“Well,” he said, “I seem to be in a trap still. It can’t be possible this was simply a blind passage. Why was it constructed? There must be some way of getting out of it.”
Again at the end of the passage he fell to sounding the wall and listening. His hands roamed over it, feeling every protrusion or irregularity. Finally he touched something that was loose. Immediately he pressed it with considerable vigor, upon which there was a faint muffled click, and a heavy door that had been skillfully covered by cement swung slowly against his hands.
Frank’s wonderful command of his nerves kept him from uttering an exclamation of satisfaction. He quickly seized the edge of the door and pulled it wide open. Fresh air rushed in upon him, and he filled his lungs with a sensation of satisfaction and relief.
He now thought of returning and seeking to assist Dick and Brad in following him, but after a few moments he decided to investigate still further. Soon he found himself on a high terrace, which opened into an inclosed courtyard of the ruins. As he leaned there, looking down, the ring of ironshod hoofs came through the arched gate, reaching his ears. A moment later two horsemen rode into the courtyard, leading behind them three animals. The clank and clang of the horses’ feet upon the flagstones echoed in the inclosure. Merry drew back, watching and listening.
“Three fine beasts,” said a voice in Spanish. “And they are ours, comrade. The chief said we were to have them if we captured them.”
“Why not?” sullenly returned the other man. “Are we to have nothing? Is the chief to get it all?”
“Hush, Jimenez!” hastily warned the first speaker. “Better not let him hear you utter such words.”
“At least one can think, Monte,” retorted Jimenez. “We take all the risks, and what do we get? Not even when we faced that young devil Americano at the mission did the chief put himself in peril. He urged us on, but he took good care of his precious self, I noticed.”
“If you talk more in this manner, Jimenez,” exclaimed Monte, “with you I will have nothing whatever to do!”
“Bah! You are a coward,” snarled the other. “Now, be not hasty in your movements, for I, too, am armed.”