When this was done, he directed Felicia to bring the blanket, and, holding his pistol ready in his left hand, he gave her directions and assistance in cutting and tearing it into strips. As soon as one good, strong strip had been removed from the blanket Frank took it, seized Joaquin’s hands, twisting them downward and backward behind his back, and tied them thus. After this he was able to remove from the blanket further strips he needed, although as he worked his pistol was ready for instant use. All the while he kept Joaquin with his face toward the wall, three times cautioning the man against turning his head in the slightest.
With the strips removed from the blanket Joaquin’s ankles were securely tied. Then Frank unceremoniously kicked the fellow’s feet from beneath him and lowered him to the floor upon his back. The rage, fury, and hatred in the conquered fellow’s eyes was terrible to behold, but Merriwell heeded it not in the least. Deftly he rolled a wad of the blanket and forced it between Joaquin’s teeth. With another piece of the torn blanket he fastened it there, knotting a strip behind the man’s head. He took pains to make this as secure as possible, so that it would require no simple effort to remove it.
“Now, Black Joaquin, otherwise known as Felipe Dulzura,” said Frank, standing over the man and looking down on him, “we will bid you good-night. You can rest easy here until your comrades recover on the morrow and release you. Perhaps they will find you. I hope, for your sake, that you do not smother before they awaken and come here. You have my best wishes for a short life and a speedy hanging.”
With Felicia he left the chamber, closing and barring the door behind them.
Thus far Frank’s success had been enough to astonish himself, but now he thought with dismay of Dick and Brad still confined in the chamber from which he had escaped. As with Felicia he descended the stairs he paused, hearing in some distant portion of the ruins the sound of singing.
“Carlos is doing his work,” he thought. “He has brought them the wine. Thanks, Carlos; you have given me great assistance.”
Merry decided that it would be necessary to conceal Felicia somewhere while he sought to return to Dick and Brad by means of the secret passage.
He found his way back to the terrace from which he had first looked down into the courtyard after his escape. As they reached that place, Merry heard beneath him some slight sound that caused him to again look downward. He was surprised to see a dark figure coming from the direction of the stables and leading three horses. His surprise increased when the feet of the horses gave forth no more than a faint, muffled sound on the courtyard flagging.
“What’s up now?” he asked himself. “That must be Carlos preparing for flight. Whoever it is, he has muffled the feet of those horses. More than that, I believe they are our horses.”
The human being and the horses crossed the courtyard and disappeared into the arched passage that led outward.