The Broncho Rider Boys with the Texas Rangers Part 34

Then an explanation came to him.

"It isn't a circle!" he exclaimed. "It's a loop and I would have gone straight across it if I had kept on the way I was going when I first struck it. There must be a bend in the river down here somewhere."

Billie's surmise was quite correct. It was a bend in the river, and in a few minutes more, pus.h.i.+ng straight through the chaparral, he came in sight of the water.

"Well!" declared the lad as he drew a deep breath, "I'm certainly glad to see you! And now to get to the other side."

He sprang down the bank in three long strides and peered out toward the American sh.o.r.e. It seemed a long way and the water was running at a good speed.

"What a fool I was not to stick to the broncho," he muttered. "If he couldn't walk, he could swim. If I was sure he was still there I'd go back and get him; but that's altogether unlikely. No sir, I've just got to swim it alone and the sooner the better."

He threw off his jacket and began to unbuckle his cartridge belt.

"If I could only find a log of some kind, it wouldn't be so bad; but I don't see any."

He took a few steps along the sh.o.r.e, peering into the darkness, as he rolled his belt about his six-shooter and deposited them in his hat.

Then he turned again to the water, and, throwing off his boots-which together with his jacket he tossed up on the bank, as if perchance he might come back for them on the morrow-he waded in.

He had reached deep water, and was just about to strike out for the opposite sh.o.r.e, when his ear caught the sound of oar-locks. He paused in the act of launching himself into the current, and listened attentively.

There was no mistaking the sound, and he waited anxiously to see what would appear.

He had not long to wait, for a couple of minutes later a batteau, very much like the one the rangers had captured the night before, came into sight, rowing slowly upstream. It contained three persons, two at the oars and the third standing in the bow of the boat, looking forward.

Billie sank himself into the water until nothing could be seen below his eyes. There was only one chance in fifty that he would escape detection, but he was in luck, and, as soon as the boat pa.s.sed him, he struck out for it with all his speed.

Good swimmer though he was, he would never have been able to catch the boat had the men been rowing with any speed; but they were evidently looking for something, and were going so slowly that it was no trick at all to swim up behind and seize the stern with both hands.

For several minutes after he had secured a hold he made no move, being content to let the boat tow him along; but, after a few minutes, he began silently to use his feet and legs and to turn the boat's head toward the American sh.o.r.e.

At first the oarsmen did not notice what was happening. Then the one on the American side of the boat exclaimed:

"_Caramba, hombre!_ Don't pull so hard! Can't you see you are pulling us out of our course?"

"Yes," echoed the man in the bow, "don't get too near the American sh.o.r.e tonight. We may be watched."

"I'm not pulling hard," replied the other oarsman. "It's Emilio who is weak. If he would pull harder, there'd be no trouble!"

Hearing the controversy, Billie sank lower into the water, and let the boat hold its course. Then, after a couple of minutes, he again diverted the little craft, being more careful, however, to do it gradually.

Several times he performed the feat, until the boat was past the middle of the stream.

"I guess I'm near enough now," he thought to himself, "so I won't have any trouble," and was about to release his hold and let the boat go on her way, when the man at the bow called out sharply:

"Where are you going? Do you want the gringo patrol to get you?"

The words were spoken in a much louder tone, evidently, than had been intended, and must have been heard from the American sh.o.r.e, for immediately thereafter there came a challenge in English:

"Boat ahoy! Who goes there?"

There was no answer from the boat, only an answering tug from the oarsman, who pulled l.u.s.tily to turn his boat from sh.o.r.e, while Billie, using himself as a rudder, strove his best to keep the boat in an opposite direction. The result was that the boat kept straight ahead.

"Who goes there?" again came the challenge. "Answer, or I'll fire!" A threat which was carried out a moment later when no reply was forthcoming.

The patrol must have caught a glimpse of the boat, for the bullet whistled through the air close to it.

"_Caramba!_" shouted the man in the bow. "Why don't you pull?"

"We are pulling!" exclaimed the oarsmen, "but the evil one must have the boat in his grasp, Don Pablo! We can't turn it!"

"Don Pablo!" exclaimed Billie to himself, "so that's who it is!" And he struggled harder than ever to turn the boat toward the sh.o.r.e, while the patrol, evidently reinforced by two or three comrades, poured a sharp fusillade in the direction of the sound of the voices.

"The evil one, verdad!" exclaimed Don Pablo. "The evil one must have hold of you, Emilio. Pull!"

But, instead of pulling, Emilio dropped his oar and pitched forward into the boat, pierced by a rifle ball from the sh.o.r.e patrol, which now seemed to have the range of the boat.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE FIGHT IN MIDSTREAM.

As the bullets whizzed overhead and all about the boat, and as Billie saw the oarsman pitch forward, he had two thoughts in his mind-one to keep from being hit by the bullets, and the other to capture Don Pablo, whom he considered as the real leader of the gun runners.

It took some quick thinking to know what to do, but Billie was learning how to do that very thing.

Seizing the oar which had fallen from Emilio's hand, he dragged it out of the rowlocks, at the same time calling out with all his might:

"Cease firing!"

The command, given in excellent English, had its effect upon the soldiers on the sh.o.r.e. The firing ceased, and a voice called out:

"Who are you?"

"I'm a messenger from Americans who are in danger in Presidio del Norte," replied Billie; "but there are Mexicans in the boat. You have hit one of them, and I've captured the boat!"

"Then bring the boat ash.o.r.e," called the patrol.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"They won't let me!"

"I thought you said you had captured the boat!"