CHAPTER VIII
ARCHIE LEARNS SOMETHING
If Don Carlos had only known where his missing guest was all this while, and what he was doing, and what he was seeing, he would have had good cause for alarm. Archie was not at home, as Frank fondly hoped, nor was he outside the rancho. He was in a worse predicament than he had ever been in before, and was learning some things about Don Carlos and his house that greatly astonished him.
We said that the last time Frank saw him, he was standing before a large oil-painting in the room where the Spaniard had left them. It was a life-size picture of an Indian warrior; and so well was it executed that, as Archie stood looking at it, he almost expected to see the savage open his lips to give the war-whoop, and then draw the bow which he carried in his hand, and discharge an arrow at him.
“The man who painted that was an artist, and understood his business,” said Archie, to himself. “I have seen lots of those fellows, and that’s just the way they look.”
Something in the picture, which he had not before noticed, caught his eye at this moment, and interrupted the thread of his soliloquy. The handle of the warrior’s hunting-knife, which he wore in his belt, was rounded off into a knob at the end, and Archie was sure that it stood out a little way from the canvas. He leaned forward and looked at it more closely, and sure enough it was a wooden button, which fitted into the end of the handle of the knife, and not a painted one. He stepped up and examined it with his fingers, and to his surprise it yielded to his touch.
“Now I’d like to know what this means,” thought he, pressing the knob harder than before. “This thing must be attached to a spring, because it comes back when I let go of it. Well – by – gracious!”
It was very seldom indeed that Archie used any slang words, but sometimes, when he was greatly excited or astonished, he did like other boys – forgot all the good resolutions he had made regarding this bad habit. It was no wonder that he was amazed now, for the painting began to move as if it had been suddenly endowed with life. It opened before him like a door, swinging swiftly back on a pair of invisible hinges, and revealing a narrow, winding stairway which seemed to run down into a cellar beneath the outer wall. Archie stood like a wooden boy for a few seconds, his neck outstretched, his eyes dilating and trying to pierce through the thick darkness which enveloped the stairs, and then, scarcely knowing what he was about, he stepped cautiously into the passage. An instant afterward he would have given every thing he possessed, or ever expected to possess, if he had been a little more prudent; but then it was too late. The painting swung back to its place as swiftly and noiselessly as it had opened, and the smooth click of a spring-lock told Archie that he was a prisoner. He did not intend to remain one long, however. He understood the mystery of that secret door, and it would not be many seconds before he would get out again. Perhaps Frank would now be willing to look up from his book long enough to hear him tell of this wonderful discovery he had made; and perhaps, too, he would be ready to believe that he had some foundation for his suspicions.
Talking thus to himself, Archie groped his way back to the painting (for now that the opening was closed the passage was as dark as midnight), and began to pass his hands over it, searching hurriedly for the concealed spring. He now found that the back of the picture was formed of heavy oak planks, nearly a foot in thickness; or, to make the matter clearer, the whole contrivance was simply a ponderous door, with the painting spread over one side of it to conceal it. But where was the spring? Archie ran his fingers over every inch of the door, from top to bottom, but could not find it. He examined every one of the planks separately, and finally turned his attention to the huge blocks of stone which formed the walls, in the hope that he might find the spring imbedded in one of them. Five minutes – ten minutes – a quarter of an hour were passed in this way, and then Archie sank down upon the floor, all in a heap, panting and sweating as though he had been engaged in the most violent exercise. His face was very pale, his hands trembled as though he were suffering from an attack of the ague, and one to have seen him at that moment would have believed that he was almost overcome with fear. His words, however, did not indicate the fact.
“Now here’s fun,” said he, with a desperate attempt to keep up his courage; “here’s sport – here’s joy by the wagon-load. I am cornered easy enough, and it serves me just right for prying about where I had no business. What will the Don say when he comes back and finds me gone?”
