A TIMELY RESCUE.
The minute the boys' presence became known, there was a commotion in the house and in the clearing surrounding it. Those in the yard sprang toward their guns and those in the house jumped from the table.
"Don't move," called out Billie. "We are friends."
But the men were not sure and at once surrounded the boys.
They appeared to be soldiers, but their uniforms were of a great variety and many hues. Only the officer in command had anything the appearance of a real soldier.
"Who are you?" he demanded as he came forward.
"Friends! Americanos!" replied Donald.
"Yes; and hungry ones," added Billie with a gesture that brought a smile to the officer's face.
"Where did you come from?" was the next inquiry.
Donald explained that they had been left by a train that had stopped nearby. He did not think it necessary to enlighten the officer as to the circumstances.
"If you don't believe us," broke in Billie, "you can ask the officers we left back there by the track."
Donald made a gesture of impatience, which Billie failed to understand, but which the officer was quick to interpret.
"Officers? Of which army?" he quickly asked.
"Gen. Huerta's."
"Carramba!" exclaimed the officer in command. "Go quick, corporal, and bring them to me."
Then to Billie: "If you are telling me the truth you have done me a great favor."
"How is that?" asked Donald.
"Do you not know that we are of the army of Gen. Carranza?" was the interrogative reply.
"Why, no!" exclaimed the boys in unison.
"It is true," said the officer. "I am Captain Lopez. Now tell me, who are you?"
Briefly Donald told of their acquaintance with Gen. Sanchez and of their adventures of the night before, at which the captain laughed heartily.
"You are smart boys," he declared.
"And hungry ones," again added Billie.
"You must be. Here, Juan," calling a soldier to him. "Take these muchachos to the house and feed them. I'll have a look at these rebels."
"Rebels," said Adrian to Donald under his breath as they walked toward the house. "Now what do you think of that?"
"That's his viewpoint," replied Don. "He thinks of the men who overthrew President Madero as rebels."
By this time they were near enough the house for Billie to smell the aroma of the coffee and he quickened his pace.
"I'll talk politics after I've sampled the breakfast," he declared. "If the breakfast is good, I'll join the band."
It was nearly half an hour later that the boys stood before the captain. With a good breakfast under their belts they felt fit for anything that might offer.
"I'm afraid you boys are in a bad fix," said Captain Lopez. "I suppose you want to get to Vera Cruz and on to some ship that will take you to the United States; but I don't know how you are going to make it."
"Why, can't we get another train somewhere down the line?" asked Adrian.
"There may not be any more trains for some time."
"How's that?"
"We are here to stop them."
"Does that mean you are going out to tear up the track?"
"Not right here, but a little nearer Vera Cruz. There is a much larger body of troops about five miles below."
Billie uttered a prolonged whistle.
"That does look bad, sure enough," he declared. Then, after a pause: "What's the matter with walking?"
"It's a long ways and the mountains are full of our men."
"Can't you give us a safe passage? You say we have done you a favor by turning these two officers over to you," suggested Donald, indicating with a nod of his head the captain and lieutenant of the train guard who were now held prisoners.
"I'll do the best I can," was the reply, "but you will have to remain with me to-day. We are on scout duty and shall not return to the main body until to-night."
"That'll suit me all right," laughed Billie, "and if you don't mind I think I'll go into the house somewhere and take a nap."
"Bueno," laughed the captain. "You might as well all take a nap. If we have occasion to leave the neighborhood we will call you."
Ten minutes later the three were fast asleep on a pile of Mexican blankets in the best room in the house.
Three hours later they were awakened by a fusillade of shots.
They sprang to their feet and looked around. For just a moment they could not remember where they were. Then they recalled their situation and became on the alert.
"Trouble outside," was Don's laconic statement.
He and Billie drew the revolvers they had captured the night before.
"Put 'em up," advised Adrian. "We're not here to fight."
"We might have to," from Billie.
"Not at all. If one side wins, we are safe. If the other side wins, we are prisoners and the attackers will be our rescuers."
"Great head, Ad," was Billie's comment. "But I'd like to know what is going on," as another fusillade was heard.
"Better stay where we are till the shooting stops," said Don.
It was good advice and the boys waited as quietly as they could.
A few minutes later there was a volley and a shout, followed by the sound of rushing feet. Then there was quiet as the shots were heard receding.
When none of their friends returned after a few minutes, the boys ventured to the door. There was no one in sight.
"I wonder where they have all gone?" ventured Billie.
"I expect that our friends have run away and some of Huerta's soldiers are chasing them."
"If they do, they will run into an ambush," said Adrian.
Which is exactly what happened.
"That won't do us any good," said Don. "Now that we are alone, I vote that we get back to the railroad track. We won't get lost if we follow that and a train may come along."
