CHAPTER XIII.
CROSSING THE FORD
"Whee! hunt cover, fellers! Somebody's making a target of us!" exclaimed Tubby, looking wildly around for a convenient tree or adobe hut behind which he might hide his ample form.
But the Mexican guide showed them how they could quickly find shelter back of the bank; and, possibly, all of the boys breathed easier when assured that they were no longer exposed to the fire of the unseen marksman far back on the other side of the narrow river.
"But what does it mean?" asked Rob. "I thought the rebels were in force across the bridge, and that they did all in their power to make Uncle Sam look on their side with favor."
"It is so, young señor," the guide replied; "but often have the bullets come across here when the Federals and the rebels, they have fight it out over there. But now it is that some man thinks if Americans are shot it must come that the soldiers in El Paso will have to cross the international bridge, and that would mean what they call intervention."
"Oh! I see what you mean," Rob told him. "Then that was only some crazy man with a gun who wanted to bother Uncle Sam and make him real mad so he would send his soldiers across to punish him. And once they stepped on Mexican soil it would mean we'd have a war on our hands."
After that they were careful not to expose themselves more than seemed necessary as they continued their walk; and coming back they kept further away from the river so as to avoid a repetition of the bombardment. There was not much chance of the wretched marksman hitting them; but then, even bullets fired at random have been known to find a lodging place, as Rob had been told.
One of the first things the guide had assured them was that it would never do for the scouts to think of trying to enter Mexico by openly crossing the bridge. It was closely guarded on the one side by Uncle Sam's soldiers, and across the line by squads of rebels. The latter examined every one wishing to come or go, in many cases forcibly preventing the exit of some promising subject who might be made to yield tribute to the cause of the revolutionists, as well as refusing to allow others to enter Mexico, whom they believed might have some object contrary to the interests of their side.
But then the guide had informed them that he knew a ford where they might with perfect safety cross the river, now at a low stage. Once on the opposite shore they must depend on the fleet heels of their horses to take them inland, and in this manner avoid a meeting with any hostile force.
It was all arranged that they start early on the following morning. Mardo was ready to do whatever they asked; and Tubby expressed himself as decidedly anxious to meet General Villa with as little delay as possible. He felt just as Uncle Mark had declared it might be, that the rebel commander in Chihuahua would by now believe he had done all that could be expected of him in serving the man who years before had saved his life, and who had been also a friend of the lamented President Madero. And as Villa's army needed rations and money desperately, possibly he would be planning either to kill off the fine steers on the Matthews Ranch, or else sell them to some enterprising American speculator for shipment across the line.
Perhaps none of the boys expected to sleep any too soundly that night, thinking of what a novel experience was before them; though all of them were tired after their long train ride.
Not a great while after supper, however, a soldier came to the inn and asked for Rob. He bore a message from the commandant to the effect that he would be pleased to have another little chat with the young assistant scout master to hear how his plans were coming on.
This decided interest which the general seemed to take in their enterprise gave Rob considerable pleasure. He eagerly availed himself of the privilege of meeting the soldier once more, and only regretted that his three chums had not been included in the invitation.
And Rob spent a very satisfactory half hour with the general, to whom he confided all his plans. He told so much about the previous experiences of the Eagle scouts, also, that the interested soldier felt reluctant to terminate the interview.
"I could go on chatting with you for hours, my son," he said, shaking hands as he dismissed the boy, "because I am so deeply interested in your ambitions and in what you have already gone through, you and your fine comrades. But I have appointed a meeting with some of my officers to plan for the new emergencies that are continually arising. Believe me, you have my best wishes, and if I do not see you again on your return – for something tells me you will return, and after successfully carrying out your mission, too, – let me hear from you. It will give me great pleasure to reply."
This sort of talk was encouraging, to say the least. It gave Rob renewed ambition to push on along the course he had mapped out.
Of course, when he arrived at the inn he found the other boys still sitting up waiting for him; so that by degrees everything that the general had said had to be repeated before they consented to go to bed.
With the coming of morning they were all up. Tubby kept declaring that he did not have a wink of sleep all night on account of the hard bed and the various strange noises that came from without. But Andy returned that every time he waked up, and it must have been in the neighborhood of a dozen separate occasions, he had particularly noticed that Tubby was sprawled over two-thirds of their bed, and snoring "to beat the band." After that Tubby closed up, possibly under the impression that the others would call him a fake.
