CHAPTER XII.

NODDY SCHEMES WITH MEXICANS.

The boys crashed through the bushes and under the low branches of trees in the direction of the professor's voice. They could hear him more plainly now.

"Help! Help! Come quick!" the naturalist cried.

The sight that met the boys' eyes when they came out into a little clearing of the forest was at once calculated to amuse and alarm them. They saw the professor clinging to the tail of a mountain lion, the beast being suspended over a low tree-limb, with the naturalist hanging on one side of the branch and the animal on the other, the brute in the air and the professor on the ground.

The infuriated beast was struggling and wiggling to get free from the grip the professor had of its tail. It snarled and growled, now and then giving voice to a fierce roar, and endeavoring to swing far enough back to bite or claw the naturalist.

As for Professor Snodgrass, he was clinging to the tail with both hands for dear life, and trying to keep as far as possible away from the dangerous teeth and claws of the lion.

"Let go!" yelled Jerry.

"I dare not!" shouted the professor. "If I do the brute will fall to the ground and eat me up. I can't let go, and I can't hold on much longer. Hurry up, boys, and do something!"

"How did you get that way?" asked Bob.

"I'll--tell--you--later!" panted the poor professor, as he was swung clear from the ground by a particularly energetic movement of the beast. "Hurry! Hurry! The tail is slipping through my fingers!"

In fact, this seemed to be the case, and the beast was now nearer the ground, while the length of tail the naturalist grasped was lessened.

The big cat-like creature suddenly began swinging to and fro, like a pendulum. At each swing it came closer and closer to the professor. All the while it was spitting and snarling in a rage. Suddenly the professor gave a yell louder than any he had uttered.

"Ouch! He bit me that time!" he cried. "Hurry, boys!"

The lads saw that the situation now had more of seriousness than humor in it. Jerry crept up close and, with cocked rifle, waited for a chance to fire at the beast without hitting the professor.

At that instant the lion made a strong, backward swing, and its claws caught in the professor's trousers. The beast tried to sink its teeth in the naturalist's legs, but with a quick movement the professor himself jumped back, and, with his own momentum and that of the lion to aid him, he swung in a complete circle around the limb of the tree, the lion going with him, so their positions were exactly reversed.

"Steady now! I have him!" called Jerry.

The change in the positions of man and beast had given the boy the very opportunity he wanted. The animal was now nearest to him. Quickly raising the rifle, Jerry sent a bullet into the brute's head, following it up with two others. The lion, with a last wild struggle to free itself, dangled limply from the tree-limb, from which it was still suspended by the professor's hold on its tail.

Seeing that his enemy was dead, and could do him no harm, the naturalist let go his grip and the big cat fell in a heap on the ground.

"Once more you boys have saved my life," said the collector, as he mopped his brow, for his exertions in trying to keep free from the beast had not been easy.

"Are you bit much?" asked Ned.

"Nothing more than scratches," was the reply.

"How in the world did you ever get in such a scrape?" asked Jerry.

"I'll tell you how it was," answered the professor. "You see, I was busy collecting bugs and small reptiles, going from tree to tree. When I came to this one I saw what I thought was a small, yellow snake. I believed I had a fine prize.

"I approached without making a sound, and when I was near enough I made a grab for what I imagined was the snake. Instead, it turned out to be the tail of the mountain lion, which dangled from the limb, on which the beast was crouched. All at once there was a terrible commotion."

"I would say there was!" interrupted Ned. "We heard it over where we were."

"Yes, of course," resumed the professor. "Well, as soon as I got the tail in my hands I found I had made a mistake. It was then too late to let go, so the only thing to do was to hold on. It was rather a peculiar position to be in."

"It certainly was," said Jerry, with a laugh.

"Yes, of course. Well, seeing that the only thing to do was to keep my grip, I kept it and yelled for help. I guess the lion was as badly scared as I was first, when it felt me grab its tail. After it found I wasn't going to let go it got mad, I guess."

"It acted so, at any rate," put in Bob.

"Yes, of course," went on the professor. "Well, anyhow, I knew if I did let go I would be clawed to pieces, so there I hung, like the man on the tail of the mad bull, not daring to let go. Then you came, and you know the rest."

