“What are they?” thought Ned, ducking his head after he had taken one short, quick glance at the men. “Are they raiders, or have those strangers found out something and come back with reinforcements?”
Ned could not have told just then which he stood the more in fear of—the angry owner of the horse at his side or lawless Mexicans. He knew that it would be dangerous to fall into the hands of either of them. He could not reach the shelter of the house—they could easily cut him off if he attempted it—and his only chance to escape capture, or something worse, was to remain quiet in his place of concealment, and trust to luck. It was not at all likely that the horsemen, whoever they were, would think of looking in the shed for him even if they wanted to find him.
Just then Ned’s new horse threw up his head, looked over his shoulder and uttered a loud, shrill neigh. Ned tried hard to stop it, but without success. The animal neighed not only once, but two or three times in succession, in spite of the furious jerks the boy gave at his bridle. Here was a new cause for alarm. The animal wanted company, and he would keep up that neighing as long as there were any horses in sight. He would be sure to attract attention by it too.
“You’ll keep me in trouble as long as you stay with me,” said Ned, jumping to his feet to act upon an idea that just then came into his mind, “and the sooner you and I part company the better it will be for me. There you go,” he added, as he pulled the halter over the horse’s head and saw him gallop out of the shed. “I hope I shall never see you again. I wish I had never seen you in the first place.”
Ned felt a little more at his ease as he sank back into his place of concealment. The danger of discovery was considerably lessened by this piece of strategy, but still his situation was anything but an agreeable one. There he was, cornered in a manger by a lot of men whose actions indicated that they were there for no good purpose, who were approaching the house in a stealthy manner, so as not to alarm the inmates, and who, probably, would think no more of making an end of him, if they knew he was there in plain sight of them, than they would of knocking over an antelope for breakfast. The situation would have tried the courage of a much braver boy than Ned Ackerman.
The horsemen stopped when they saw the chestnut galloping to meet them, but moved forward again as soon as they saw that he was riderless. They rode up to the fence which surrounded the corral, and hitched their horses to it. The chestnut followed and mingled with their nags, but the men paid no attention to him. They gathered in a little group in the shade of one of the oaks that grew beside the corral, and held a consultation. Ned watched their movements with a good deal of surprise.
“Why don’t those men catch that horse?” said he to himself. “If they are raiders, they ought to steal him; and if the man who owns him is there, he ought to catch him, to keep him from straying away. I don’t understand it at all.”
While Ned was talking to himself in this way, he heard a latch softly raised. He turned his eyes in the direction of the rancho, and saw that one of the doors, opening on to the back porch, was ajar, and that somebody was looking out of it. He stood for a moment, turning his head first on one side and then on the other, as if he were listening for something, and then came out into full view. It was the Mexican cook. The moon’s rays fell full upon him, and the boy could see him plainly.
“Now is my chance!” thought Ned, getting upon his feet, but standing in a crouching attitude, so that nothing but his head could be seen over the top of the manger. “If I can run fast enough, I can put myself in a place of safety and warn Philip at the same time.”
Ned jumped quickly out of the manger, as he said this; but his feet had scarcely touched the ground before he turned like a flash and jumped back again, crouching down in his hiding-place as low as he could, and still see all that was going on outside the shed. The men were coming in a body toward the house. There were fifteen or twenty of them in all, and as soon as they had moved out of the shade of the trees, so that the moon’s rays could fall plainly upon them, Ned saw that they were dressed in Mexican costume—short jackets, wide trowsers and sombreros—and that they were armed to the teeth. They were cattle-thieves, of course; but what did they mean by approaching the rancho in that stealthy manner? The boy, trembling in every limb, turned his eyes from the Mexicans to the porch, where he had last seen the cook. He was there yet, and standing out in plain view of the raiders, who must have seen him, for he was not more than twenty feet away. Philip saw them, too, beyond a doubt; but, instead of running into the house and arousing the inmates, as Ned expected him to do, he walked up to the rail and rested his hands upon it. One would have thought from his actions that he was expecting the raiders. Ned thought so, and in an instant it flashed upon him that there was some treachery intended.