by Frank Fowler
CHAPTER V.
WHEN THE OLD WAS NEW.
A cry of astonishment went up from the quartette and then theystood silent to see what would be the next move.
They did not have long to wait, for presently a tall, gauntfigure strode out of the brambles some yards from the fallenhorse and uttered a hoarse shout, upon which Ab sprang from thespot where he had fallen and ran toward the newcomer, giving ventto shrill cries as he ran.
"That must be his master," muttered Billie. "I'm glad I didn'tshoot the little beggar."
"I'm more interested in the master than in the monkey," saidDonald. "He is evidently not a Mexican. Who and what do yousuppose he is?"
"An animal trainer from a circus," replied Adrian.
"There are no circuses in this part of the world," commentedBillie.
"If he only had a hand organ instead of a gun, I could placehim," laughed Donald. "What do you make out of him, Pedro?"
"It's a _saltimbanco_."
"What is that?"
"A man who goes about making people laugh."
"Oh!" from Adrian. "You mean a mountebank?"
"I think so."
"And this chap," ventured Billie, "isn't satisfied with making amonkey of himself, but carries a real one with him."
Pedro laughed. "That seems to be it."
"I'm sorry he killed the horse," said Donald. "We need him."
"Perhaps he didn't," suggested Adrian. "Suppose we ride over andsee."
Suiting the action to the word, the boys rode out into the open,much to the newcomer's surprise and consternation.
"Senors," he exclaimed, as he came running toward them, "I amsorry I had to hurt your horse; but I couldn't lose my brother."
"Your what?" asked Billie.
"My brother. My little brother. Could I, Ambrosio?" and he pattedthe ape on the cheek.
"What do you call him?" asked Donald.
"I call him Ambrosio because he is so sweet."
"Bah!" exclaimed Billie. "I called him Ab, but he ought to benamed Diabolo. But how about the horse?"
"I am afraid I have rendered him quite useless for the present,Senor. I may have broken his leg."
An examination of the fallen animal revealed the fact that whilethe leg was not splintered, it was so badly injured that theanimal was quite useless.
"Have you far to go, Senors?" queried the mountebank.
"Only as far as the Rosario viejo for the present," answeredAdrian. "After that----"
"After that," interrupted Billie, "we may not want to goanywhere."
The mountebank looked at Billie questioningly.
"That's what I mean," reiterated Billie. "We are going there tocapture a band of cutthroats, but we may have a fight."
The man made a grimace, which was intended for a smile.
"I understand. Can I be of any service?"
Donald eyed him suspiciously.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"You may have noticed how I stopped the runaway," he remarked.
"Very neatly."
"Sure," from Billie. "It was a short stop."
"I perceive that you are an American. I am also a fan."
"What!" from the three Americans.
"True. I am even worse. I formerly shot the pill in one of thebush leagues. I aspired to a place in the box of one of the majorleague clubs, but instead I joined the Madero revolution. I hadall the sport I wanted and finding my brother in this forsakenland, I joined him as a public entertainer. Shall we give you asample of our performance?"
"Not now," from Donald. "Let's go and round up this bunch ofrevolutionists first."
"But why?" queried the mountebank. "To-morrow they may be thegovernment."
The boys looked at each other with an expression that said asplainly as words: "True! We never thought of that."
"Now, I have a better plan," continued the mountebank. "Let's goand entertain the revolutionists. Let's be neutral."
"I'm afraid we are already belligerents," laughed Adrian. "Wehave had one brush with them."
The mountebank heaved a sigh.
"Of course, if you have declared war, we shall have to fight to afinish, unless," with a grin, "we can intrench."
"It is they who are intrenched," explained Billie. "They are atthe bottom of the old mine, although I don't know how they gotthere."
"So," laughed the mountebank. "Suppose we go and find out."
Arrived at the shaft house, for that is what the gable-roofedbuilding was, the boys and their new-found friend approached andlistened to the sound of voices which still arose to the top ofthe shaft.
