The boys entered the house, followed by Villa. As their guide had said, it was a poor house, but it was comfortable and clean. Its only furniture
consisted of a few chairs, a table, a bed, and some rugs on the floor. A single candle furnished the light.
“Now, señores,” said Villa, after they had all been seated, “we can talk without being interrupted. What is your message, and from whom?”
“Our message,” replied Adrian, who seemed to have made himself the spokesman, “is a warning. It is from one who calls himself only Santiago.”
“Santiago!” exclaimed Pancho. “Santiago! And how did he come to make strangers—Americans—the bearer of a message to Pancho Villa?”
“It is a long story,” replied Adrian, “but if you will listen we shall be glad to explain.”
“No story is too long, if it is the truth,” said Villa.
“Which this is,” declared Adrian earnestly, and for the second time that evening the events of the past few days were rehearsed.
“And you mean to tell me that Rafael Solis attempted to kidnap the son of General Sanchez?”
“That is exactly what he did,” declared Billie, who had scarcely been able to keep quiet while Adrian was talking. “And he would have succeeded, too, if we had not been there to help him escape.”