ace where his horse was waiting for him, he saw the others returning. Th

d Donald, as soon as he wa

esponse, "and this is the res

Billie. "What were

d to capture me, and I turn

nio, looking first at Ad

, he says, and tried to drag m

rned upon the

e?" he deman

whined the peon, "I w

ndered Don Ant

Raf

grew even more stern. "So it is that scou

remaine

I say?" repeat

n't t

y n

d kill m

to take Pedro and where we can catch Don Rafael,

about him a band of more than fifty men, and that he had told them they were to be part of a new army to overthrow President Madero and m

hold Pedro as a hostage, in case any of them

eemed like a good omen to begin with. Now, if it turned out that this further prediction regarding the limited number of the rustlers also came to pass,

e our ponies' heads so they can't bet

ayuse going to let out a neigh when it scented some of its own kind near by. That's a thing

's where my education's been sorter neglected, so to spe

s objected to such treatment, but had to submit in the end. And when the job had been compl

over a cer- [Transcriber's note: missing line(s) of text at this place in original p

hasten back and send a messenger to Presidio del No

urning to the house," declared Billie

with you," de

of you return to the house and send the messenger, and I and tw

" replied Adrian, with a lau

"and tell the rurales to hurry up

king the captured peon with them, while the other three hitched their horses an

act, so interested was he in the adventure, that he seemed utterly oblivious of the sun itself, which beat down fiercely upon the trio, and made the shade

here," he said to himself. "I

te he stoo

would," he mused. "As it is,

ft the others, all the time looking for a place

drian, as Billie passed the spot where

at is the other s

o? We can see way up

e's response, "but I've g

io and I will stay here. I

gain just as good a view of the mountainous country at the side as he could of the river. What he saw caused him to drop hastily to the ground and crawl a ste

ging from the fact that there was no commotion from below t

e little stream before mentioned. A boat, evidently the one in which A

three or four of the men were a

udible voice-a habit of talking with himself of which he seeme

ime straining every nerve to catch a word. Once he did catch

king Spanish, and I'm not familiar enough with the lingo

d his position a

ame somewhat excited, Billie caught the words, "car

have heard, "I'll bet they're talking about running guns into the country. I'll bet

not notice that the spot upon which he had been reclining was covered with moss, and, as he took his first step forward, his foot slipped;

only resulted in his turning almost a complete somersault and landing head f

s his head came into contact with the hard ground

t on the instant. For just a moment they waited to hear the cry repeated, but, when it was not, Adrian threw a shell into his repeater,

that time the men and Billie had completely disappeared, the only thing remaining to give any idea of what had happened being B