As soon as they had had breakfast they found the guide waiting, mounted on his own horse; and then the bustle of preparation began. Tubby had to be helped more than a few times, for he became so excited that he could not remember where he had left a number of important things. Andy finally declared that it was lucky that the fat scout's head was firmly attached to his body, for otherwise he would be losing that also!
"Well," answered Tubby, grinning, "even if that did happen, I wouldn't be the first feller who'd gone and lost his head, would I? I'd like to have ten dollars for every time you have, Andy Bowles."
Finally everything was in readiness, and they started; but there were no cheers wafted after them on this occasion. The boys, acting under the advice of the general, had been very careful not to tell a single person other than Mardo Lopez what they intended doing. The rebels had many secret sympathizers on that shore of the Rio Grande; and perhaps one of these might think it worth while to transmit the news across that a little party of gringo boy soldiers contemplated invading the sacred soil of Mexico.
Leaving the lively town of El Paso behind, the little party struck along the river, and continued to gallop for several hours, until they came to the place where the ford mentioned by Lopez lay.
The cautious native guide was very careful to keep a bright lookout, not wishing to have his charges fired on from either bank of the stream while crossing.
"Better you wait here, young señors," he observed, as they pulled up in the shelter of some scrub trees that grew on a rise; "as for me, I will go over and take a look around on the other side. When you hear me call, and I wave my hand, it is a sign that you cross safely."
"All right, Lopez, we're on to what you mean," Andy told him.
They watched him crossing the stream, taking note of what he did, so as to keep the current from pushing his mount from the shelf that made the water so shallow.
"We must copy exactly that way of doing," Rob directed the rest. "I never crossed a river at a ford in my life; and certainly not on horseback. But it seems easy enough once you've got the hang of things."
"Huh! won't be any trouble at all," Tubby assured him, being confident of his ability to keep his horse headed right; and Andy also declared that it looked "just as easy as falling off a log."
Lopez, after pulling out on the other side, rode some distance up and down, as well as back from the river, in order to make sure that there might not be a party of natives, whether Federals, rebels, or bandits, lying in ambush. Should such a party open fire upon the boys while they were in the middle of the stream, they would be next to helpless to return the shots.
"There, he's waving his hat, now, and beckoning to us to come on!" exclaimed Merritt, as the guide came galloping down close to the edge of the river. "That means the coast is clear, and we can cross over in peace. Rob, after you!"
Rob started in, and so well had he taken note of his landmarks, that he was able to follow exactly after the guide. At the same time he kept his horse's head turned partly up-stream, so that it could resist the sweep of the swift current. Had the flank of the animal caught the full force of the rushing water the crossing would have been more difficult.
Merritt came after Rob, then Andy, and last, but far from least, Tubby. No sooner did the latter find himself in water deep enough to wet his half-drawn-up feet than he realized that to a novice this crossing a ford was not such a simple thing after all. He tried his best to follow Andy, and in so doing exposed the side of his horse to the swing of the current more than policy would seem to dictate.
In consequence of this indiscretion, presently Tubby began to find that he could no longer keep exactly in the wake of the scout just ahead of him. Then he discovered that he was constantly losing ground, so to speak, and being carried further and further down the river, a foot at a time.
He could hear Lopez shouting something, but as the Mexican had unconsciously lapsed into Spanish, of course poor Tubby failed to understand a single word of the instructions he was calling.
"Hey, I'll have to swim for it, fellers!" the fat boy shouted; though just what good it would do to inform his comrades of his predicament he could not have told had he been asked.
Rob turned in the saddle and saw that unless a miracle came to pass, Tubby was bound to get a wetting. He started to call out something, and then stopped short, for it was useless to try and tell the luckless scout what to do. Already his horse had reached the end of the ford and was in deep water, swimming lustily for the shore; while the alarmed Tubby threw both arms around the animal's neck, and held on for dear life.
Whether there was any real danger in the situation or not the other boys could not, of course, say; but Tubby's way of clasping his short arms about his horse's neck so as to prevent himself from being washed overboard was so comical that they had to laugh, even while urging their own mounts to the farther shore, so as to be on hand to render assistance if such should be needed.
To Tubby it was all serious enough; and no doubt just then he imagined that he stood a fair chance of being separated from his possessions and carried down the Rio Grande, perhaps to an untimely death.
CHAPTER XIV.
A GALLOP ON MEXICAN SOIL
"Hey, Rob, tell me what to do!" Tubby could be heard shouting at the top of his voice, as he kept on hugging his horse about the neck, being evidently determined not to allow the current to pluck him out of his saddle, at any rate so long as he could maintain that rigid grip.
