A horde of battle-scarred peons appeared immediately, and with threatening speech and gestures managed to persuade the two Mexican linemen to climb down from the pole. Each of the five prisoners was commanded to mount his horse, then according to José Cerro’s instructions, peons bound their feet together under the horses’ stomachs and tied their hands behind their backs. This done the leader gave a few brief commands and the band started to move, striking off at right angle to the trail that followed the transmission line. They seemed to be following an invisible path through the thicket that led into a narrow ravine between the mountains in the direction of the broad valley where Los Angeles was located.
But they had hardly left the tiny clearing about the pole when the figure of an Indian and a tawny hound crept out of the bushes. The redman was clad only in canvas trousers that were rolled up to his knees, and his left arm and shoulder was swathed in bandages. A moment he paused while his black eyes searched the ground and the surrounding shrubbery. Suddenly he caught sight of the narrow trail left by the cavalcade.
“Ugh,” he grunted, “they have gone toward the sunrise. They have no horses. We shall easily catch José Cerro.” He paused a moment longer to examine the trail, then, standing erect, he mused:
“I am right. Only so many horses as I have fingers, no more. Those are Señor Ryder’s.”
And he disappeared as silently as he came.
CHAPTER XIX
TO THE RESCUE!
It was some time before Jack and the rest of the Americans were able to make the wounded comfortable in the makeshift hospital. When the task was accomplished, however, Phil Underwood and Lance Carpenter were put in permanent charge of the toolhouse. Their first action was to bar everyone else from entering the building and disturbing their patients.
Since nothing remained for Jack to do but obey these orders, the lad soon left the place and sought employment with the men who were engaged in eliminating the evidences of the recent battle from the vicinity of the power house. In the meantime, however, he kept careful track of the time and constant watch for some message from Mr. Ryder and the repair crew.