As this thought passed through Archie’s mind, he sprang to his feet, the cold perspiration starting out anew from every pore in his body, and his heart beating fast and furiously. What would the old Spaniard think when he found that one of his guests was missing, and, above all, what would he do? If he was an innocent man, and Archie’s suspicions regarding him were without any foundation, he would hunt him up and release him; there would be a hearty laugh all around; and the Don would have a long story to tell about the passage-way, the reasons why he had built it, and the use he had made of it. But suppose that Archie’s suspicions were correct – that Don Carlos was really one of the robbers, and that the passage led to some underground cavern where he and his men concealed their plunder – what would he do when he found that his secret had been discovered? Archie did not stop to answer this question, but once more searched all over the door for the spring; but with no better success than before. Then he pounded upon the door, and called his cousin; but the walls were thick, and the sound of his voice did not reach Frank, who read on in blissful ignorance of what was transpiring on the other side of the painting.
“He must have gone out,” said Archie, now beginning to be thoroughly alarmed, “and I am left to my own resources, which are scarce, I can tell you. What if one of the band should come up here with a light?”
Archie pulled his revolver from his pocket, faced about, and peered through the darkness in the direction of the stairs, listening intently, and almost imagining that he heard light footsteps approaching. But he was alone in the passage-way, and having satisfied himself on this point, he leaned against the wall to think over the situation, and determine upon some course of action.
“It would be awkward to be caught here – for the robber, I mean, for it is my opinion that he would go down those stairs with much greater haste than he came up. Of course there must be two ends to this passage, and as I can not get out here, I must try some other way of escape. I can’t be in a much worse fix than I am now.”
As Archie said this, he put his revolver into his pocket again, and began feeling his way along the wall toward the stairs. It was a dangerous undertaking, for the floor might be full of trap-doors, for all he knew, and one of them might open beneath his feet at any moment, and let him down into some dungeon; or, he might run against one of the robbers in the darkness, who would slip a lasso around his neck, and make a prisoner of him before he could raise an arm to defend himself. He reached the head of the stairs, however, without any such misfortune, and slowly and cautiously felt his way to the bottom. There he found himself in a passage-way which ran at right angles with the one above. After a moment’s deliberation, he decided that if he followed it to the left it would lead him under the court (through which Frank was, at that very moment, running a race with Pedro for the gate), and that was the way Archie did not want to go. By turning to the right, if the passage ran far enough in that direction, he would reach the bank of the creek, and there he might find some way of escape. Having decided this point, he was about to move on again, when he was frightened nearly out of his senses by hearing a whisper close at his elbow:
“Beppo, is this you?”
The fight for which Archie had been bracing his nerves ever since he first made up his mind to visit Don Carlos’ rancho, was to come off now – he was sure of that. He was much calmer than he had thought he could be under such circumstances, but still he trembled violently in every limb as he drew his revolver, and thrust it straight out before him in the direction from which the voice came. A person thinks rapidly when in danger, and during the moment’s pause that followed the question thus unexpectedly propounded to him, Archie thought over and rejected a dozen wild schemes which suggested themselves to him. One, however, he accepted. He would reveal himself to the man, and if the latter would agree to show him the way above ground, it would be all right; he would then be willing to believe that Don Carlos was an honest man, and that there was nothing wrong about him or his rancho. But if the man made an outcry, and began shouting for help, or tried to secure him, he would give him some idea of American pluck and muscle.
“Beppo, is that you?” asked the voice again, in the same cautious whisper. Then, before Archie had time to act on the resolution he had just formed, the man, whoever he was, continued: “here are the keys. We shall be ready in half an hour. Follow this gang-way, and enter the first door on your left. Be sure and lock the door after you, because there’s always somebody roaming about here, and you might be discovered. Do your work well, now, and the revolver is yours.”
A moment afterward Archie stood holding a bunch of keys in his hand, and listening with beating heart to the retreating footsteps of the man, who was hurrying toward the other end of the passage. He had never been more excited and alarmed in his life. If the man had brought a lantern with him, the fight he had been expecting would certainly have come off.