Evidently considering themselves free and safe, the bandits werepreparing their evening meal, for it was now well on towardsunset. They were singing and joking as though they had not justlost half or two-thirds their number.
From a few remarks made now and then, it appeared that theyproposed on the following day to recruit the band up to itsformer strength.
"That is the thing we must prevent," declared Donald.
"A very easy thing," said the mountebank, "if we had enoughprovisions to remain here for twenty-four hours, or more."
"How so?" asked Billie.
"Why, they will doubtless send out two or three to do therecruiting. We can capture them as they leave the ruins."
Billie glanced at the man from under his broad-rimmed sombrero ashe asked: "How did you know they came out through the ruins?"
The mountebank smiled.
"Now, don't go to mistrusting me, young fellow, for I'm on thelevel. But I've been in this place before, and I know that theonly way to where your friends down there are camping is throughthe ruins."
"Have you ever been down there?"
"Yes. They are only about sixty feet below the ground, in achamber which was originally a gallery in the mine. The shaftover which this house is built is over two hundred feet deep."
"I'd like to explore it," remarked Adrian.
"Do you think you have the nerve?" and the stranger bent upon hima penetrating gaze.
Billie laughed softly.
"Say, stranger," he finally said. "I guess you never heard of theBroncho Rider Boys. We've got the nerve to do anything that anyother human being dare do."
"Then we'll get rid of these bandits in short notice," declaredthe mountebank emphatically. "You are just the chaps I have beenlooking for."
He leaned over the mouth of the shaft and gave a shrill whistle.
In an instant all was silent below.
Half a minute later he repeated the whistle thrice.
There was a clatter below of arms and accoutrements.
"Over behind those big cactus with you, quick," was the nextcommand. "If you insist on fighting these men later, you can.Now let's get rid of them."
For just a moment the boys hesitated, but there was something inthe man's manner that seemed to force obedience and they obeyed.
They were not a moment too soon, for they had no more thansecreted themselves than the back wall of the ruin flew open andthe men rode out. Of those who had been at the mouth of the shaftonly a few moments before, only the mountebank with his ape wasin sight.
"What is it?" asked one of the band, riding up to him.
"Guard the track at the summit. Let no train pass, even if youhave to tear up the track."
"By whose order?"
The mountebank made a mysterious sign with his left hand.
"_Bueno!_" from the horseman. "Close up the doors and care forthe wounded," and putting spurs to his horse, he led the banditsfrom the basin.
As soon as they were out of sight, the mountebank summoned theboys to the shaft house by a wave of his hand.
"Now," he said, "you'll have a chance to test your nerve, and wemust work rapidly to get where we wish to go before dark."
He took from a crude knapsack which he wore upon his shoulders acoil of cord about half the size of a lead pencil, but evidentlyof much strength. Then seizing the ape, he fastened one end ofthe cord to
the belt about the animal's body, and despite itsunwillingness to be thus treated began to lower it into theshaft.
Totally unable to account for his actions, the boys stoodspeechless, watching the operations.
After some minutes, the cord slackened.
"He's reached the bottom," was the information vouchsafed. Then amoment later: "Help me to pull him up, one of you."
Billie hastened to lend a hand and in a short time the head ofthe ape appeared above the edge of the shaft. In his hand he heldone end of a good-sized rope, which the mountebank took and tiedaround one of the stone pillars which supported the roof.
"Now, then," he said, "we are ready to descend into the old mine.Which one of you will go first?"
The boys looked at each other, but there was no reply untilDonald asked:
"Why should we go down at all?"
"Why," was the somewhat quizzical reply, "to show your nerve."
"Unless there is some good reason other than that, there areplenty of ways to show our nerve without lowering ourselves tothe bottom of an old mine."
"There is a good reason," was the reply.
"Then tell us. If it is good, there can be no objection."
