So saying, Archie began to feel his way along the left wall of the pa.s.sage, and presently came to the door of which the man had spoken, and which he succeeded in opening after trying several of his keys.

Hastily pa.s.sing through the door, he closed and locked it, and then began to feel a little more secure; although he did not know which way to turn next. If he kept straight ahead, he might come in contact with some object, or step upon one of those trap-doors he so much dreaded. After a little hesitation he placed his hands upon the wall, and began moving slowly around the apartment, but had not taken more than half a dozen steps before he ran against something. A moment's examination showed him that it was a table, with several articles upon it--a bowie-knife, a brace of pistols, two or three la.s.sos, a lantern, and a box of matches. These last were just what he had been wishing for. He lighted the lantern, and then turned to take a survey of the room. It proved to be a sort of armory and depot of supplies. The walls were covered with weapons, and saddles, bridles, blankets, ponchos, and numerous other articles of like description, were scattered about over the floor. A hundred hors.e.m.e.n could have been equipped from that room.

As soon as Archie had satisfied himself that he was alone, he began to examine the objects about him a little more closely; and almost the first thing his eyes rested on was a piece of property belonging to himself.

"Isn't it lucky that I didn't speak to that man?" he soliloquized.

"Didn't I say that old Spaniard was one of the robbers? That's my saddle. I would know it among a million. It is the very one that was on Sleepy Sam when Uncle James bought him in St. Joseph. Now, my horse is in this very rancho; and he isn't far off, either. This settles the question of Don Carlos' guilt."

Archie now became doubly anxious to effect his escape from the rancho.

The man who had given him the keys had told him that some one was always roaming about those pa.s.sage-ways, and as long as he remained there he was in danger of discovery. But he had said that if his horse was in that rancho, he would have him out, and he was going to keep his word. He would not think of going home until he had found him.

Once on his back, and outside of the walls of the rancho, he could laugh at the robbers. If Roderick was there, he would take him, too.

He hoped to be able to secure both horses, and make good his retreat without being discovered; and if he could do that, wouldn't he astonish his cousin when he came home in the morning? But something prevented Archie from carrying out this plan. As it happened, Frank was the one who recovered the horses; and if it had not been for him and Roderick, Archie would never have mounted King James again.

Archie's first care was to take possession of the weapons he found on the table; then he raised his lantern, and took another survey of the room. He saw a door opposite to the one by which he had entered; and when he had opened it, he found that it led into a long, low apartment, which was used as a stable. It contained several horses, which the robbers had selected and kept on account of their great speed and endurance, and conspicuous among them stood Roderick and King James.

"Aha!" exclaimed Archie.

"Santa Maria!" cried somebody else.

Archie looked up, and there was Beppo. His mouth and eyes were wide open, and he stood gazing at the intruder as if he could not quite make up his mind whether he was a solid flesh-and-blood boy, or only an apparition. The fight must come off now, and Archie was ready for it.

CHAPTER IX.

ARCHIE AND BEPPO.

"Santa Maria!" exclaimed Beppo again, and this time in a very different tone of voice. He was frightened now, and that was not to be wondered at; for Archie stood holding a pistol in each hand, and both of them were pointed straight at the Mexican's breast. "Don't shoot,"

said he, drawing his head down between his shoulders, and raising one arm before his eyes.

"You are in no danger as long as you keep perfectly quiet, and do just as I tell you," replied Archie, glancing about the stable to make sure there was no one else present.

This a.s.surance seemed to remove an immense load of apprehension from Beppo's mind. He looked all over Archie, from head to foot, as if taking his exact measure, and finally demanded:

"What do you want, and how did you get in here?"

"Don't talk so loud," commanded Archie, making a significant motion with his pistols. "If you speak above a whisper again, you are a gone Greaser."

"Well, what do you want here?" repeated Beppo, in a lower tone.

"I have no time to waste in answering questions. Crawl out of that jacket."

The Mexican seemed to be very much astonished at this order, but, without an instant's hesitation, he divested himself of his greasy, tattered garment, and threw it on the floor.

"Now that sombrero," continued Archie. "That's all right. I shall be obliged to borrow these articles for a little while, but, as I shall leave my own in their place, you will not lose much in case I fail to return them. When I get them on, I think I shall have no trouble in pa.s.sing myself off for you. What are you doing in here?"

"I came after the gray and black," replied Beppo, pointing toward Roderick and King James.

"Well, if it is all the same to you, I will take charge of them myself. I have a better right to one of them, than you or any body else about the rancho. He was stolen from me, Greaser, and when I get home, I am going to make somebody smart for it."

"I didn't do it," said Beppo.

"It is fortunate for you that you didn't," replied Archie. "If I thought you had a hand in it, I would take you down and give you a good drubbing. I'd like to have a long talk with you about the strange things that are done here every night," he continued, pulling off his neat jacket, and picking up the one Beppo had thrown upon the floor; "but just now I am too deeply interested in getting away from here, to bother my head about any thing else. I will put the saddles on the horses, and then I want you to show me"----

"Santa Maria!" yelled Beppo again. "Help! help!"