When the sound of the footsteps had died away, Archie drew a long breath of relief, and began to congratulate himself on his escape, and to repeat what the man had said to him. Two things were evident: one was that he had been mistaken for Beppo, a Mexican boy about his own age who was employed on the rancho; the other, that he had some sort of a secret commission to execute, and that for the faithful performance of his work, he would be rewarded by the present of a revolver. What that commission was, Archie neither knew or cared; he had something of much more importance to think about. Suppose the man should happen to meet the genuine Beppo, and should find out that he had given the keys to somebody else! Would he not try to ascertain who that some one else was, and wouldn’t he call for help, and begin a thorough search of the rancho?
“I haven’t a single instant to lose,” said Archie, to himself. “Let me see! I must follow this gang-way and open the first door on my left, and be sure and lock it after me. I don’t much like to do it, for there is no knowing what I may find in that room. I hope one of these keys will let me out of this den of robbers.”
So saying, Archie began to feel his way along the left wall of the passage, and presently came to the door of which the man had spoken, and which he succeeded in opening after trying several of his keys. Hastily passing through the door, he closed and locked it, and then began to feel a little more secure; although he did not know which way to turn next. If he kept straight ahead, he might come in contact with some object, or step upon one of those trap-doors he so much dreaded. After a little hesitation he placed his hands upon the wall, and began moving slowly around the apartment, but had not taken more than half a dozen steps before he ran against something. A moment’s examination showed him that it was a table, with several articles upon it – a bowie-knife, a brace of pistols, two or three lassos, a lantern, and a box of matches. These last were just what he had been wishing for. He lighted the lantern, and then turned to take a survey of the room. It proved to be a sort of armory and depot of supplies. The walls were covered with weapons, and saddles, bridles, blankets, ponchos, and numerous other articles of like description, were scattered about over the floor. A hundred horsemen could have been equipped from that room.
As soon as Archie had satisfied himself that he was alone, he began to examine the objects about him a little more closely; and almost the first thing his eyes rested on was a piece of property belonging to himself.
“Isn’t it lucky that I didn’t speak to that man?” he soliloquized. “Didn’t I say that old Spaniard was one of the robbers? That’s my saddle. I would know it among a million. It is the very one that was on Sleepy Sam when Uncle James bought him in St. Joseph. Now, my horse is in this very rancho; and he isn’t far off, either. This settles the question of Don Carlos’ guilt.”
Archie now became doubly anxious to effect his escape from the rancho. The man who had given him the keys had told him that some one was always roaming about those passage-ways, and as long as he remained there he was in danger of discovery. But he had said that if his horse was in that rancho, he would have him out, and he was going to keep his word. He would not think of going home until he had found him. Once on his back, and outside of the walls of the rancho, he could laugh at the robbers. If Roderick was there, he would take him, too. He hoped to be able to secure both horses, and make good his retreat without being discovered; and if he could do that, wouldn’t he astonish his cousin when he came home in the morning? But something prevented Archie from carrying out this plan. As it happened, Frank was the one who recovered the horses; and if it had not been for him and Roderick, Archie would never have mounted King James again.
Archie’s first care was to take possession of the weapons he found on the table; then he raised his lantern, and took another survey of the room. He saw a door opposite to the one by which he had entered; and when he had opened it, he found that it led into a long, low apartment, which was used as a stable. It contained several horses, which the robbers had selected and kept on account of their great speed and endurance, and conspicuous among them stood Roderick and King James.
“Aha!” exclaimed Archie.
“Santa Maria!” cried somebody else.
Archie looked up, and there was Beppo. His mouth and eyes were wide open, and he stood gazing at the intruder as if he could not quite make up his mind whether he was a solid flesh-and-blood boy, or only an apparition. The fight must come off now, and Archie was ready for it.
CHAPTER IX
ARCHIE AND BEPPO
“Santa Maria!” exclaimed Beppo again, and this time in a very different tone of voice. He was frightened now, and that was not to be wondered at; for Archie stood holding a pistol in each hand, and both of them were pointed straight at the Mexican’s breast. “Don’t shoot,” said he, drawing his head down between his shoulders, and raising one arm before his eyes.
