CHAPTER XVII

A STARTLING CRY

It seemed to Jo Ann that years passed before her horse came to a stop. She drew a quick breath of relief, then turned about quickly to see if Florence were safe.

“Thank goodness!” she ejaculated as she saw that Florence’s horse, though still slipping, was over the worst of the incline, and that Florence was hanging on pluckily.

“O—oh, José!” Jo Ann ejaculated. “This is terrible!”

“_Sí, sí_,” José agreed, watching Florence anxiously.

Shortly after Florence’s horse had come to a safe halt, she called out between gasps, “José—are there—any more—places—this bad?”

“No, señorita. This is the worst.”

In spite of the fact that their horses were getting tired they urged them on, as darkness was beginning to settle down over the mountains.

“I thought surely we’d have caught up with Carlitos and that man by this time,” thought Jo Ann. “The poor child must be nearly dead, walking so fast. I’m tired, and we’ve been riding all the way.”

When she saw how swiftly the shadows were deepening, she wondered how they would ever be able to follow the trail from now on. But they must.

“If that mean boss ever gets his hands on Carlitos, that’ll be the last we’ll ever see of him,” she thought. “That boss wants to keep the mine, and he won’t stop at anything to have his way.”

After they had ridden for about an hour, the darkness grew so thick that it was almost impenetrable.

Jo Ann called back in a low anxious voice to Florence, “I can’t see a thing—it’s so black. I’m glad, though, the trail’s not so dangerous along here. It must be almost time for the moon to be up.”

“I’m sure it is,” Florence answered, then called to José, “Isn’t it time for the moon to come up?”

“_Sí_, señorita, but I have much fear there will be no moon tonight. I think there will be a storm.”

Even as he was speaking the girls saw a flash of lightning and heard the distant rumbling of thunder. A few moments later great drops of rain began to pelt into their faces as a gust of wind blew against them. With almost incredible swiftness the storm broke in all its fury. Blinding flashes of lightning darted in every direction, deafening rolls of thunder echoed and re-echoed over the mountains.

Never had Jo Ann heard such thunder—it growled and raged like some horrible monster. The rain began sweeping down in torrents, lashing them furiously.

In a brilliant flash of lightning Jo Ann was horrified to see streams of water rushing down the mountain side carrying stones and debris. She realized at once that they were in grave danger.

The next moment José was beside her. Without a word he caught her horse’s bridle and began leading him over the treacherous, slippery trail.

“Is Florence coming——” she began, but her words were drowned by the storm.

In a few more moments José turned off the trail and started leading the horse almost straight up the rocky mountain side.

“What—where are you going?” Jo Ann gasped, unheard.

When her horse had climbed a little farther, lightning illuminated the darkness enough to show her an overhanging ledge of rock jutting out just ahead of them.

Instantly she grasped José’s plan. Here was a shelter—a refuge from the storm!

As soon as he had led her up under the cliff she sprang off her horse, crying, “Get Florence! Hurry!”

“_Sí, sí_,” he nodded.

With that José was off again down the trail. After what seemed to Jo Ann an endless time, he reappeared leading Florence’s horse and his own.

The moment Florence leaped off her horse Jo Ann caught her in a warm embrace.

“Oh, Florence, I’m so thankful you’re safe!”

“And I’m thankful we’re all safe.”

“If only we had Carlitos here with us, too! Oh, Florence, where do you suppose he is now? He might get washed off the trail if that man forces him on in this storm.”

“I believe that kidnaper’ll do exactly what José is doing—seek refuge till the storm checks,” Florence comforted.

“I hope so. He and Carlitos might be under just such a rocky ledge as this right now. What puzzles me is how they could’ve got this far without our overtaking them.”

As soon as José had tied the horses to some scrubby bushes he hurried over to Florence’s side and shouted, “I go now to look for Carlitos. We are getting near the mine, and I must find him.”

“But, José, the storm is terrible. Wait a little while.”

After the rain had checked a little, José turned to Florence and said, “Wait for me here, _sabe_? I go now.” With that he started off and disappeared in the darkness once more.

“Oh, if he can just find Carlitos!” Jo Ann said wistfully.

She drew back hastily against the rocky wall in an effort to escape a sudden gust of rain, as did Florence.

“This isn’t as good a shelter as I thought,” Florence gasped. “The wind—must be changing—to another direction. It’s cold, too.”

“Yes, it is. Let’s move over farther this way.”

“All right.”

Keeping close to the wall they made their way farther on around a sharp projecting rock, which protected them a little better.

