CHAPTER IX.
FIGURING IT ALL OUT.
"Just hold your horses a bit, Tubby; you're going so fast I'm afraidyou'll break your neck," Rob told the fat boy. "Why, nobody ever saw youhalf so excited in all your life as you are now."
"Well, who wouldn't be, when everything is rooting for us to make thatlovely trip down to the land of sunshine, where there is something doingevery minute of the time right now?" Tubby declared. "And all I hope is,first, that this rumor about the school roof taking wings and blowingaway doesn't turn out to be a fizzle; and, second, that you will make upyour mind to go along with me, Rob. Because I'm banking on the restfalling all over themselves to sneeze if only you take snuff. Thatright, fellers?"
"You've got it down pretty pat, Tubby," chuckled Merritt.
"Yes," added Andy, "you know mighty well that if Rob and you say 'go,'the rest of us couldn't be held back with wild horses. That is, alwaysproviding our folks give us permission, and I think they will when theyknow how much the trip means to your poor uncle."
"There, Rob, see that?" cried Tubby eagerly. "What's doing now?"
"Before I say a word one way or the other," Rob told him, "there areheaps of questions I want answered. Perhaps you can tell us a part ofthe story; but we'd have to see Uncle Mark, and hear the rest. Get that,Tubby?"
"Sure I do, Rob, and you'll find me only too willing to accommodate allI can. Fire away, now, and I'll try and put you wise to the facts," andthe fat boy threw himself into Rob's easy-chair, elevating one leg overan arm, and assuming the air of a witness in the box ready to becross-questioned by the lawyer on the other side.
"Tell us something more about your uncle first of all," said Rob, justas if he might have a long list of questions on a slip of paper, whichhe meant to put to the other.
"About his life, do you mean, or just that part of it connected withMexico?" demanded Tubby.
"We haven't the time to stand for it all," observed Rob; "because such awonderful man as your uncle must have run across more queer things thanwe read about in Baron Munchausen or the Arabian Nights, he's been sucha great traveler and explorer. So just strike in where he made up hismind to settle down on a Mexican ranch, and sent to England to import afine breed of cattle to improve the native stock. That was how long ago,Tubby?"
"From what he told me I guess it might have been six or seven yearsback; but that doesn't matter so very much. He bought a big tract ofgood land, and put up his ranch buildings; after which he got his stocktogether and started raising the best brand of cattle ever known inNorthern Mexico, shipping his beef, on the hoof, of course, over theborder to the United States market."
"That was when Diaz was president of Mexico," Rob remarked. "Now, howdid your uncle get along with the Government at that time? I want toknow, because it's going to cut a big figure with us when we get downthere--if we ever do."
"Why, to tell you the truth, I don't believe Uncle Mark cared much forPresident Diaz, because he had lots of trouble at times with the peoplein power. And later on, when Madero went into Mexico to turn thingsupside-down, I guess uncle helped him a whole lot. Anyway, I've heardhim say he admired Madero a heap, and that they were good friends. Why,after Diaz lit out for Spain, Uncle Mark was so dead sure things wouldrun smooth down there that he left his ranch in charge of a man hebelieved he could trust, and started on the trip to Africa that he'dbeen staving off for ever so long. And he says he must have just missedthe news that Madero had been killed, and that another president was inthe chair. If he'd known that, he would never have made his dive intothe heart of Africa, but hurried back home."
"Then he looks on Huerta as anything but a friend; is that it?" askedRob.
"He's afraid the present Government is following along the same pathsDiaz made, and that everybody who was hand in glove with Madero mustcome under the ban," Tubby went on to say with considerable importance,as though he might be coining some of these phrases himself, when,truth to tell, he only repeated them, parrot-like, after his uncle.
"Now, that's something we would have to know," said Rob. "But tell us,has your uncle had any word from his ranch since he came back?"
"Not a whisper," Tubby assured him. "You see, things are in such a whirldown over the border right now that letters never get to theirdestinations; and as for a wire message being delivered, it isn'tpossible in a year."
"Then Uncle Mark doesn't know whether he has any cattle left on hisranch to-day, or if it's just a howling wilderness, with every beef runoff, and the buildings burned to the ground. Is that the way it stands,Tubby?"
"Er--yes, I suppose it is," admitted the fat scout slowly. "And you see,it's to find out the truth, for one thing, that he wants somebody to godown there and cross over into Mexico. Then, if everything is lovely andthe goose hangs high, that messenger will be given authority to disposeof every head of cattle so as to fetch as big a fistful of money backhere as he can."
Rob shook his head, while the other three who were eagerly watching hisface looked keenly disappointed. The signs seemed to point to anadverse decision in the matter by the patrol leader.
"It appears to be even worse than what I called it first--a wild goosechase," Rob presently pursued. "For months and months now there havebeen all kinds of fighting around that section of country, if half wesee in the papers is true: first with the Government forces ahead, andthen the rebels clearing out everything, so that a hostile army couldn'tlive off the land. It was just as Sheridan was ordered to do in theValley of the Shenandoah, you remember. If the army of Huerta didn'tcarry off your uncle's prize stock, you can make sure the hungry rabbleof that rebel general, Villa, must have gobbled it up long ago."