There was no astonishment or terror in his voice this time. His favorite expression was uttered in a tone of triumph. Things looked exceedingly dark for Archie now, for he was lying on his back in the middle of the floor, Beppo was kneeling on his breast, and the stable was echoing with his l.u.s.ty calls for a.s.sistance. Archie was greatly astonished, but he was not frightened. He was as cool as a cuc.u.mber.

"That's your game, is it?" said he. "I wouldn't be afraid to wager King James against any mustang in the country, that it won't succeed, for you've got hold of a Yankee now. I'll open your eyes for you, in about a minute."

Archie had come to believe, with d.i.c.k Lewis and Bob Kelly, that there was not a Mexican in the world who possessed the least particle of courage; and consequently he did not watch his prisoner as closely as he ought to have done. Although Beppo was very much terrified at the sight of the pistols, he kept his wits about him, and while his captor was talking to him in his free-and-easy way, the young Mexican's mind was busy with plans for escape. While Archie was exchanging his jacket and sombrero for those belonging to Beppo, the latter thought he saw a chance to turn the tables on him.

Archie had a peculiar way of putting on a coat. He thrust both arms half way into the sleeves, then threw the coat over his head, straightened out his arms, and gave himself a shake or two to settle the garment into its place. It was when he had got the jacket about half way on, and both his arms were fast in the sleeves, that Beppo sprang forward like a young tiger, and catching him around the body, threw him to the ground. He accomplished this with so much ease, that he thought he was sure to win a decided victory.

"Give up that pistol," said he, savagely. "I've got you now."

"That remains to be seen," replied Archie, with a coolness that astounded the Mexican. "There's no knowing who is governor until after the election."

Archie, although taken at great disadvantage, struggled desperately, and to such good purpose that he succeeded in freeing his arms from the jacket; and then the matter was quickly decided. Beppo was turned over on his back in a twinkling, and Archie, holding him down with one hand, drew the lantern toward him with the other, and extinguished it; for he heard footsteps approaching. Beppo's cries had reached the ears of some of the people of the rancho, and they were hurrying to his a.s.sistance. He would have continued to shout for help, but the cold muzzle of a pistol, which he felt pressed against his head, restrained him.

Archie did not know what to do now. His first impulse was to spring up and take to his heels; but, if he did, what should he do with his prisoner? He might have compelled him to accompany him in his flight, but Beppo was a clumsy fellow, and having no reasons for wishing to conceal his movements, he would, no doubt, make noise enough to guide the Rancheros in the pursuit. If Archie left him behind, he would begin shouting for help again; and if he had not already alarmed every one on the rancho, it would not take him long to do so. The only plan he could think of was to remain with his captive, and keep him quiet by threatening him with his pistol, trusting to the darkness to prevent his discovery.

"Don't dare open your head," said Archie, fiercely.

There was scarcely any need of this injunction. Beppo never once thought of moving a muscle, while that pistol was so near him, and he lay as silent and motionless upon the floor as if he had been turned into a block of stone.

The footsteps continued to approach, and presently the light of a lantern flashed through the darkness, revealing to Archie a grated door at the farther end of the stable, which he had not before noticed. Looking through the door, he saw two Rancheros hurrying along the pa.s.sage, one of them holding his lantern above his head, and both trying to peer through the darkness to see what was going on in the stable. They had not yet seen Archie, but they certainly would discover him when they reached the door, for he was close in front of it. He must get back out of sight, and he had but a single instant in which to do it. Springing quickly to his feet, he seized the astonished Beppo by the collar, with both hands, and before he could make up his mind what was going to happen, he was lying on his back in Roderick's stall, with Archie on top of him; and the mustang was looking down at them as if wondering what they were doing there.

Scarcely had this movement been accomplished, when the Rancheros arrived at the door; but, to Archie's immense relief, they did not attempt to open it. The reason was because the door was locked, and the key was attached to the bunch in Archie's pocket. They held the lantern close against the bars, and peered into the stable.

"He isn't here," Archie heard one of them whisper, at length.

"He must be," replied the other. "I know those shouts came from the stable. Beppo, are you in there?"

The young Mexican heard the question, and would have been glad to answer, if Archie's pistol had not been held so close to his head. The men waited and listened for a reply, but hearing none, the one who had last spoken continued:

"I can see those horses in there, and they are not saddled. He has had plenty of time to bring them out, for I gave him the keys ten minutes ago."

"Santa Maria!" said Beppo, in an astonished whisper.

"Silence!" commanded Archie.

"But he didn't give me any keys," persisted the prisoner, whose surprise was so great that he forgot all about the dangerous proximity of the pistol.

"Keep still, I say!" repeated Archie; and as the order was followed by a firmer pressure of the muzzle of the weapon against his head, the young Mexican thought it best to comply.

"Where do you suppose those shouts came from?" asked one of the men at the door.