“Nothin’ doin,” whispered Perk, after a most diligent search; “an’ if we can’t get a whiff o’ the boat, with these glasses, I kinder guess nobody ain’t agoin’ to locate it with their naked eyes.”
“Which same lets us out from any danger in that quarter,” came softly from Jack, whose face for the moment lost some of the strained look it had borne during the last few hours.
“Never saw a better sample o’ camouflage when I was across the big pond alistenin’ to the smash o’ the rip-roarin’ German guns,” asserted Perk; and then “dried up” when he saw the other press a finger on his lips.
Higher they climbed, like monkeys, taking all manner of desperate chances when necessity arose but so cautious was Jack in leading the way that nothing amiss came about, every obstacle being successfully surmounted until shortly before the noon hour they found themselves in a position to spy upon the camp of their intended prey.
Jack was intensely interested in what he now visioned. The old crater, resembling an immense football bowl, as adopted by some Eastern colleges, looked as though it might have proven well nigh impregnable as a fortress where the fighting Yaquis were able to hold an army at bay—which feat history records as an actual fact.
Scattered about the depression were scores of rude dwellings, some built of rocks, while others more modern had walls composed of sun-baked bricks, known throughout all Mexico as adobes. Men and women, also children, could be seen moving about, preparing the noonday meal or partaking of their customary frijoles, hot tamales, or it might be maize cakes cooked in the hot ashes of fires, and with black coffee as a beverage.
The picture appealed to Perk, who delighted in novel scenes nor did it seem to lose any of its thrill from the fact that, as he very well knew, the men he was staring at so eagerly were most likely as tough a brand of desperadoes and villains as could be grouped together anywhere on earth—ready to fight, hold up trains, or commit all manner of pillage at the drop of a hat.
He marveled at the sagacity shown by Slippery Slim in deciding to join forces with these firebrands of the back country, with the idea of thus securing the greatest safety for his own lawless operations.
All this while Jack had been keeping close watch, in hopes of being able to pick out the figure of the man he had been deputized to bring back to the States so he might be prosecuted for his crimes, and sent to Atlanta. There he would possibly end his days in seclusion, with a large portion of the Southwest breathing more freely since they need no longer fear the avalanche of counterfeit currency that had been demoralizing business for such a long spell.
After all it was Perk who made the discovery, he chancing to be carefully handling the binoculars at the time. He handed the glasses over to his mate, and told Jack just where to look, using as few words as possible, and keeping his voice very low.