"They have gone into it, señor."
"Very well. Pole us out. It's neck or nothing, Ruggles. Have you got your revolver handy?"
"Trust me. You'd better give me yours. You can't use it and steer too, and I'm rather a dab with my left hand."
"Here you are, then," said Will, smiling as he handed the weapon to him. "But I hope we shan't come to close enough quarters for you to use it. We're off, and good luck to us."
[CHAPTER XV--HYDROPLANE VERSUS LOCOMOTIVE]
Captain Espejo thought himself to be very hardly used. He had expected to be by this time Jefe of Guayana. That was the office promised him by General Carabaño in reward for his services in the "liberation" of Venezuela. The General had not kept his promise. That was a clear breach of faith. Nay more, so far was he from acting up to his self-assumed title of Liberator, that he himself needed liberating. That was most annoying. Really, he ought to have been more careful. His capture was a malign stroke of Fate, but since Fate was inaccessible, Captain Espejo vented his annoyance and disappointment on his subordinates, which did not improve matters.
Success is the best credential of a revolutionist, and the General's want of success bid fair to ruin his cause. There was no moral enthusiasm to buoy up the spirits of his men. Quite the contrary, indeed: the triumph of General Carabaño would be the triumph of corruption. The bonds linking them to him were of the slightest, and when with his disappearance their prospects of sharing the spoils of victory vanished into thin air, they began to ask themselves whether it was not time to disband. Perhaps in a few years another Liberator might arise who would not so easily be snuffed out. That was how the Venezuelans looked at the situation. The Indians of the force had already made up their minds that General Carabaño was a bladder, and betaken themselves to their own place.
Captain Espejo was worried as well as annoyed. Food was running short; the exchequer was empty; the men had not received the pay promised them; and the Captain was not at all happy at the prospect of having to deal with a mutiny. He had declared, to be sure, with great vehemence, that the audacious kidnappers of the Liberator had not gone down-stream; he had no doubt that the detestable machine which had proved such a troublesome instrument in the hand of Fate had broken down, and the Englishman was hiding somewhere in the neighbourhood. But machines could be repaired, and when the repairs were made the Englishman would probably make another attempt to carry off his captive. If he could be intercepted all might yet be well. Captain Espejo used this argument to some effect with his men, and they had agreed to wait a week, and to keep a careful watch on the river meanwhile. The locomotive was kept constantly under steam, so that, immediately the discovery of the fugitives was signalled, the train might start for the junction. It could surely outstrip an overladen hydroplane, and then the Englishman might think himself lucky if he escaped a bullet through the head. It would give the Captain great pleasure to accompany the Liberator-General to his hacienda of Las Piedras, and witness the shooting of that impertinent engineer who had dared to flout him.
The Captain was ruminating thus when there fell upon his ear the report of two rifles, fired in quick succession. Springing up from the chair which the General had lately filled, he ran into the camp, summoned a hundred men from their dolce far niente, and with much excitement ordered them to board the three wagons coupled to the engine.
"They are discovered!" he cried. "We have them!"