Though no one could say whether or not any of the Federals up there among the rocks on the slope had been struck by the bullets the rebels continued to send aloft so industriously.

CHAPTER XXIII.

WHEN VILLA CAME.

"Seems to me they are dropping down closer and closer all the time. How about that, Rob?" questioned Andy presently, as a new burst of shots rang out.

"They are closing in some, for a fact," admitted the scout master, who had been well aware of this condition right along, though up to now he had kept it to himself, waiting to ascertain whether any one of his comrades would notice it.

"Hasn't the time come yet, Rob?" pleaded Andy.

"For what?" asked the other, although he could easily guess what Andy meant by the way he handled his rifle and looked anxiously up the slope to where those little jets of smoke accompanied each shot on the part of the advancing Federals.

"To let us have a hand in the mix-up," Andy continued. "You as much as said that if things got down to hard pan we'd just _have_ to help the rebels. They're our best friends, and you reckoned the others would treat us mean if they made us prisoners of war,--p'raps stand us up against a rock and wind us up, like they're so fond of doing with lots of prisoners down in this heathen country. Please say 'yes,' Rob. I'm not a sharp-shooter, p'raps, but I just know I could chip off a shoulder strap from the uniform of that officer trying to hide behind that stump up there. Let me make him jump, won't you, Rob?"

But the other shook his head in the negative.

"Not yet, Andy, so lay your gun down again," he said, at which the other grumbled not a little.

"You said you'd let us if we got close to the last ditch, Rob," he remarked complainingly; "and seems like we might be close on that line now."

"You may think so," said Rob, with a rea.s.suring smile; "but that's the time you shoot wild, Andy. Our prospects were never so bright as they are right now."

Even Merritt and Tubby showed that they were surprised to hear Rob speak in so positive a way, when it was plainly to be seen that the men on the hillside were becoming bolder, and apparently getting ready to rush the defenses of the rebel force a little later, after they had covered more ground.

"Show your hand, Rob," said Merritt; "you're holding something out of sight, or you wouldn't talk like that. I know your ways; what's doing?"

"Listen, and you'll hear the rebels cheering right now!" said Rob.

"Yes, that's so," Andy replied; "but then they're ready to yell if anything happens. When that Federal lost his hold and fell about five feet, scrambling around like a squirrel that had missed its jump from one limb to another, they whooped it up till you'd thought the fight was won! What are they cheering for now, Rob?"

"Lopez has told the captain, as I made him promise to, when things began to look kind of gloomy all along the line; and they're pa.s.sing it on,"

Rob observed.

"Yes, that's all very fine, but pa.s.sing what along?" demanded Andy.

"Now that the cheering has let up for a few seconds, and the Federals have stopped firing to puzzle out what the row means, suppose you boys trim your ears, and see if you don't get some sort of sound that surprises you!"

"Great Caesar! that rumbling must mean a train somewhere, Rob!"

e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Merritt excitedly; while Andy chimed in:

"Does it, Rob? And did you glimpse it coming when you were away up yonder on the peak of the rocks?"

"Yes," replied the scout master with a laugh, "through my gla.s.ses, away off toward the south. And, boys, that train is just loaded down with rebel soldiers coming up from Chihuahua to get after the raiding parties of Federals that have been burning bridges and destroying railroad stock on the Mexican Central here!"

"And you didn't whisper a word of it to us, Rob, all this while?" cried Tubby, with a reproachful look on his beaming face.

"Why, you see, I didn't want any one to have false hopes," Rob told him.

"How could I tell whether that train would get here in a week? The track might be all torn up on the other side of the burnt bridge. But I fixed it with Lopez that he was to tell the captain when he saw me wave my red bandanna handkerchief over this rock; and you saw me do that a few minutes ago."

"When you first caught the rumble of the train, and knew it must be drawing near on the south side of the river?" interjected Merritt.

"That's what happened," Rob replied.