Even in that sudden emergency Tubby found himself depending on Rob as usual; and to hear him asking for information, one would believe that the young patrol leader knew more about river fords than a dozen native guides who had been used to crossing by this means all their lives.
Rob had reached shallow water, and immediately urged his horse down-stream, in order to come opposite the drifting scout.
"Just keep holding on, and the horse will bring you to land!" he called out encouragingly. "He is making a plucky fight, and getting in closer all the while. As soon as he strikes bottom it will be all over; so keep your grip, Tubby."
This the fat scout did; and just as Rob had said, presently the swimming animal reached a more shallow point, where he could get his footing and manage to swing in closer than ever. And in another five minutes Tubby emerged from the river, "looking like a half-drowned rat," as Andy assured him, for streams were dripping from each foot, and he was soaked from his waist down.
"Anyway, I had horse sense enough to keep my gun dry," Tubby observed. "But what shall I do now, Rob? I'm weighing half a ton, I guess."
"You're not apt to catch cold in this warm air," Rob told him; "and so you might as well let your duds dry on you. At noon, when we halt for a bite, you can open up your bundle and spread your blanket out for the sun to dry. After all, there wasn't any damage done."
"Only to my feelings," Tubby reminded him.
"And they don't count," said Andy, laughing at the recollection of the tragic way in which Tubby had embraced that horse. He had held to it about as a leech might have clung when applied to the arm of a patient in the old days when they bled sick men.
They at once turned their backs on the Rio Grande, and according to what Lopez told them, they were not likely to set eyes on the river again until their mission had either been successfully carried out, or proven a failure.
Rob took a fond look at the stream. Some-how it seemed to be the very last link binding them to their home land; for across the running water lay the good old United States. And they were now on foreign soil, where the Starry Flag at present was powerless to protect them from a multitude of perils.
Presently they could see the river no longer, because they were rising over a level stretch of country through which the flood at some time in the far past had cut a deep channel.
From now on, what was around and before them was to serve fully to occupy their attention.
When half a dozen miles had been passed over, Rob began to notice that Tubby was not looking as happy as he might; and he feared that the pace was telling more or less on the stout chum.
"Are we going too fast for you, Tubby?" he called out; and instantly the other tried to look utterly unconcerned, as though he were enjoying himself to the utmost.
"What, for me?" he immediately answered, with a ring of indignation in his voice; though every jump of his horse caused him to shake like a mould of jelly. "Well, I should say not! You couldn't move too fast to suit my mind, Rob. If I had an aeroplane right now you'd see me sailing away at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, and headed for that same old town of Chihuahua. Why didn't we think to bring something like that along? Aeroplanes may be dangerous things, but then they're a heap more comfortable than some nags I know!"
No matter how Tubby suffered, he seemed bound not to admit the fact; and knowing his stubborn nature, Rob did not try to show any further sympathy for him. If things really became too bad, perhaps Tubby would consent to ask them to hold up and let him have a breathing spell. But at any rate, they were surely putting the miles behind them, and before night-time would have made "quite a dent in that journey to the capital of the State," as Andy said.
Before the middle of the day came, Rob had the guide call a halt, for he knew it was punishment to Tubby to keep this up as they were doing. The sun was so scorchingly hot that the fat boy seemed very nearly as wet with perspiration as he had been soaked with river water a little earlier. But even then he complained at the stop, and told Rob he should have been able to hold out another half-hour or until noon. This caused the other scouts to exchange winks, and behind their hands tell each other that for dogged perseverance Tubby surely had them all "beaten a mile."
While they rested their mounts and had a cold bite, Tubby was induced to open his pack and spread out such things as seemed damp, so that when night came he would not have to lie down under a blanket that gave him a chill. Lopez warned the boys that while the day had been very hot, they would find good reason to wish they had two blankets apiece before morning.
"We found that out the time we were down at Panama," said Rob; "though, perhaps, being further north now may make a difference. But Tubby's just got to have his blanket good and dry, and that goes."
Tubby managed to accomplish this; and as they packed up later on to continue their gallop, he told the others that the sun had done the business all right.
Several times during the morning's run the keen-sighted guide had discovered moving figures far off. Rob had been thoughtful enough to bring a small but powerful pair of field-glasses, along with many other things; and these now came in handy to tell them whether the distant parties were seemingly Federal soldiers or members of Villa's rebel army foraging for supplies.
"But if Villa's men are holding all the ground between Chihuahua, from which they chased Salazar's forces a little while ago, and Juarez on the river, why do we need to fear running across any Federal soldiers?" Andy wanted to know, when once Lopez, after taking a look through the glasses, declared that he believed the half dozen riders they watched going further away might be men in the uniform of Mexican regulars.
