“If it works as well as the other did my patience will be rewarded.”
“Slip back to the horses. Get four more rifles—loaded ones.”
Ramirez vanished, though it hardly seemed as if he had gone, before he was back again.
“Here they are, senor, and loaded.”
“Good. Now crouch down, after placing two of the rifles at my side and two by your own side. Whatever you do, don’t fire until I give the word.”
Ramirez obeyed, though the suspense made him tremble.
His eyes flashed like jewels as he saw the four Cubans and their guard come nearer.
“Surely they are near enough now to open fire,” he whispered hoarsely.
But Hal shook his head emphatically. “No, no, my comrade! When we fire, we must take no chance of missing. Now, not another word, but you will hear me whisper ‘fire’ when they are within a hundred feet. You take the fellow in the front rank on the extreme left.”
Juan protruded the muzzle of one of his weapons through the bushes that screened them from sight.