“You are in no danger as long as you keep perfectly quiet, and do just as I tell you,” replied Archie, glancing about the stable to make sure there was no one else present.
This assurance seemed to remove an immense load of apprehension from Beppo’s mind. He looked all over Archie, from head to foot, as if taking his exact measure, and finally demanded:
“What do you want, and how did you get in here?”
“Don’t talk so loud,” commanded Archie, making a significant motion with his pistols. “If you speak above a whisper again, you are a gone Greaser.”
“Well, what do you want here?” repeated Beppo, in a lower tone.
“I have no time to waste in answering questions. Crawl out of that jacket.”
The Mexican seemed to be very much astonished at this order, but, without an instant’s hesitation, he divested himself of his greasy, tattered garment, and threw it on the floor.
“Now that sombrero,” continued Archie. “That’s all right. I shall be obliged to borrow these articles for a little while, but, as I shall leave my own in their place, you will not lose much in case I fail to return them. When I get them on, I think I shall have no trouble in passing myself off for you. What are you doing in here?”
“I came after the gray and black,” replied Beppo, pointing toward Roderick and King James.
“Well, if it is all the same to you, I will take charge of them myself. I have a better right to one of them, than you or any body else about the rancho. He was stolen from me, Greaser, and when I get home, I am going to make somebody smart for it.”
“I didn’t do it,” said Beppo.
“It is fortunate for you that you didn’t,” replied Archie. “If I thought you had a hand in it, I would take you down and give you a good drubbing. I’d like to have a long talk with you about the strange things that are done here every night,” he continued, pulling off his neat jacket, and picking up the one Beppo had thrown upon the floor; “but just now I am too deeply interested in getting away from here, to bother my head about any thing else. I will put the saddles on the horses, and then I want you to show me” —
“Santa Maria!” yelled Beppo again. “Help! help!”
There was no astonishment or terror in his voice this time. His favorite expression was uttered in a tone of triumph. Things looked exceedingly dark for Archie now, for he was lying on his back in the middle of the floor, Beppo was kneeling on his breast, and the stable was echoing with his lusty calls for assistance. Archie was greatly astonished, but he was not frightened. He was as cool as a cucumber.
“That’s your game, is it?” said he. “I wouldn’t be afraid to wager King James against any mustang in the country, that it won’t succeed, for you’ve got hold of a Yankee now. I’ll open your eyes for you, in about a minute.”
Archie had come to believe, with Dick Lewis and Bob Kelly, that there was not a Mexican in the world who possessed the least particle of courage; and consequently he did not watch his prisoner as closely as he ought to have done. Although Beppo was very much terrified at the sight of the pistols, he kept his wits about him, and while his captor was talking to him in his free-and-easy way, the young Mexican’s mind was busy with plans for escape. While Archie was exchanging his jacket and sombrero for those belonging to Beppo, the latter thought he saw a chance to turn the tables on him.
Archie had a peculiar way of putting on a coat. He thrust both arms half way into the sleeves, then threw the coat over his head, straightened out his arms, and gave himself a shake or two to settle the garment into its place. It was when he had got the jacket about half way on, and both his arms were fast in the sleeves, that Beppo sprang forward like a young tiger, and catching him around the body, threw him to the ground. He accomplished this with so much ease, that he thought he was sure to win a decided victory.
“Give up that pistol,” said he, savagely. “I’ve got you now.”
“That remains to be seen,” replied Archie, with a coolness that astounded the Mexican. “There’s no knowing who is governor until after the election.”
Archie, although taken at great disadvantage, struggled desperately, and to such good purpose that he succeeded in freeing his arms from the jacket; and then the matter was quickly decided. Beppo was turned over on his back in a twinkling, and Archie, holding him down with one hand, drew the lantern toward him with the other, and extinguished it; for he heard footsteps approaching. Beppo’s cries had reached the ears of some of the people of the rancho, and they were hurrying to his assistance. He would have continued to shout for help, but the cold muzzle of a pistol, which he felt pressed against his head, restrained him.
