wagon-bed was taken off the running-gear, andthe tarpaulin cover so adjusted as to make it water-tight. Rafter wasa skillful carpenter, having once done honest work in a Maine shipyard,so that the improvised boat was soon ready for transportation. Workingall night, in shifts, it was ready for its voyage down the river thenext morning, and just about the time our lads were eating breakfast,the desperadoes, with the professor and Pete lying tightly bound in thebottom of the clumsy craft, made a start.
The stock, including that of the ranch party, which Hickey's sharp eyeshad discovered, was left in charge of some of Ramon's mestizos at themesa. As ill-luck would have it, almost the first thing that greetedtheir eyes when they emerged from the tunnel was the sight of the oldMexican whom Jack had bound and set adrift. He had been rescued fromhis predicament by a rancher about ten miles down the stream, and hadmade the best of his way back at once. His prayers, apologies andexplanations for the loss of the horses may be imagined as he facedRamon's wrath. In fact, but for the intervention of Hickey, it islikely the old mestizo would have been flung into the water by hisenraged employer.
A halt occurred on the river bank, while some peons were despatched forfresh horses to a ranchero known to be friendly to the insurrectos.Then began the ride to Madero's camp, which ended as we know.
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