The advice seemed good and they started to go.
"Hold on," exclaimed Billie. "Let's see if we can't find some grub to take with us."
"Great head!" laughed Adrian.
"Great stomach, you mean," from Donald. "It never lets him forget."
The boys plundered through the house. The owners must have been scared away, for nothing had been disturbed. In the kitchen they found a big plate of tortillas, half a baked kid, and some wheat bread. This they appropriated.
"We might as well have a blanket apiece," said Donald. "It is only another case of a fair exchange. The Mexicans have our suit cases."
Each took a blanket and Adrian was so fortunate after searching all over the house as to find a shotgun and a belt full of loaded shells that went with it.
"If those shells were loaded with buckshot you'd be all right," said Billie. "They're the——"
His speech was interrupted by a cry that fairly made their blood run cold.
"What's that?" and the three stopped as though they had been paralysed.
Again came the cry, and with a single bound the boys were out in the open, each with his weapon ready for instant use.
They could see no one, but there was the sound of something crashing through the brush which hid the railroad from the house.
"Sounded like a wild cat," declared Donald.
"Or a coyote," said Billie.
"I'm sure it was a human voice," remarked Adrian. "Do you remember the Zuñis?" referring to another adventure told in the story of the "Broncho Rider Boys Along the Border."
Even as he spoke there emerged from the brush the figure of a woman carrying in her arms a small child. Winged by fear, she was bounding along like an antelope.
A moment later, and not two rods behind her, came forth a figure which the boys instantly recognized as a mountain lion.
How the woman had succeeded in escaping it even for a moment was a mystery.
In a second the three weapons spoke. The report was followed by a scream from the beast and a cry from the woman, both of whom fell lifeless to the earth—the beast dead and the woman in a swoon.
"Take care of the woman, you two," said Adrian. "I'll examine the beast."
No one stopped to question the order.
Billie picked up the child which the woman had let fall, while Donald stooped down and felt the woman's pulse. Then he darted into the house and was back in a minute with a bucket half filled with water. With it he bathed the woman's temples and poured a little down her throat.
In a couple of minutes she revived and looked around.
"Mi niña!" she gasped.
"She's asking for her child," said Donald.
Billie carried the little one over and stood it beside her.
With a glad cry she snatched it in her arms and burst into tears.
"She's all right," laughed Donald. "Now let's have a look at that animal."
They walked over to where Adrian was watching the inanimate carcass.
"Where did we hit him?" asked Billie.
"I can see three places and one is big enough to throw a baseball through it."
"That's from the shotgun," said Donald. "It's what did the business. Must have been buckshot and we were so close it didn't have a chance to scatter."
"I'd sure like that hide," said Adrian.
"We'll be in luck if we save our own," remarked Billie. "Unless we can do something for the woman, we'd better be jogging along."
By this time the woman had risen to her feet and the boys could see that she was not a peon as they had supposed, but of the better class.
"Where could she have come from?" queried Donald under his breath.
"Suppose you ask her," laughed Adrian.
Donald did so. At first she was too dazed to answer, but after Donald spoke a few words quietly and in his very best Spanish, she was able to answer his questions.
"Is this your house?" he asked.
"No, Señor; my house is down the mountain."
"What are you doing here alone?"
She gave him a startled glance and then hugged the child closer to her breast.
"You need not fear us," were the reassuring words.
"The soldiers came," she said slowly. "They had already killed the others. They would have killed me."
"The soldiers?"
"Yes. They were looking for my husband. They said he was hidden in the house; but he was not. He is with Gen. Carranza."
"When was this?"
"Yesterday. I have been in the mountains all night. There was a fight a few minutes ago and I saw them pass. Then I came here, when the awful beast sprang out," and again she drew the child to her.
"Are you hungry?"
"Si, señor!"
It was the child that answered.
In an instant Billie's hand was in his pack and he held out the tortillas, which both mother and child took and ate ravenously.
After their hunger had been appeased, they questioned the woman further, telling her they were going to Vera Cruz.
"If you will come with me down the mountain, you can hide in my house," she said.
"We don't want to hide," laughed Billie. "We want to get to Vera Cruz. However, we'll see you home, if you don't mind."
Without more words the woman led the way, Billie insisting upon carrying the little girl.
After a walk of more than two hours, the woman stopped in a little clearing from which a view of the mountainside for miles could be gained.
"There is my house," she said, pointing to the roof of a really noble mansion constructed of stone. "But what is that flag I see on top of it?"
The boys took one good look at it and then they let out a wild yell.
"Hurrah!" they cried. "It's the Stars and Stripes."
"I don't know what it means away out here," said Donald, "but wherever it is it means something. Come on!" and he dashed down the mountainside, followed by the others.