WHEN THE OLD WAS NEW.
A cry of astonishment went up from the quartette and then they stood silent to see what would be the next move.
They did not have long to wait, for presently a tall, gaunt figure strode out of the brambles some yards from the fallen horse and uttered a hoarse shout, upon which Ab sprang from the spot where he had fallen and ran toward the newcomer, giving vent to shrill cries as he ran.
"That must be his master," muttered Billie. "I'm glad I didn't shoot the little beggar."
"I'm more interested in the master than in the monkey," said Donald. "He is evidently not a Mexican. Who and what do you suppose he is?"
"An animal trainer from a circus," replied Adrian.
"There are no circuses in this part of the world," commented Billie.
"If he only had a hand organ instead of a gun, I could place him," laughed Donald. "What do you make out of him, Pedro?"
"It's a saltimbanco."
"What is that?"
"A man who goes about making people laugh."
"Oh!" from Adrian. "You mean a mountebank?"
"I think so."
"And this chap," ventured Billie, "isn't satisfied with making a monkey of himself, but carries a real one with him."
Pedro laughed. "That seems to be it."
"I'm sorry he killed the horse," said Donald. "We need him."
"Perhaps he didn't," suggested Adrian. "Suppose we ride over and see."
Suiting the action to the word, the boys rode out into the open, much to the newcomer's surprise and consternation.
"Señors," he exclaimed, as he came running toward them, "I am sorry I had to hurt your horse; but I couldn't lose my brother."
"Your what?" asked Billie.
"My brother. My little brother. Could I, Ambrosio?" and he patted the ape on the cheek.
"What do you call him?" asked Donald.
"I call him Ambrosio because he is so sweet."
"Bah!" exclaimed Billie. "I called him Ab, but he ought to be named Diabolo. But how about the horse?"
"I am afraid I have rendered him quite useless for the present, Señor. I may have broken his leg."
An examination of the fallen animal revealed the fact that while the leg was not splintered, it was so badly injured that the animal was quite useless.
"Have you far to go, Señors?" queried the mountebank.
"Only as far as the Rosario viejo for the present," answered Adrian. "After that——"
"After that," interrupted Billie, "we may not want to go anywhere."
The mountebank looked at Billie questioningly.
"That's what I mean," reiterated Billie. "We are going there to capture a band of cutthroats, but we may have a fight."
The man made a grimace, which was intended for a smile.
"I understand. Can I be of any service?"
Donald eyed him suspiciously.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"You may have noticed how I stopped the runaway," he remarked.
"Very neatly."
"Sure," from Billie. "It was a short stop."
"I perceive that you are an American. I am also a fan."
"What!" from the three Americans.
"True. I am even worse. I formerly shot the pill in one of the bush leagues. I aspired to a place in the box of one of the major league clubs, but instead I joined the Madero revolution. I had all the sport I wanted and finding my brother in this forsaken land, I joined him as a public entertainer. Shall we give you a sample of our performance?"
"Not now," from Donald. "Let's go and round up this bunch of revolutionists first."
"But why?" queried the mountebank. "To-morrow they may be the government."
The boys looked at each other with an expression that said as plainly as words: "True! We never thought of that."
"Now, I have a better plan," continued the mountebank. "Let's go and entertain the revolutionists. Let's be neutral."
"I'm afraid we are already belligerents," laughed Adrian. "We have had one brush with them."
The mountebank heaved a sigh.
"Of course, if you have declared war, we shall have to fight to a finish, unless," with a grin, "we can intrench."
"It is they who are intrenched," explained Billie. "They are at the bottom of the old mine, although I don't know how they got there."
"So," laughed the mountebank. "Suppose we go and find out."
Arrived at the shaft house, for that is what the gable-roofed building was, the boys and their new-found friend approached and listened to the sound of voices which still arose to the top of the shaft.
Evidently considering themselves free and safe, the bandits were preparing their evening meal, for it was now well on toward sunset. They were singing and joking as though they had not just lost half or two-thirds their number.
From a few remarks made now and then, it appeared that they proposed on the following day to recruit the band up to its former strength.
"That is the thing we must prevent," declared Donald.
"A very easy thing," said the mountebank, "if we had enough provisions to remain here for twenty-four hours, or more."
"How so?" asked Billie.
"Why, they will doubtless send out two or three to do the recruiting. We can capture them as they leave the ruins."
Billie glanced at the man from under his broad-rimmed sombrero as he asked: "How did you know they came out through the ruins?"
The mountebank smiled.
"Now, don't go to mistrusting me, young fellow, for I'm on the level. But I've been in this place before, and I know that the only way to where your friends down there are camping is through the ruins."
"Have you ever been down there?"
"Yes. They are only about sixty feet below the ground, in a chamber which was originally a gallery in the mine. The shaft over which this house is built is over two hundred feet deep."
"I'd like to explore it," remarked Adrian.
"Do you think you have the nerve?" and the stranger bent upon him a penetrating gaze.
Billie laughed softly.
"Say, stranger," he finally said. "I guess you never heard of the Broncho Rider Boys. We've got the nerve to do anything that any other human being dare do."
"Then we'll get rid of these bandits in short notice," declared the mountebank emphatically. "You are just the chaps I have been looking for."
He leaned over the mouth of the shaft and gave a shrill whistle.
In an instant all was silent below.
Half a minute later he repeated the whistle thrice.
There was a clatter below of arms and accoutrements.
"Over behind those big cactus with you, quick," was the next command. "If you insist on fighting these men later, you can. Now let's get rid of them."
For just a moment the boys hesitated, but there was something in the man's manner that seemed to force obedience and they obeyed.