Archie did not know what to do now. His first impulse was to spring up and take to his heels; but, if he did, what should he do with his prisoner? He might have compelled him to accompany him in his flight, but Beppo was a clumsy fellow, and having no reasons for wishing to conceal his movements, he would, no doubt, make noise enough to guide the Rancheros in the pursuit. If Archie left him behind, he would begin shouting for help again; and if he had not already alarmed every one on the rancho, it would not take him long to do so. The only plan he could think of was to remain with his captive, and keep him quiet by threatening him with his pistol, trusting to the darkness to prevent his discovery.
“Don’t dare open your head,” said Archie, fiercely.
There was scarcely any need of this injunction. Beppo never once thought of moving a muscle, while that pistol was so near him, and he lay as silent and motionless upon the floor as if he had been turned into a block of stone.
The footsteps continued to approach, and presently the light of a lantern flashed through the darkness, revealing to Archie a grated door at the farther end of the stable, which he had not before noticed. Looking through the door, he saw two Rancheros hurrying along the passage, one of them holding his lantern above his head, and both trying to peer through the darkness to see what was going on in the stable. They had not yet seen Archie, but they certainly would discover him when they reached the door, for he was close in front of it. He must get back out of sight, and he had but a single instant in which to do it. Springing quickly to his feet, he seized the astonished Beppo by the collar, with both hands, and before he could make up his mind what was going to happen, he was lying on his back in Roderick’s stall, with Archie on top of him; and the mustang was looking down at them as if wondering what they were doing there. Scarcely had this movement been accomplished, when the Rancheros arrived at the door; but, to Archie’s immense relief, they did not attempt to open it. The reason was because the door was locked, and the key was attached to the bunch in Archie’s pocket. They held the lantern close against the bars, and peered into the stable.
“He isn’t here,” Archie heard one of them whisper, at length.
“He must be,” replied the other. “I know those shouts came from the stable. Beppo, are you in there?”
The young Mexican heard the question, and would have been glad to answer, if Archie’s pistol had not been held so close to his head. The men waited and listened for a reply, but hearing none, the one who had last spoken continued:
“I can see those horses in there, and they are not saddled. He has had plenty of time to bring them out, for I gave him the keys ten minutes ago.”
“Santa Maria!” said Beppo, in an astonished whisper.
“Silence!” commanded Archie.
“But he didn’t give me any keys,” persisted the prisoner, whose surprise was so great that he forgot all about the dangerous proximity of the pistol.
“Keep still, I say!” repeated Archie; and as the order was followed by a firmer pressure of the muzzle of the weapon against his head, the young Mexican thought it best to comply.
“Where do you suppose those shouts came from?” asked one of the men at the door.
“I don’t know,” replied the other; “and, what is more, I don’t care. What could have become of that rascal Beppo; and why don’t he bring out those horses? that’s what’s troubling me. If we don’t find him very soon, our plans will all be knocked in the head.”
The men seemed to be very much concerned about the young Mexican, and that was a point in Archie’s favor; for they did not remain long at the door, but set out in search of him. Archie watched the light through the grated door until it disappeared, and then began to question his prisoner.
“What’s up here, any how?” he demanded. “What did those men want you to do?”
“Nothing,” replied Beppo.
“Yes they did. You can’t fool me, for I am better posted than you think I am. Where do you suppose those keys are?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I do; and I know, too, that those men promised you a revolver for doing some work for them.”
“Who told you so?” asked Beppo, more astonished than ever.
“No matter. I have a way of finding out such things. What did those men want you to do? No fooling, now.”
Beppo felt the muzzle of the pistol again, and the secret came out all at once.
“They wanted me to bring those two horses out of the stable for them,” said he. “They are tired of staying here, and want to go away. They intend to take the Don’s money, too – the gold he keeps in his bed-room. They want the gray and black horses because they are the swiftest in the country; and if they are followed, they can’t be caught.”
“Well,” said Archie, when his prisoner paused, “go on, and tell me what else you know.”
