"How could he be dangerous when you had his weapon?" the lieutenant demanded, argumentatively.
"Why, he had other men out with him. How long would it have taken Gato to find his men and bring them down upon us—three or four guns against one?"
"But did you see his other men at any time in the night?"
"No," Tom admitted.
"Senor, you have made a grave mistake in arresting and holding the man, Gato. You had no right to do so."
"Why, in our own country," Tom protested, "any one may arrest a man who is committing a crime. In our own case we very likely would have lost our lives to bandits if we had not tied Gato and brought him with us."
"Had you tied him and left him behind it might have been different," explained the lieutenant. "But what you did, Senor Reade, was to make an actual arrest, and this you, as an American, had no right to do. Therefore, I shall hold you until this matter has been further inquired into."
It was a bad plight, and there seemed to be no simple way out of it. The young chief engineer began to see that, innocently, and wholly for the purpose of self-protection, he very likely had infringed upon the kinds of rights that foreigners in Mexico do not possess.
"All right, Lieutenant," sighed Tom. "I suppose we shall have to go along with you. Where are you taking us?"
"That will have to be decided," said the officer. "Nowhere for the presents my men are tired and need rest. We will not humiliate you, Senor Reade, by placing you in irons, but I will ask your word of honor that you won't attempt to escape from us."