“Ah, that is fine!” The old man’s eyes showed his pleasure. “Come with me.”
He led the way to the rear of the house and Jack followed. They went outside and as they advanced along a path, Jack motioned for his cousins to follow but to keep out of sight. They walked to a small house built at the end of a long garden. The place was of stone, cool and inviting. Here there was a hammock, and in this rested a small, dark-skinned man, his hat thrown on the floor.
The others had drawn closer, afraid that Jack might be walking into danger, and before the old man could say a word the oldest of the Rover boys clapped his hand over the old fellow’s mouth.
“Grab him and don’t let him make any noise,” whispered Jack, and Andy and Fred understood and pushed the old man away from the summer house.
Ronombo was evidently exhausted and sleeping heavily. This being so, it was an easy matter for Jack and Randy to disarm him. From Captain Astora they had procured a pair of handcuffs, and these they slipped on the bandit just as he was awakening.
Black Ronombo’s rage when he found himself a prisoner was indescribable. He almost foamed at the mouth and threw himself at the boys in a wild endeavor to annihilate them. He was not subdued until he had received several blows on the body and on the head and found himself menaced by the boys’ pistols.
In the meantime, the old grandfather set up shriek after shriek which soon brought the two girls who had been singing to the spot, and likewise the driver of the automobile and some of the neighbors.
There followed a wordy war and for a few minutes it looked as if the Rover boys would be unable to take their prisoner away. The old man, as well as the girls, tried to fight them and had to be restrained by the neighbors and had it not been for the exhibition of firearms on the part of the Rovers there is no telling what would have happened next. But at last they got Ronombo into the automobile and then the prisoner was whisked away to town as speedily as possible.
“We’ve got to get a search warrant at once!” exclaimed Jack. “Not only for Ronombo’s home but also for Ditini’s.”