“What does he have to say for himself?” asked the lad.
“Well, in the first place, he’s the man whom Señor Yuai described. He did live in the Indian village over the mountain, and he did cut his foot by stepping on a machette. His name is Alfonso Perro. I asked him why he was sneaking about the place last night and he said that he had made arrangements with the peon who keeps the cottage for the lineman to get some pulque for the troopers. Pulque is the Mexican drink, you know. It is made from the sap of the century plant or maquay plant and when properly prepared is a very fiery and highly intoxicating drink. Don’t ever touch it, my boy, for it has ruined the chance of more than one American who acquired a taste for it. We do not allow it to be brought into Necaxa at all, but the rurale says that every time the linemen’s peon goes to the village he smuggles in several jugs of the stuff. Some was smuggled in yesterday and the rurale said he was on his way to get it and bring it back to the barracks when you captured him. Of course I have had the peon arrested also. He too is in the guardhouse, but he swears that he has never smuggled pulque into Necaxa.
“I accused Perro of having tampered with the machinery in the plant from time to time and also of stealing my plans, and I must say he is a very good actor, for he feigned surprise wonderfully well. But when I told him how we set a trap for him and discovered that he had a scar on his foot he looked even more surprised, and that surprise was genuine. I think Captain Alvarez, of the rurales, is decidedly angry over the whole affair and he is determined to have the prisoner face a firing squad as soon as possible.”
“Well, I can’t help feeling a little sorry for the man,” said Jack, who felt rather unhappy when he realized how much he had helped in sending the man to his end.
“I feel sorry myself,” added Mr. Ryder, “and if he would only tell the truth about the plans and give me some idea where they are I’d do my utmost to save his life. However, the best that I could do would be of little avail, I’m afraid, for Captain Alvarez takes charge of all prisoners and the man’s fate is entirely in his hands.”
The two searchlights were completed late that afternoon, but Mr. Ryder did not make an attempt to erect them until after dark, for as he explained to Jack, “Those bandits may have lookouts stationed on the mountains, and to have them see our new lights would knock the little surprise party into a cocked hat.”
It required but a very little time to put the lamps in place, for the engineer had fastened each tin pan to a section of iron pipe and this was easily strapped to a tree at either end of the clearing in front of the plant. The sentries were carefully coached that night before they were sent to their post, and most of the men in the village as well as the extra soldiers and rurales, gathered in the trenches to watch for developments.
But hours of waiting under such strained conditions was far from comfortable and after a while the men grew restive. In twos and threes they began to leave for their cottages, quite disappointed that nothing spectacular had happened. Jack, who was in the first trench, began to grow tired of the suspense too. Indeed, he was just on the point of going back to the cottage himself, when suddenly a rifle shot rang out at one end of the clearing. This was followed by another further up the line of fence and instantly Phil Underwood, on the roof, jammed home the switch.
The flood of light that swept along the barricade revealed almost a score of bandits, with machettes and big wire nippers. Some were discovered in the very act of snipping strands of wire while others, thoroughly frightened, were turning to flee, but they had scarcely moved two steps before the roar of a dozen rifles burst forth.
Jack saw two men toss up their hands and pitch forward in the grass. Another staggered a few steps, then he too fell in a limp heap. Other shots rang out, but the rebels got beyond the range of the improvised searchlights and were lost in the dark before any others were brought down.