After they had stood there several minutes, an unusually brilliant lightning flash lighted the surrounding blackness long enough for them to see that back to their right was what appeared to be the opening of a cave.

“If that’s a cave back there and we can get in it, we’ll be entirely out of the rain,” Jo Ann told herself as she wiped her rain-drenched face on her sleeve.

When at last the thunder’s reverberations were beginning to die away, she leaned over closer to Florence and said, “Did you see that cave-like opening back there on your right?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go on back and see if it is a cave.”

“No—no. There might be a bear—or some other animal in it.”

“That’s right! I didn’t think of that.”

In a sudden lull in the rain and thunder just then a wailing sound floated to them.

Both girls uttered little gasps of fright.

That was the cry of a human being! The same thought struck them—could that be Carlitos?

Jo Ann leaned over and whispered excitedly in Florence’s ear, “That sounds like Carlitos’ voice. Do you think——?” She halted to listen to the wailing notes again. “I believe that is Carlitos! It’s a boy’s voice!”

“You’re right—it is. There probably wouldn’t be any other child up here in this wild place on a night like this.”

“Let’s slip up closer and see if we can tell whether it’s Carlitos. If it is, we’ve got to get him.”

“But that man! We couldn’t get Carlitos away from him without José to help us.”

Jo Ann caught Florence’s hand in hers. “Come on. Let’s slip on up closer and see if we can find out for sure if it’s Carlitos.”

Together they stealthily crept along the wall till they could see two figures crouched about a small fire on the floor of the cave.

Jo Ann squeezed Florence’s hand tightly to indicate to her that she had recognized Carlitos. Quickly Florence returned the pressure, then began pulling her backwards.

Jo Ann obediently turned, and silently the two girls retraced their steps out of hearing distance.

“We’ve got to get Carlitos away from that man right away,” Jo Ann whispered excitedly.

“But José isn’t here to——”

“I’m afraid to wait for him. That man might leave with Carlitos before he gets back. I’m going to get the rope and pistol out of the saddle-bag, and we can capture that man ourselves.”

“Oh, but, Jo!” Florence’s voice was filled with horror.

“All you’ll have to do’ll be to hold the gun on him while I tie him.”

“Oh, Jo! Let’s wait for José.”

“No. You wait here while I get the things.”

Without waiting to hear Florence’s whispered protest, she hurried back to the horses and returned with the pistol and rope.

As she handed Florence the pistol she whispered, “Don’t get so excited you forget to throw off the safety. As soon as I fix my rope, we’ll be ready.”

She hastily tied a slipknot in the rope, then ordered, “Come on. Stay right behind me and hold that gun on the man. We’ll wait till it thunders again, so he won’t hear us.”

Slowly and cautiously they slipped on toward the cave. Jo Ann could see that the man and Carlitos were still crouched around the fire.

When they had gone as close as they dared, they waited till there was a loud crash of thunder. Immediately Jo Ann crept forward till she was directly behind the man.

With amazing swiftness she dropped the noose over the man’s head and down over his shoulders, then jerked back on the rope. Automatically his hand flew toward his stiletto as he leaped forward. But the rope tightened—his arms were pinioned to his sides. He wheeled partly around only to find he was looking into the barrel of a 32-caliber automatic.

“Stand still or I’ll shoot,” Florence ordered in Spanish. “Carlitos—get back. You might get hurt.”

Jo Ann quickly slipped a loop of the rope over the man’s right hand and drew it behind his back, then his left, and tied the two together securely.

“Tell him to lie down on the ground now,” Jo Ann said.

Florence quickly repeated the order.

The man’s eyes blazed angrily. “No—no. I no——” His protest was lost in a clap of thunder.

“Do as you’re told or I’ll shoot,” Florence commanded a moment later.

As the man made no move, Jo Ann quickly gave him a hard shove and sent him sprawling headlong on the ground.

“You do what we tell you,” she scolded in English as she jerked the rope about his feet and began tying them together. “What do you mean by running off with this little boy?”

As soon as she had finished tying him, she remarked to Florence, “Ask him where he’s taking Carlitos and what he was going to do with him.”

Just as Florence had begun asking him these questions, Carlitos suddenly cried out in terror and pointed to the entrance.

The same instant Florence felt a strong hand clutch her shoulder as the gun was snatched out of her hand.

At Carlitos’ cry of terror Jo Ann’s gaze turned toward the cave entrance. Then cold fear clutched her heart as she saw towering over Florence a great hulk of a man with a long mustache who she instinctively felt must be the mean boss.