That was all, but there was a ring of sincerity in his voice that left no doubt in his hearers’ minds that he meant what he said and, while both boys hoped that no contingency would ever arise in which they would be in such dire need of General Ruiz’s aid, at the same time they felt that if it ever did they had a friend to count on.
CHAPTER XXV.
LEAGUED WITH INSURGENTS.
Some six hours after the work of debarkation had commenced it—in spite of the obstacles—was finished and the task of setting up camp was begun. By nightfall General Ruiz had installed his forces on an upland about half-a-mile back from the seacoast as the night-air among the coast-hugging mangrove swamps is very poisonous and a great breeder of fevers. He had, the boys found, quite a respectable equipment, consisting—besides his actual force, all of whom were armed with rifles of more or less use and modern type—of two doctors, both of whom held commissions as captains; a field telegraph outfit and four telegraphers; two machine-firing guns and three mule guns, besides some heavier field-guns of a less up-to-date pattern. Altogether, except for the dilapidated state of his men, General Ruiz was fairly well provided with the implements of modern warfare.
Ruiz himself, and his staff officers, had their tents pitched apart from the main camp and one of the latter insisted on giving up his sleeping quarters to the boys, much against their wills; but he was so insistent that they seemed more likely to offend him by refusal than by accepting his offer, so that night found them snugly ensconced in a comfortable tent equipped with two neat cots, covered with gray army-blankets, and hung with mosquito netting to keep out the myriad insect pests of the tropics.
Long after the supper had been despatched in the general’s tent and good-nights said, the boys talked over the situation. It was a novel one. Through the open flap of their tent they could see the ragged sentries pacing up and down, and, further out in the bush, came the cry of the outposts as from time to time they hailed one another. The men all slept huddled up together under ragged blankets and sacking on the ground at the opposite side of the camp, as the boys could see by their camp-fire glow, round which some of the men were still sitting up and talking.
“We should strike out for La Merced at once;” decided Frank, after the subject of their present situation had been talked over for an hour.
“I agree with you,” replied Harry, “but how are we going to do it? For all we know we might run plump into Rogero’s forces and then we should be in a peck of trouble. No, my advice is to stay with the army a few days, they are marching in our direction anyhow, and then strike off for La Merced when we get within a reasonable distance of it.”
“And poor Billy and Ben Stubbs, what will they think has become of us?” went on Frank.
“They will stay at Plateau Camp for a day or two anyhow,” rejoined Harry, “and at the end of that time they will have to come down into the valley, for their provisions will have given out.”