Beppo knew a good deal, and it took him some time to tell it; but Archie, impatient as he was, listened attentively to all he had to say – not because he was curious to learn something of the every-day life of the robbers, but for the reason that he hoped his prisoner would let fall some item of information that would assist him in making his escape from the rancho. He learned that Beppo was the stableboy, and that it was a part of his duty to bring out the “gray and black” every evening, at sunset, for two of the Rancheros, who mounted them and rode off somewhere; and the next morning Beppo would find two or three, and sometimes half a dozen, strange horses in the stable. The stolen nags were driven into Texas every week, and sold there; and the reason why Roderick and King James had been kept, was because they were known to be very fleet, and the robbers wanted to use them. One piece of information that greatly astonished Archie was, that, although there were fifty men on the Don’s rancho, they did not number a third of the band. The others were scattered all over the southern part of the State, and were employed as herdsmen by the farmers, who little suspected that they were in league with the robbers. Beppo said there were some on Mr. Winters’s rancho, but he did not know who they were. Their business was to send the Don, who was chief of the band, any information they might gain concerning the fast horses on their own and neighboring ranchos, and Pedro and another herdsman would go out and steal them. These two men did all the stealing; and Archie judged from Beppo’s description of their exploits that they were very expert at the business. They always rode Roderick and King James, and the swift animals brought them home in safety, in spite of the most desperate attempts that had been made to capture them.
The keys to the stable and to all the rooms in the underground part of the rancho, were kept in the Don’s bed-room. One of the discontented members of the band had stolen them, and, as he supposed, given them to Beppo, whom he had hired with the promise of a revolver to bring the horses out about half an hour before the usual time. When the mutineers saw the horses in the court, they were to make a sudden raid on their employer’s bed-room, secure as much gold as they could carry, and then rush out, jump into their saddles, and leave the rancho with all possible speed.
Archie was silent for some minutes after Beppo ceased speaking. He was thinking what a skillful manager the Spaniard must have been to have successfully conducted the operations of so extensive an organization, without even exciting suspicion. And what astonishing impudence the old fellow had, too! Archie remembered that upon one occasion, during a general hunt after the horse-thieves, in which the Don had taken an active part, he had invited a dozen men and boys to his rancho, and served them up an excellent dinner. What would those guests have thought if they had known that they were being entertained by the chief of the very robbers they were trying to hunt down? And to think, too, that some of the band were employed on his uncle’s rancho – that he had seen them every day, and talked and ridden with them! Archie told himself that there would be some exciting times in the settlement before all these robbers could be brought to justice, and the probabilities were that somebody would get hurt. He did not care how soon the fight began, for then he would have a chance to take satisfaction out of somebody for stealing his horse. Archie pondered upon these things, until it occurred to him that it would be a good plan for him to effect his escape before he began his war upon the robbers, and this thought once more aroused him to a sense of his situation.
“Where did these mutineers intend to go?” he asked, at length.
“To Texas,” replied Beppo.
“Well, they sha’n’t do it – that’s settled. Before I will allow them to take these horses out of the country, I will hunt up the Don and blow the whole thing.”
“O, don’t do that,” pleaded the prisoner, who seemed terror-stricken at the bare thought. “He will shoot me.”
“I wouldn’t like to have you shot, Greaser,” replied Archie, “but I tell you that my horse is not going to Texas. There is one way in which you can save yourself, and that is by leading me out of this hole by the safest and most direct route. Then the Don need know nothing about it; but just as surely as I am captured down here, I’ll repeat to him every thing you have said to me.”
“I can’t lead you out,” replied Beppo. “The doors are all locked.”
“We don’t care if they are. I’ve got the keys.”
“You! Santa Maria!”
“It’s a fact,” answered Archie; “but how I got them I need not now stop to explain. What do you say, Greaser? Will you show me the way out?”
“Yes,” gasped the young Mexican, who knew, from the peremptory manner in which the pistol was pressed against his head, that it was dangerous to hesitate longer. “Don’t shoot! I will.”
“That’s all right,” said Archie. “Now, to put it out of your power to play any tricks upon me, I shall tie your hands behind your back with your own sash – so. Then I will take mine, and pass it around your ankles, in this way.”