The Mission of Janice Day Part 39

"What more than we can _he_ do?" asked the lesser bandit.

"True. Your wisdom is of the ancients, Pietro. What say, _hombrecitos_?

shall we lend a.s.sistance to the so-beautiful senorita--the daughter of Senor B-Day?"

There seemed to be a growl of approval. "To San Cristoval, _mi general_," said one. "There may yet be pickings."

The leader turned immediately and with businesslike directness to Carlitos. "What has happened to the automobile?" he asked.

"Oh, Senor Gomez!" stuttered the driver. "She done bust."

"And you can't make on with her?"

"No, senor."

"She's more than cast a shoe, then?" laughed Dario Gomez. "So we must tackle horses to her, eh? 'Get a horse!' Horse power is surer than gasoline I have always believed."

"By goodness, yes!" groaned Carlitos Ortez.

Janice hastily climbed back beside the astounded Marty. He stared at her.

"Cricky!" he whispered. "Aren't you just the greatest girl that ever was, Janice? Wait till I tell the folks at home about this!"

Carlitos had a rope. He pa.s.sed it around the entire body of the car, and straps and singletrees appeared for three horses. Evidently some of the bandits' mounts had been seized while at work.

Just as the three excited horses, their riders plying the quirt, sprang forward to drag the stalled car, Carlitos uttered a startling yell.

"There is a third, _mi general_!" he shouted to Gomez. "The thief and a son-of-a-thief! he haf not paid me _mi dinero_!"

"What's that?" demanded Dario Gomez.

"Anothair pa.s.senger--by goodness, yes! He have escaped!" and he pointed to the chaparral.

"What's this?"

"I forget heem till this moment," stammered Carlitos. "He is likewise of _los Americanos_; but he is not a friend to these two," and he gestured to Janice and Marty. "He afraid when you appear, _mi general_. He run."

"Ha!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Gomez. "Perhaps he has cause for fear. We will find him."

He gave an order and ten of his men separated from the rest and began to encircle the patch of chaparral. The car was started again and, being but a light load for three horses, they went forward along the road at a gallop.

The b.u.mping and jouncing Janice and Marty endured now was much worse than that which had gone before. The car under its own power was bad enough; but with the half-wild horses dragging it, the occupants of the tonneau thought surely it would be shaken to pieces.

Carlitos clung to the steering wheel, yelling instructions that were not heeded. These reckless _vaqueros_ of the _pampas_ (they were not Chihuahua men; they did not p.r.o.nounce the _s_, and were therefore from the south) thought it rather good fun. But the rattle and banging of the automobile, like nothing so much as a tin-shop with a full crew working at high speed, urged the horses on and on.

"Believe me!" Marty managed to shout into his cousin's ear, "if I ever get out of this alive I never want even to _see_ an automobile again.

I'm glad you sold yours, Janice."

They struck into a better and smoother road after a while, and the journey was not so difficult. Janice wondered what had become of Tom Hotchkiss, and spoke of him to Marty.

"I hope they catch him and make him work for them. They tell me that these people have slaves down here just as though Abraham Lincoln had never lived," Marty declared. "You heard what Carlitos said about his grandfather.

"As long as we can't turn the fat chump over to the proper police, I hope he just gets his!" added the boy, with venom in his tone of voice.

"I hope the money he stole will never do him any good. But, poor dad!

he's comin' out of the little end of the horn, I'm afraid."

Janice, too, was troubled about Uncle Jason's affairs. They had seemed on the point of helping him by Hotchkiss' capture--and then had missed it.

However, hope was growing momentarily in the girl's heart that she was going to reach and rescue her own father. She had won over these wild men so easily to help her that it seemed there could really be nothing now to obstruct the way to the Alderdice Mine. They were already in the Companos District, they told her.

Dario Gomez sometimes rode beside the car and shouted bits of information to them. It was apparent that the chief was well versed in English--had probably lived and been educated in the United States. He was, after all, an anomaly in the company he was with. Janice wondered in what spirit he had become chief with such wild companions for his followers.

The haze-capped mountains seemed much nearer now and the road was almost continually on a grade--either ascending or descending. At dusk they came in sight of several groups of houses.

"San Cristoval," announced Dario Gomez. "Until we learn how matters stand, yonder we may not drag your tin Leezie," and he laughed. "You have had a ride, eh?"

"I never want another like it," growled Marty.

"But if I do not take them into the town, I get no pay," wailed Carlitos, suddenly realizing his situation. "That fat _hombre_--he escape. And these must ride into San Cristoval in the _tin Lizzie_ or I get no _dinero_. Don Abreguardo say it."

"Ha! Don Abreguardo is a shrewd _hombre_," said Gomez.

"Don't worry!" Marty exclaimed. "We'll pay you, and we'll walk the rest of the way. Won't we, Janice?"

"Of course," she agreed. "I--I shall be glad to walk--if I can," and she got stiffly out of the car.

"_Bueno!_ Now we depart," said Gomez, laughing. "We go seek my _compadres_ and the fat _hombre_ Carlitos tell me about. _Adios!_"

He wheeled his horse, waved his hand, and, with his troop clattering at his heels, rode swiftly away.

CHAPTER XXV

AN AMAZING MEETING

"Well," Marty observed, just as though he were awakening from a dream--and an unbelievable one at that--"I s'pose we might's well toddle along into town. You're a wonder, Janice. You certainly pulled us out of one big mess--didn't she, Carlitos?"

The Mexican grinned, pocketing the money and the paper they had signed.

"The senorita a fine la-dee, eh?" he said. "She make even the Senor Gomez dance when she whistle--by goodness, yes!"

Janice could not call up much of a smile. She was anxious to get into San Cristoval, and she was so wearied by the long ride in the automobile that she could scarcely hobble along, clinging to Marty's arm.

"Where shall we look for lodgings in the town, Carlitos?" she asked.

"You must know some hotel."

"The Golden Fan," the man said promptly. "It is as good as any. I leev you here to find horse. _Adios_, senorita; _adios_, senor."