"Oh! but there is where uncle says he has his strongest hold!" exclaimedTubby, his round face lighting up again with new hope.
"I'm glad to hear he's got a string out somewhere, then," Rob remarked."Suppose you tell us what you mean by that?"
"Why, he knows General Villa real well," Tubby went on. "Fact is, he methim some years ago when he was only a bandit, fighting against the DiazGovernment, because they'd gone and set a price on his head. It's toolong a story to tell you now, Rob, but the fact is that my uncle, whoused to be a pretty fine surgeon once on a time before he got thisexploring bee in his head, saved the life of Villa!"
"He did, eh?" exclaimed the patrol leader, apparently beginning to takenew interest in the matter. "That sounds as though there might be a slimchance for those herds to be left alone. Go on and tell us some more,Tubby."
"Villa was badly hurt, and uncle took him to his house and nursed himback to life again, knowing who he was all the while; because, as I saidbefore, uncle didn't have any too much love for the party that was inpower just then. And Villa told him he would never forget what uncle haddone for him; that if he could do him a favor any time all uncle had todo was to speak. So that is what he's hoping will turn out in his favor;that General Villa, remembering how he was treated so well at the ranch,would put a guard over the place and keep his men from raiding it, underthe belief that uncle must return home before long. Oh, Uncle Mark isbuilding big hopes on the gratitude of the man whose life he saved longago!"
"I must say it does look some hopeful," Rob mused, as though trying toconvince himself along those lines; for a trip to the South did lookmighty alluring to him, if only he could believe it was not a foolisherrand that took them to the sorely troubled land of the Montezumas.
"And I forgot to tell you this," Tubby continued breathlessly. "Just asyou read so often in stories of the old-time days, the bandit Villa gavemy uncle a queer ring which he wears all the time, and told him that ifthat ring was ever brought to him he would go far out of his way to helpthe person who fetched it!"
When Tubby burst out with this new bombardment, Rob threw up his handsas if he must capitulate on the spot.
"That seems to clinch matters like a nail driven through a board,Tubby," he went on to say.
"Oh! then you mean you'll go; is that it, Rob?" exclaimed the fat boy
,scrambling out of the easy-chair, and landing on his feet with his shortlegs spread out as though they were a letter A.
Rob smiled.
"It's too soon to settle the thing like that, Tubby; but I want to tellyou that after hearing all you've had to say, I must admit there's achance of my falling in with your scheme. It's a glorious outlook so faras the trip goes. The trouble will be to get in touch with General Villawith that country fairly swarming with guerillas and bandits of allkinds, not to speak of the rebels themselves."
"What will you do about it, Rob?" pleaded Tubby. "Because you know timeis going to count for a whole lot with us. Just as soon as we know forsure that there will not be any school till long after Christmas, weought to be starting. It's going to take some days to get down there,and across the Rio Grande."
"Well, first, you must take us all to see your uncle so he can give usmore information. We shall need it all, depend on that," Rob told him,laying one finger on the palm of his left hand as he checked things off."Then I want to talk it all over with dad, though somehow I don't seemto fear any serious opposition from that quarter, because he's so goodto me, and has such a lot of faith in my being able to come out of anyscrape right-side up. Last of all, I mean to put it up to ourscout-master, Mr. Alec Sands, and get his advice."
Hampton Troop of Boy Scouts now had a regular scout master, as the rulesof the organization demanded. He was a bright young man of abouttwenty-five, who, while not very well acquainted with the secrets of theBig Outdoors, as were some of the scouts, did know boys from the groundup; and he was deeply interested in everything that went for thebetterment of the rising generation. Some time before, Rob had receivedhis certificate from Headquarters in New York City, and was qualified toserve as assistant scout master in the absence of the real leader of thetroop; for only a first-class scout may fill this position, and thenonly after he has been endorsed by the scout commissioner of thedistrict, as well as the local council.
"Well," said Tubby, scratching his head dubiously, "I only hope, then,that our Mr. Sands don't put the kibosh on the whole fine game by sayingthere's too big a risk about it for us to undertake. I don't see whythat should be, when every day you read about scouts doing all sorts ofwonderful things,--rescuing folks from burning buildings, stoppingrunaway horses at the risk of their lives, and such brave deeds thatget them medals from Headquarters. This means a whole lot to my uncle,and to my folks; for whatever he owns will come to us if he should die;and let me say this right now--if the rest of you back out, TubbyHopkins will make the try all by himself. You hear me talking, don'tyou?"
"That sounds pretty strong, Tubby," remarked Rob, smiling, yet in secretadmiring the undaunted spirit that caused the stout boy to make thispositive declaration; "but suppose you take us right now to see youruncle; that may settle it once and for all!"
Boy Scouts Under Fire in Mexico Page 9