"But see here," Tubby insisted, "how are they going to help us if that same train can't cross on the steel girders of the burned bridge? You don't reckon it can do that, do you, Rob?"

"Certainly not, Tubby," replied the other, "but that isn't going to keep the men from getting over. You'll find some of them crossing like cats on the remains of the bridge. Others may wade the river, which doesn't appear to be very deep from what I saw of it."

"Yes, I noticed that you walked up that way and took observations, while the rest of us were watching the bridge burn," said Tubby. "And right then chances were you figured it all out in your mind how a feller might wade across if he had to! There never was such a chap to lay out plans ahead of time. No wonder you're always ready to act when things happen in a hurry!"

Rob simply touched the badge that was fastened to his left sleeve at the shoulder. Its position showed that he was filling the part of a.s.sistant scout master; and the fact that it was complete, told that the wearer must be a first cla.s.s scout. Then he repeated the words emblazoned on the badge:

"Be prepared!"

Merritt made a discovery about this time, which he announced in tones of delight.

"Looky there, boys! The enemy is in full flight, believe me! You can see them skipping out everywhere. Guess they've glimpsed the train coming along, and know that they'll soon be outnumbered five to one. And it's going to take them some little time to reach the place where they've left their mounts; so good-bye to you, Mr. Huerta's crowd!"

In a short time it was considered safe to show one's head above the rocks, and presently some of the rebels were running back toward the remains of the bridge, shouting at the top of their lungs with joy.

"There's the train!" cried Merritt, as he stood on the rock behind which he and his three chums had established the Red Cross field hospital, and done such effective work among the wounded.

Tubby gave several loud cheers; in fact, every one was calling out now, even the fugitives in the sink, some of whom appeared in view, hurrying back to the cars, possibly to stand by their precious luggage and keep inquisitive hands from opening the packages.

The long troop-train came to a stand close to the other side of the river. Immediately a swarm of dark-faced men dropped from the heavily laden cars, and there was a concerted rush in the direction of the smoking bridge.

Just as Rob had said, many of the more daring, finding that the steel work had cooled to some degree, started to make their way across like monkeys, just as though they had lingering hopes of being able to come to hand-grips with the Regulars who had set fire to the railroad property. Others began to ford the stream, the water hardly coming up more than to their waists, as the dry season was on at the time.

"Well, I'm glad that it's all over and none of us got so much as a scratch!" Tubby was saying, while with his comrades he watched the swarm of men crossing the river.

"Yes, but I feel bad because I never got a chance to bang away even once," Andy grumbled, as, with gun tucked under his arm, he leaned dejectedly against the end car, and took in all the bustling sights.

"It's just as well," Rob told him. "If you knew right now that you had made one of those men go limping off to suffer all sorts of pain, because you felt that you just _had_ to use your gun, when it wasn't your fight at all, do you think you'd feel any better because of it, Andy?"

Andy never said another word; but evidently Rob had set him to considering the conditions, and he saw things in a different light.

"They've got some horses aboard that car away back," Merritt announced.

"See, they are getting them out! Look at that man giving orders, Rob.

Seems like everybody just hustles whenever he says a single word. I reckon he must be somebody away up!"

"Mebbe General Villa himself!" suggested Tubby exultantly.

"I'm hoping it may turn out that way," Rob remarked, trying to appear calm, although himself more or less excited. "But whoever it is, he must have given orders for a pursuit, because you notice that as fast as the men get on this side they join some of our friends here, and go hurrying off. It must be that they hope to waylay the Federals before they can reach their horses and gallop away."

A short time later they began to hear regular volleys from the quarter whence these squads of eager-eyed men had gone, which would plainly indicate that they had been successful in intercepting the enemy, so that something like a fight was going on. Their shots must have bowled over some of the cavalrymen's mounts, for several prisoners were brought back to the train, wearing the dirty white uniforms of the Mexican soldiers and looking as though they expected a short shrift, with a firing squad to follow.