"No, I'll admit that I'm the mountebank. As for my name that is of small importance in a country like this. But I did not sell Gen. Funston, as you put it. I knew the man I pointed out was not Funston and I knew that as soon as the Mexicans found it out they would let him go. Some one might have told them rightly. As it was I spoiled their game and I got the money. Do you think it any crime to do that?"
"That's a matter I am not in a position to discuss," was Billie's answer. "But how about robbing the bank?"
"I had as much right to the box as any one."
"You'll have to prove that to some one besides me; all I can do is to turn you over to the authorities."
"Never!" cried Strong. "I'll die before I'll rot in a Mexican jail!"
He uttered a peculiar noise and before Billie could imagine what it meant, he felt himself seized from behind by a pair of hairy hands.
He had been in that clutch once before and recognized in an instant that he was in the grip of the ape.
He gave one loud cry for help and then turned loose with his automatic.
The tumult which followed is beyond description. Billie's shout was as nothing compared to the cry of the ape as one of the bullets struck him in the leg and another pierced his foot. Loosing his hold upon the lad, he grabbed for the weapon, but Billie managed to evade him and would undoubtedly have slain the animal had not Strong sprung to his assistance, with the result that in another minute Billie was disarmed.
Ill would the lad have fared then, at the hands of his two assailants, had not the noise attracted to the scene several soldiers, while an instant later came a loud shout as Donald and Adrian dashed into the patio.