The place was in great confusion. The shooting, first of the Indians and then of the soldiers, had thoroughly waked up the town. The center of the activity seemed to be around the Mexican camp and when they reached the outskirts of the crowd that was jostling together in the street, they realized that the Mexicans were trapped, that if they had been unwise enough to start something they were outnumbered three to one. Here and there were Feather-in-the-Wind’s braves, ready for any emergency.
The bunkhouses seemed deserted. If there were any Mexicans inside they were doing their best to play dead. The crowd seemed to think that the laborers were the ones who had started the trouble and they were shouting, daring the Greasers to come out and start something. But there was no answer from the inside.
Just as the crowd was growing weary, the roar of a high powered gasoline engine drowned out the noise they were making. With the muffler cut out open and the exhaust snapping explosions like the reports of young cannon, a car dashed down the street and stopped with a jerk. Out of it hopped Big Boss Whitney.
“What’s the rumpus?” he roared. “What’s broken loose?”
His presence dominated the crowd and for a moment there was comparative quiet. Then everybody tried to explain at the same time and only succeeded in confusing the man more. His eye, darting through the crowd, fell on Bob and the others. “Here, Hazard,” he called, “tell me quick what’s up!”
In a few words Bob sketched the happenings of the past few hours. When he finished by saying that the cavalry had arrived on the scene and had started chasing the Mexicans, the Chief breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s all right then,” he muttered and stood up to reassure the crowd.
“All over, men. There’ll be no more trouble to-night. Our Mexicans are not mixed up in this yet and the soldiers have come to see that they don’t. They’ll be here any minute now!”
This satisfied the excited mob and gradually it thinned out as Whitney demanded more details from Bob.
“Did you send me that wire to get up here as quickly as I could? It caught me at Las Cruces just by chance.”