“Well, this is a mighty serious state of affairs,” said the engineer as they returned to their horses and prepared to remount.
“Yes, indeed, and from all appearances we have a real enemy to contend with,” replied the lad.
“You are right, we have,” confirmed Mr. Ryder. “If our man with the scarred foot is a member of the rurales, we are going to have the devil’s own job locating him too. We cannot accuse at random and moreover we cannot take our troubles to the captain, for the reason that where there is one traitor there are likely to be many more. The captain may be a revolutionist himself, and if he is, heaven help us when he finds out that we have a way of identifying the trouble maker. We would[120] be murdered in less than a week. I think we had better feel our way very slowly before we make an arrest.”
“But why should a rurale go traveling about in his bared feet at night?” queried Jack, suddenly discovering a puzzling question.
“I thought of that myself,” confessed the engineer, “and the only reason I can give is that the culprit is always afraid that the jingle of his big spurs will attract attention and rather than remove them he removed his boots instead and goes about his work silently. That sounds perfectly plausible, doesn’t it?”
“By George, that’s capital reasoning! I believe you’ve hit it exactly right,” exclaimed the lad enthusiastically.
“I see our three guards over on the river bank,” said Mr. Ryder, abruptly changing the subject; “we’ll drive over and join them there, for I’ve an idea that our horses could stand a drink before starting for the plant again.
“And by the way,” he warned as they urged their mounts forward, “I wouldn’t say much about our friend of the scarred foot in the[121] presence of the rurales either here or at the plant, for you never can tell just how much English some of these fellows understand. I’m a little worried over the impression that our search among the peons created, even though I did tell the captain the falsehood about the suspected leper. Who knows, perhaps the very man we are after was looking on all the time. In that case our lives are in danger every moment. He would kill us rather than run the chance of being identified.”
It was quite evident to Jack that the engineer regarded the business at hand as rather hazardous and the lad from Vermont could not help feeling slightly concerned about his own safety. He put on a bold front before Mr. Ryder, however, for he did not care to have the engineer think that he was the least bit worried.
The river’s course through the valley was broad and the stream ran sluggish and shallow where it passed the village. Indeed, just below the point where the women were washing on the rocks was a ford, with a sloping sandy beach on either bank. Here it was that[122] the pack trains leaving the valley toward the north crossed the stream. On the bank opposite, Jack saw several large alligators sunning themselves, and here and there on the surface of the water he also saw the scaly backs and heads of others that had come up to rest awhile and get a fresh supply of air. Some of them were fully ten feet long.
But in spite of the presence of these reptiles, the horses did not hesitate to wade belly deep into the stream and cool themselves while they slaked their thirst. Jack noticed this and remarked about it to Mr. Ryder.
“Alligators are not disposed to attack anything very large,” said the engineer, “although sometimes they do make away with sheep and small calves that come down for a drink. The ’gator is not as ferocious as his cousin the crocodile and I have never heard of any natives being devoured by one, in spite of the fact that the Indians wade the ford here daily.”
Mr. Ryder had hardly finished speaking when a young Indian appeared on the opposite bank followed by a full-grown hound dog.[123] The native was clad only in abbreviated canvas trousers and slung across his back was a tiny mail bag. Jack learned later that his first name was Miguel and that his last name was almost unpronounceable, also that he was the official runner, or messenger, of that section of the country, and that his forefathers had been runners as far back as the days of Montezuma.
The native stood knee deep in the river a moment and emitted several loud whoops at the same time churning the water furiously with his feet. At this the alligators on the bank slipped into the water with a splash and every scaly back and head disappeared. Then the Indian plunged into the stream and waded across, at the same time coaxing the dog to follow. The hound stood whining at the wate............