CHAPTER XXIII.

BILLIE SOLVES A MYSTERY.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Billie, as his head came into contact with the door. "I wonder what----" and then he stopped and listened.

Overhead he could hear the sound of stamping feet and the sound of shots. After a couple of minutes there was silence, which was more ominous than the sound of fighting.

For a moment Billie's heart fairly stopped beating with fear for what might have happened to his companions. Had they been killed or simply overpowered? What was he to do?

Even while these thoughts flashed through his mind the silence was broken by voices, and above all the others he could hear that of Don Rafael, which he had now come to recognize.

"Bring them out into the light where I can get a good look at them," he ordered. "The gringo curs! We'll have a nice little shooting party at daylight that will make them an example for others who want to spy upon Mexican patriots!"

"Patriots!" thought Billie. "If they are patriots, I'm sorry for Mexico."

"Where is the other one?" he heard Don Rafael ask a minute later.

"These are the only two," was the reply.

"Where is your comrade?" he heard Don Rafael ask, and Billie's heart gave a great leap for joy as Donald's voice replied:

"Don't you wish you knew?"

"Answer," commanded Don Rafael.

To which Billie heard Adrian say: "You'll find out soon enough where he is!"

"_Caramba!_" almost shouted Don Rafael. "If you don't answer at once I'll shoot you now instead of waiting till daylight."

"Do," replied Adrian, "and it will make it just that much worse for you!"

Evidently Don Rafael must have been somewhat impressed by what Adrian said, for he did not shoot. Instead he commanded to bring more lights and search the place.

But there was nothing to be seen but the empty room, the scuffle having obliterated all signs of the trap door.

"Whose house is this?" Don Rafael at length asked.

"Pancho Villa's," replied one of the men.

"Villa's!" cried Don Rafael. "Villa's! May the saints protect us! Let us go at once!"

A minute later Billie heard the retreating footsteps overhead and a couple of minutes later all was again still.

"I wonder what there is about Villa to scare Don Rafael in that way," he thought. "The last I knew, he was trying to get Villa to join the revolution."

It was too big a problem for Billie, and so instead of bothering about it he began to figure how he was going to get out.

"If the door could open to let me in," he said aloud to himself, "it can open to let me out."

"You are right!" replied a voice in Spanish from somewhere out of the darkness.

To say that Billie was not startled by the voice would be rather a strong statement, for brave as he was, such a happening tended to send several creepy chills up his back. He had retained his hold upon his knife as he fell, and his clasp upon it tightened considerably as he asked with all the courage he could command:

"Who are you and how do you know?"

"I know because I fixed it to open. I will leave you to guess who I am."

In an instant it flashed into Billie's mind who it was that was speaking to him, and he replied with a good deal more assurance:

"There is but one person who could have made and used it! You are Pancho Villa."

"_Bueno!_" was the reply.

"Well then," asked Billie, "will you kindly show me how to get out?"

"Yes, if you will tell no one I am here."

"It's a bargain," said Billie.

A moment later there was a sound of a match being lighted and the cellar was illumined by a faint gleam of light, which grew larger as the light was applied to the wick of a candle. By this light Billie saw he was in a cellar the same size as the room above and that his companion was lying on a bed in one corner of the cellar.

"What's the matter?" asked Billie. "Are you sick?"

"I have been wounded," was the reply.

"When?"

"The night you boys visited me."

"By whom?"

"I am not sure, but I think it was Don Rafael Solis."

"That must have been the shot we heard as we were leaving that night!"

"Yes!"

"How are you now?"

"I was going to leave here tomorrow. I am afraid there is going to be an uprising against President Madero very soon."

"What!" asked Billie. "Didn't you know it had already broken out? Why, they are fighting all around here right now."

Villa sprang to his feet, entirely forgetful of the wound in his side.

"Do you mean to tell me," he said, "that a revolution has already begun?"

"Exactly!"

"Who started it?"

"Gen. Felix Diaz, they say. Up here, the garrison has joined the revolution. Gen. Sanchez was on his way to take command when the revolution broke out. He failed to reach here in time. He is now attacking the city with a thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry."

"Who is in command of the revolutionists?"

"I do not know for sure; but one of the chief actors is called Don Carlos, while Don Rafael seems to have a lot to say."

For several minutes Villa stood silent, turning the matter over in his mind and seemingly undecided as to the course he should pursue. Then he suddenly straightened himself and looked Billie squarely in the eye.

"The revolution is wrong," he said. "President Madero is the friend of the peon. I shall stick to him no matter what happens. Come, it is time I was acting."

He took a step up the stairs and by the light of the candle drew back a bolt and opened the trap door. Then he stood aside for Billie to pass.

Arriving in the room above they stopped and surveyed the wreck. The rail, with which the door had been battered in, was where it had fallen and confusion reigned.

"Where are you going?" asked Billie after a moment.

"To join Gen. Sanchez. Why?"

"Because something has got to be done between now and daylight to save my companions!"

"_Bueno!_" exclaimed Villa. "They shall be saved!"

"How?"

"I will explain later! No friend of Santiago shall suffer for trying to do me a kindness. And, besides," he added after a moment, "I owe Don Rafael one for this."

He placed his hand on his wound and a look of fierce determination passed over his face.

"How did it happen?" asked Billie, no longer able to restrain his curiosity.

"He tried to assassinate me and would have succeeded had I not had the trap door to hide me. I think my sudden disappearance must have frightened him. That is why he was frightened again tonight when he found he was in my home. He must think that the place is guarded by an evil spirit."

"It seems more like a good spirit to me," declared Billie, "but let us hasten to Gen. Sanchez! I cannot rest easy till my companions have been rescued."