"The object of this descent," said the stranger calmly, "is tosee if we cannot solve the mystery of the abandonment of themine."
"Have you ever been down?" asked Billie.
"Often."
"There is no foul gas at the bottom?"
"Not now, as you may see by the condition of Ambrosio, who hasbeen clear to the bottom."
"Then I am willing to be the first to descend; but first I mustknow more about you than I do."
"What difference does that make? You will have three friends herewith me. They are all armed and I can see they know how to usetheir weapons. I cannot possibly harm you. I will be the third todescend. I assure you that the descent and the ascent arecomparatively easy for athletic young chaps, as the sides of theshaft are very uneven. By the aid of this rope you can come upalmost as easily as you would climb a ladder. The adventure iswell worth your while."
"And you won't tell us who you are?"
"I have already told you. I am an American soldier of fortune. Myname, if that means anything to you, is Francis Strong, and Ihave assumed this character of a mountebank solely for thepurpose of going about the country without being molested. What Ihope to do, is of no interest to any one but myself."
It was a straightforward statement and the boys saw no reason todoubt its truthfulness.
"All right, then," exclaimed Billie. "Here goes!"
He grasped the rope and lowered himself over the side. It was asStrong had said and in a very few minutes he found himself at thebottom. He could see nothing except the dim light at the mouth ofthe shaft.
Giving the rope a vigorous shake, as had been agreed upon, he sawanother figure begin to descend, and in a short time Pedro stoodbeside him. Strong was next to descend, then came Ambrosio, andafter him Adrian and Donald in the order named--Donald havingdetermined to be the last, that he might be sure that everythingwas safe above ground.
"I should have given you this," was Strong's first remark uponalighting at Billie's side, and he drew from his pocket anelectric torch. "But it slipped my mind."
"We all have them in our trunk in the City of Mexico," repliedBillie, "but I doubt if either of us has one with him."
"This is sufficient, for I shall light some torches I haveprepared as soon as we are ready for our work."
When Donald had descended, Strong led the way through a lateralabout thirty or forty feet, at the end of which another verticalshaft had been sunk. Around the mouth of this Strong had set anumber of torches, which he now proceeded to light. By theirglare it was possible to see part way down the hole.
"The thing I hope to find," explained Strong, "is at the bottomof that hole, if it exists at all."
"What is that?" asked Billie.
"I think I can best answer your question," was the reply, "byreading you a translation of a paper which is said to have beenfound in the shaft above, where the bandits have made theirrendezvous. How it came into my possession, matters not. Ibelieve there are now enough of us here to prove or disprove itstruthfulness, unless some one has been here before us."
Seating himself on a jutting boulder, Strong took from hispocket a paper, which he read as follows under the flickeringtorchlight:
"Being about to leave this world, I desire to obtain forgiveness for the great and only crime of my life, hence this confession.
"There were five of us. Names do not matter. They were my fellow workmen. We had been entrusted with the output of the Rosario for the year and had promised to guard it with our lives. We heard the soldiers of Maximilian coming. We were not enough to withstand them. We determined to hide the treasure in the western shaft. We carried it to the edge and threw it in. My four companions went down to cover it over with dirt, which I brought from the other shaft and gave them, shovel by shovel. A mad idea seized me. If they were dead, no one but I would know the hiding place of the treasure. I would kill them; but how? I glanced about. Great pieces of rock were on every hand. Without stopping to consider the foulness of the deed I rolled a huge piece to the mouth of the shaft and pushed it in. There was a cry of terror and I heard a voice call out to know what had happened. I said a piece of rock had broken loose and asked what damage it had done. Only one replied. The others had been stricken down. Madly I pushed over another rock and then another and still another. Then there was silence and I fled. The soldiers found me unconscious at the bottom of the shaft. Ere I became conscious, Maximilian was no more. When I returned hither, the mine had been abandoned. Here I have lived for years alone with my misery. Now I die. May God forgive me.
JOSE RODRIGUEZ.