They were not a moment too soon, for they had no more than secreted themselves than the back wall of the ruin flew open and the men rode out. Of those who had been at the mouth of the shaft only a few moments before, only the mountebank with his ape was in sight.
"What is it?" asked one of the band, riding up to him.
"Guard the track at the summit. Let no train pass, even if you have to tear up the track."
"By whose order?"
The mountebank made a mysterious sign with his left hand.
"Bueno!" from the horseman. "Close up the doors and care for the wounded," and putting spurs to his horse, he led the bandits from the basin.
As soon as they were out of sight, the mountebank summoned the boys to the shaft house by a wave of his hand.
"Now," he said, "you'll have a chance to test your nerve, and we must work rapidly to get where we wish to go before dark."
He took from a crude knapsack which he wore upon his shoulders a coil of cord about half the size of a lead pencil, but evidently of much strength. Then seizing the ape, he fastened one end of the cord to the belt about the animal's body, and despite its unwillingness to be thus treated began to lower it into the shaft.
Totally unable to account for his actions, the boys stood speechless, watching the operations.
After some minutes, the cord slackened.
"He's reached the bottom," was the information vouchsafed. Then a moment later: "Help me to pull him up, one of you."
Billie hastened to lend a hand and in a short time the head of the ape appeared above the edge of the shaft. In his hand he held one end of a good-sized rope, which the mountebank took and tied around one of the stone pillars which supported the roof.
"Now, then," he said, "we are ready to descend into the old mine. Which one of you will go first?"
The boys looked at each other, but there was no reply until Donald asked:
"Why should we go down at all?"
"Why," was the somewhat quizzical reply, "to show your nerve."
"Unless there is some good reason other than that, there are plenty of ways to show our nerve without lowering ourselves to the bottom of an old mine."
"There is a good reason," was the reply.
"Then tell us. If it is good, there can be no objection."
"The object of this descent," said the stranger calmly, "is to see if we cannot solve the mystery of the abandonment of the mine."
"Have you ever been down?" asked Billie.
"Often."
"There is no foul gas at the bottom?"
"Not now, as you may see by the condition of Ambrosio, who has been clear to the bottom."
"Then I am willing to be the first to descend; but first I must know more about you than I do."
"What difference does that make? You will have three friends here with me. They are all armed and I can see they know how to use their weapons. I cannot possibly harm you. I will be the third to descend. I assure you that the descent and the ascent are comparatively easy for athletic young chaps, as the sides of the shaft are very uneven. By the aid of this rope you can come up almost as easily as you would climb a ladder. The adventure is well worth your while."
"And you won't tell us who you are?"
"I have already told you. I am an American soldier of fortune. My name, if that means anything to you, is Francis Strong, and I have assumed this character of a mountebank solely for the purpose of going about the country without being molested. What I hope to do, is of no interest to any one but myself."
It was a straightforward statement and the boys saw no reason to doubt its truthfulness.
"All right, then," exclaimed Billie. "Here goes!"
He grasped the rope and lowered himself over the side. It was as Strong had said and in a very few minutes he found himself at the bottom. He could see nothing except the dim light at the mouth of the shaft.
Giving the rope a vigorous shake, as had been agreed upon, he saw another figure begin to descend, and in a short time Pedro stood beside him. Strong was next to descend, then came Ambrosio, and after him Adrian and Donald in the order named—Donald having determined to be the last, that he might be sure that everything was safe above ground.
"I should have given you this," was Strong's first remark upon alighting at Billie's side, and he drew from his pocket an electric torch. "But it slipped my mind."
"We all have them in our trunk in the City of Mexico," replied Billie, "but I doubt if either of us has one with him."
"This is sufficient, for I shall light some torches I have prepared as soon as we are ready for our work."
When Donald had descended, Strong led the way through a lateral about thirty or forty feet, at the end of which another vertical shaft had been sunk. Around the mouth of this Strong had set a number of torches, which he now proceeded to light. By their glare it was possible to see part way down the hole.
"The thing I hope to find," explained Strong, "is at the bottom of that hole, if it exists at all."
"What is that?" asked Billie.
"I think I can best answer your question," was the reply, "by reading you a translation of a paper which is said to have been found in the shaft above, where the bandits have made their rendezvous. How it came into my possession, matters not. I believe there are now enough of us here to prove or disprove its truthfulness, unless some one has been here before us."
Seating himself on a jutting boulder, Strong took from his pocket a paper, which he read as follows under the flickering torchlight:
"Being about to leave this world, I desire to obtain forgiveness for the great and only crime of my life, hence this confession.
"There were five of us. Names do not matter. They were my fellow workmen. We had been entrusted with the output of the Rosario for the year and had promised to guard it with our lives. We heard the soldiers of Maximilian coming. We were not enough to withstand them. We determined to hide the treasure in the western shaft. We carried it to the edge and threw it in. My four companions went down to cover it over with dirt, which I brought from the other shaft and gave them, shovel by shovel. A mad idea seized me. If they were dead, no one but I would know the hiding place of the treasure. I would kill them; but how? I glanced about. Great pieces of rock were on every hand. Without stopping to consider the foulness of the deed I rolled a huge piece to the mouth of the shaft and pushed it in. There was a cry of terror and I heard a voice call out to know what had happened. I said a piece of rock had broken loose and asked what damage it had done. Only one replied. The others had been stricken down. Madly I pushed over another rock and then another and still another. Then there was silence and I fled. The soldiers found me unconscious at the bottom of the shaft. Ere I became conscious, Maximilian was no more. When I returned hither, the mine had been abandoned. Here I have lived for years alone with my misery. Now I die. May God forgive me.
José Rodriguez.