"Are you sure you're not hurt?" asked Ned.

"Sure," was the reply. "I was too lively for the lion. I'm sorry the tail didn't turn out to be a snake, though, for if it had been I'm sure it would have been a rare specimen."

Leaving the dead body of the animal where it had fallen, the travelers went back to their auto. The camp utensils were packed away, and soon, with Ned at the steering wheel, the machine was running off the miles that separated the adventurers from the hidden city they hoped to find.

They traveled until nearly nightfall, and came to no village or settlement. It began to look as if they would have to camp in the open, when, just as darkness was approaching, they came to a small adobe hut in the midst of a sugar-cane plantation.

"Maybe we can stop here overnight," said Jerry.

An aged Mexican and his wife came to the door of the cabin to see the strange fire-wagon pass. Speaking to them in Spanish, the professor asked if he and his companions could get beds for the night. At first the man seemed to hesitate, but the rattling of a few coins in Bob's pockets soon changed his mind, and he bade the travelers enter.

The woman quickly got a fairly good meal, and then, after sitting about for an hour or so and talking over the events of the day, the travelers sought their beds. They found themselves in one apartment, containing two small, cane couches, neither one hardly big enough for a single occupant.

"However, it's better than sleeping out of doors, where the mosquitoes can carry you away," said Ned.

Contrary to their expectations, the travelers slept good, the only trouble being the fleas, which were particularly numerous. But by this time they had become somewhat used to this Mexican pest.

While the professor and the boys were taking a well-earned rest, quite a different scene was being enacted by Noddy Nixon and his companions.

Following a half-formed plan he had in mind, Noddy had hung on the trail of the Motor Boys. He had followed them from the inn where they last stopped, and now he was camped out, with his followers, about five miles from the adobe hut. But Jerry and his friends did not know this.

"Isn't it pretty near time you told us what you are going to do, Noddy?" asked Jack Pender, as he piled some wood on the camp-fire.

"I'll tell you," spoke Noddy. "We're going to follow them until they locate their mine, and then we're going to stake a claim right near theirs. They're not going to get all the gold or silver in this country the way they did in Arizona."

"Are you sure it's a mine they're after?" asked Bilette, puffing at his cigarette.

"Of course," replied Noddy. "What else could it be? Didn't you hear that's what they came for?"

"I don't know," went on the slick Mexican. "I only asked for information. If it's a mine they're after we'll need a bigger force than we have to run things."

"Where can we get help?" asked Noddy.

"I'll show you," replied Vasco. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly.

An instant later half a dozen Mexicans stepped from the shadow of the trees and stood in a line, in the glare of the fire.

"Well, you didn't lose any time over it," observed Noddy. "Where did they come from, and who are they?" and the bully looked a little uneasy.

"They came from the greenwood," replied Vasco Bilette, "for the forest is their home. And they are friends of mine, so now both your questions are answered."

"If they're friends of yours I s'pose it's all right," went on Noddy.

"Well, rather!" drawled Vasco, lighting another cigarette from the stump of his last one.

"Will they help us?" went on Noddy.

Bilette addressed something in Spanish to his friends who had so mysteriously appeared.

"_Si, señor_," they exclaimed as one man, bowing to Noddy.

"Queer you happened to have 'em on hand," said Noddy, accepting the answer to his question, for he had learned a little Spanish, and knew that "si" meant yes.

"I anticipated we might need them," said Bilette. "So I told them to be on hand and in waiting to-night. They are very prompt."

"Then we'll join forces with them and show Jerry Hopkins and his crowd that he can't have everything his own way," growled Noddy. "Come on, we'll follow them now and see what they are doing," and Noddy seemed ready to start off.

"Not to-night; it's time to turn in," objected Bilette. "We'll begin early in the morning."

He spoke once more to the six men, who disappeared into the forest as quietly as they had come. Then Bilette, wrapping himself up in his cloak, went to sleep.

The others followed his example, and soon the camp was quiet. Noddy now had his plans in working order, and he thought, with satisfaction, of the revenge he would have.