"Generally speaking, they do hold this territory, which mostly used to belong to the wealthy Terrazas family," Rob explained; "but reports have come in that several bodies of mounted regulars were dispatched from Ojinaga, where half a dozen generals and their men are fortifying their positions to make a stubborn stand against the rebels. These raiders have orders to cut the telegraph lines, and destroy all the bridges they can between Chihuahua and the border on both lines of railroad. And so you see, we are apt to run across one of these flying columns at any old time. That is what the good general warned me to look out for; because, of course, we have more to fear from Salazar's men than from the rebels."
"Ginger snaps and pop-guns! I should say we had," exclaimed Tubby, "when we remember what precious document – er, I mean how much we want to see General Villa!"
Rob had not thought it wise to tell everything to the guide until they came to know him better; and hence his frown and vigorous shake of the head toward the talkative Tubby, when the other came within an ace of "letting the cat out of the bag."
They did not ride quite so fast during the afternoon, all on Tubby's account, though no one dared let him know that, or he would have been very angry. As the day began to wane, and they seemed to be in a part of the wild country free from either rebels or Government troops, Rob suggested that they come to a halt and go into camp.
"We must have made as much as forty miles and more since morning, and so be that much nearer Chihuahua," he remarked; "and that's good enough for one day. Perhaps to-morrow we may work closer to the railroad, and try to get in touch with some of Villa's men, who will take us to him. There's Lopez dismounting, boys, so let's do the same."
Merritt and Andy both grunted as they managed with some difficulty to get out of their saddles, after Rob had set the example. As for Tubby, he seemed to be glued in his seat, for while they saw him make a desperate effort several times, he did not seem able to accomplish a separation. Finally, with a foolish grin on his face, he beckoned to Rob to come nearer.
"I'm afraid you'll have to give me a lift, Rob," he confessed; "fact is, I don't seem able to raise either leg, I'm that stiff. That's a good feller, just get me started and I'll be all right, sure I will. And after I've jumped around a few dozen times I'll be ready to dance a hoedown if you ask me."
But it was noticed that Tubby was unusually quiet all that evening, hardly bothering to move more than to reach out for his share of supper; nor did he volunteer to do his part in the cooking. "For what is the use," he complained, "when we have an experienced guide along who loves to cook?" And at one time, when Rob leisurely got to his feet and reached for a tin cup, Tubby even had the assurance to call out softly after him:
"If so be you're meaning to go to the creek for a drink, Rob, wish you'd fetch a cup of water for me, and thank you!"
The truth of the matter was that ride had been a terrible experience to the fat scout, and he had suffered much more than anybody suspected. But by slow degrees he would grow accustomed to the exercise, and perhaps even enjoy life in the saddle before they were done scouring the country in search of Villa.
Lopez had taken every sort of precaution to avoid having their camp seen by any hostile eyes. In the first place, he had selected for a site a spot that was fairly well screened by dense thickets; it was also in a sort of little depression or basin, where the glow of the small fire they had lighted to prepare their meal might not be discovered.
This blaze had been allowed to die out after it had served the purpose for which Lopez had started it; so that as they sat there, talking in low voices, only the soft starlight looked down upon them.
Tubby was later on discovered to be sound asleep; and as Andy and Merritt admitted feeling pretty drowsy themselves, Rob told them they had better get their blankets ready to do duty. He himself fixed that of Tubby, and managed to draw the sleeping scout under it without awakening him.
All seemed deathly quiet when Rob lay down to secure some rest. The guide had assured him that there was no need of their keeping watch, because his horse had been trained by a cowboy to give the alarm if any enemy came prowling around.
Confident that all would be well, the patrol leader settled himself as comfortably as was possible, under the conditions, and after some little time spent in running over in his mind various matters that had a connection with their mission to Mexico, he fell asleep.
Rob did not know whether it was half an hour that he had been lost in slumber, or five times that long, when he was rudely disturbed by some one kicking his shins. And at the same time he became conscious of a low whispering voice saying:
"Rob, oh! Rob, are you awake? What under the sun is making that queer noise?"
It was Andy calling; and becoming conscious that there were some strange noises rising on the night air close by at the same time, Rob raised his head the better to listen.
Andy's question must have been overheard by Merritt, for he at once let them know he was awake and on the alert; but as for Tubby, he only wheezed, and breathed harder than ever; for he was a thousand miles away in his dreams.