CHAPTER XI.

A COUNCIL OF WAR.

Having secured the guard and bound him firmly to a tree, the boys approached the door through which Guadalupe had just been led captive.

"I never suspected it," said Adrian.

"Nor I," said Donald, "I thought sure it would be Billie. Where do you suppose they caught her?"

"I can't imagine. You don't suppose they have attacked the house, do you?"

"Hardly."

"Where do you suppose this door leads to?"

"There must be some sort of a cave back in these hills," and Donald left the door and began exploring the immediate neighborhood.

"By George!" he finally exclaimed, "I believe I've got it. You see these hills form a little ridge leading to the creek. Somewhere in here there is a cave which opens onto the creek, and these cutthroats have made some kind of an underground passage to the cave."

Donald's guess was a good one. The only thing wrong about it was the fact that the underground passage was not made by the men at present using it, but by others many years before--how long, no one knows.

"I believe you are right," said Adrian, "and, if you are, what is the matter with following this ridge until we find the other entrance?"

"That's just what I was going to suggest," was Donald's reply. "Come on!"

Suiting the action to the word, he ascended the hill, followed by Adrian.

Arrived at the top, the boys could see that they were some little distance from the creek and that the ridge upon which they stood was not continuous but broken and irregular. There were also two paths.

"Which of these paths had we better follow, Don?" asked Adrian.

Donald bent down and examined both carefully.

"I believe," he finally said, "that this one on the left has been the most used. Suppose we take this?"

They did so, and after a few minutes approached the place where the bodies of the two smugglers were lying.

"What's this?" exclaimed Donald, starting back as the two figures caught his eye.

Adrian made no reply, but stood staring in surprise at the unexpected sight. It was not a pleasant spectacle, and both the boys involuntarily turned away from the place.

Donald was the first to regain his composure. "Come," he said, "this is no time for squeamishness. Something serious has occurred, and we have been in too many serious scrapes to falter now! Let's see what has happened."

They approached closer and examined the bodies.

"They have been killed by some wild beast," declared Adrian. "They look just like sheep that have been killed by wolves."

"Yes," replied Donald, "or by dogs."

"Why do you say dogs, Don?"

"I just have an idea; that's all."

Adrian wrinkled his brow. Then a smile of intelligence passed over his face.

"I see," he exclaimed. "I have the same idea--Tanto!"

"Exactly," replied Don. "But they have captured Guadalupe in spite of the dog."

"By George, Don, you've hit it exactly! But where is the dog now? He must have escaped, or we should see his body here."

"True," replied Don. "But why should he run away? You'd think a dog which could do such a thing would stick to his mistress no matter what happened."

"Sure you would. There's a mystery here we must unravel. Where do you suppose Tanto is?"

As though in response to the question, there was a sharp bark from the thicket, and the next moment Tanto sprang up onto the mound and attacked one of the lifeless bodies.

Both the boys turned at the unexpected arrival, only to confront Don Antonio and an officer of the rurales, who clambered up beside the boys.

"What is the meaning of all this?" demanded the officer, gazing first at the boys and then at the dog and his victims.

"You know as much about it as we," replied Adrian; "but anyone can guess what has happened," and he proceeded to tell the officer about seeing Guadalupe taken into captivity by the smugglers and the finding of the bodies, while Don Antonio called Tanto away and ordered the peons who had followed him to cover the bodies with branches until they could be properly cared for.

"Well," exclaimed the captain, for so the officer proved to be, "we have evidently run to earth a desperate band; but I am not sure whether they are simply smugglers or revolutionists."

"The presence of Don Rafael leads me to believe they are the latter," said Don Antonio.

"We shall very soon find out," declared the captain. "My men will be here shortly, and we will force the door to the cave and run them out and capture them."

"How?" queried Donald.

"Very simply! I will station a part of my men in front of the cave. Then I will force the rear door! If they try to escape by boat, they will be either captured or shot. If they turn and show fight, we will be in sufficient force to overpower them."

"And, while you are doing this, what do you think will happen to our friend and to Don Antonio's niece?"

"Yes," echoed Don Antonio, "we must remember Guadalupe! We can do nothing until she is rescued!"

The captain removed his sombrero and scratched his head.

"I hadn't thought of that," he finally said.

"That is where Don Rafael is the smartest," said Adrian. "That is why he was trying to capture Pedro."

"What would you suggest?" asked Don Antonio, who had come to have a wholesome respect for the opinions of the American boys.

"I haven't figured it out yet," replied Adrian. "Have you thought of anything, Don?"

"Yes; I have thought of a number of things, but none that seems to meet the requirements."

"How would it do to try and get into communication with Don Rafael?" suggested Adrian.

"Not a bad idea at all," replied Donald; "but--hello! what's the dog found?" he suddenly asked, as Tanto, with nose to the ground, began to wag his tail and utter a joyous whine.

The exclamation at once called the attention of the four to the little grated window, through which Guadalupe was looking when seized by the bandits, and Donald threw himself down beside the dog and peered into the space below.

"What do you see?" asked Adrian.

"Three figures," whispered Donald, "but I can't make out who they are. I wish we could pull out these iron bars!"

He seized the grating and pulled with all his might, but the bars refused to yield.

"If we only had a crowbar!" he exclaimed.

"Beat them down," came a voice from below.

Donald started back in surprise for just a moment, then put his face close to the bars and whispered back:

"What did you say?"

"Beat the bars down! They are only held in their place by a frame which must be rotten."

Donald repeated the instructions to the others.

"We haven't anything to beat them in with," replied Adrian. "Who is it talking--Billie?"

"I don't know who it is," replied Donald. "Sounds like a woman's voice. Can't somebody find a big stone?"

"Plenty," said Don Antonio. "Here, _hombres_," to the peons, "bring one of those big stones yonder."

The men hastened to obey, and, with the stone for a sledge hammer, Donald quickly knocked out the iron bars, which fell noisily to the floor below.

The opening thus made enabled him to get his head in sufficiently to have seen the interior of the room, had it not been that he shut off his own light; but it was not necessary for him to see what was going on, for this time Billie was out of bed and talking to him.

"Is that you, Ad?" he asked.

"No, it's Don. How are you, Billie? All right?"

"All except a little weakness in my legs and a bit of dizziness in my head."

"Who is with you?"

"Guadalupe and Santiago."

"Santiago who?"

"I don't know his other name, but he's all right. He's looking out for us."

"Are you a prisoner?"

"Sure. What do you suppose I'm doing here--taking a vacation?"

Donald could not help laughing at Billie's characteristic reply, in spite of the seriousness of the situation, as he turned from the window to repeat his conversation to his companions.

"What had we better do?" he finally asked.

"Is your friend armed?" asked the captain.

Donald put the question to Billie and received a negative reply.

"Suppose you hand him your rifle and then find out just how things are in the room below."

"Here, Billie," called Don, "you take my Marlin and defend yourself to the last. How are things fixed down there?"

"Santiago can tell you better than I," was the response. Whereupon Santiago explained to Donald the exact condition in the cave.

It appears that when the men who had captured Guadalupe took her before Don Rafael, he was filled with joy, and ordered that she should be kept with the greatest care.

"She will prove another and most valuable hostage," he declared, and at once ordered her locked up in the same cell with Billie, which was the only place of its kind in the cave. When Santiago objected, he ordered him locked up also.

"And here we are," explained Santiago. "There is but one door into the cell, and that very narrow, so now that we have two weapons, for I still have my revolver, we can prevent anyone from coming in. The only way they could get us out is to starve us out, which, of course, is impossible now that you are here."

The information was received with great thankfulness by the rescuing party. In his attempt to make the escape of his prisoners impossible Don Rafael had put them in the one spot where, under the changed conditions, they were comparatively, if not perfectly, safe.

Very briefly Don whispered the proposed plan of attack to those within the cave, closing with an injunction to Billie to be on the alert and to make every shot count if the smugglers should attempt to force the entrance.

"And here's something to keep up your courage," he added, throwing into the cell the luncheon which had been given him when he left the Hacienda del Rio that morning. "You see, I remembered your failing."

While this conversation had been going on, the rurales to the number of half a hundred, guided by Pedro, had arrived, and arrangements were at once perfected for an attack upon the smugglers' stronghold.