Li Shoon's Nine Lives/Chapter 10

AUSING only long enough to see the boat pushed off to return to the Vulcan, Donald Carrick turned his back on the water to inspect the jungle ahead of him. Then he tugged at Fleming's sleeve, leading the chemist not more than a hundred feet into the jungle. Now the Hound sat down as comfortably as though at his journey's end.

"What's the idea?" queried Fleming, in a whisper, seating himself beside his friend.

"Both the Vulcan and the landing of the small boat may have been observed by Calvoras' lookouts, though I hope not," was the Hound's response. "If they have seen us, and we do not presently appear, these same lookouts will come down to the shore to investigate. Then we shall know that we have been observed."

After that the Master Hound was silent. It was so dark where they hid that the chemist, unable to see his friend's face clearly, wondered if Carrick dozed.

At length the boat reached the yacht, which soon after stood out to sea. The Vulcan was not running with lights to-night, and Fleming could hardly be sure of what he did see. Yet the moving of a shadowy mass told him that the yacht had left them behind.

Not until some time after did Carrick, after listening with his ear to the ground, rise and whisper:

"Evidently our coming was not observed. We will start on our way."

Owing to the tangled masses of shrubbery and low forest through which they moved, Donald Carrick was forced to take his course from such glimpses of the stars as he obtained. Both trod softly, taking pains not to tread on crackling brush in the undergrowth.

"In the matter of poisonous snakes, which are reported to abound here," whispered the Hound, during one of their brief halts, "you must trust entirely to luck. We could not see a snake in time to avoid it."

It seemed to Fleming as though they had walked for many hours, when Carrick suddenly brought him up short with a grip of his nearer arm. The Hound pointed ahead to a glow on the ground, distant some two hundred yards. As the two friends stood there, observing, they saw several figures flit to and fro past the dying camp fire. Fleming soon guessed that there were at least a dozen men near the fire. Carrick, from other signs that he detected, judged that there were from fifty to sixty men ahead; probably an entire company of Mexican rebel soldiers.

A low hum of voices came to them. At last the Hound began moving forward, a cautious single step at a time. Minutes passed ere the friends again made a halt, this time within plain eye range and audible distance from the little groups in the clearing. As both Carrick and his friend spoke Spanish, they were able to comprehend the words that reached them in the Mexican jargon.

"With the three thousand new rifles, and all the cases of cartridges, my captain, our general, Calvoras, will doubtless soon begin recruiting and increase his army."

"It is even so, Lieutenant Calderas," replied the captain. "And then, when our general's new and mighty friend brings still more rifles, Calvoras will take the field, openly, and we shall sweep across Mexico. Our general has promised me that I shall soon be a colonel, and you, lieutenant, will doubtless become a major."

Lieutenant Calderas, a youth of not more than twenty-three, stroked his incipient mustache with an air of military pride.

"How many rifles are to come next time, Captain Bustanobo?"

"Our great and good friend promises not less than four thousand. He will even try to get six thousand, but he informs our general that he is obliged to buy with great care, through many agents and in small lots, that he may not excite suspicion. Within a few months we shall doubtless have fifty thousand rifles, and that, with the valor that our men exhibit, will be plenty to make Calvoras president of Mexico. Me? I shall doubtless be a general of division by that time. But, lieutenant, have you seen to it that a close watch is kept?"

"I have been on the alert, my captain. I will call Sergeant Penumbra, and he shall tell you what he is doing. Pass word for Sergeant Penumbra."

The name was uttered in tones loud enough to be heard at a distance. Soon a little, brown man came running up, though he rubbed his eyes as he came.

"Sergeant," demanded the lieutenant, "you have kept vigilant watch over the water?"

"My men have done so, excellent lieutenant. Always two have remained standing since dark begun, their eyes turned out on the sea. They have seen no ship of any kind."

"It is well, sergeant," declared the lieutenant. "Faithfully serve the new republic of Calvoras, and you shall be rewarded. You may become a lieutenant, like myself, if you detect the coming of such a ship and report it in time. Think what it will mean to be a gentleman in the new and glorious republic."

"Never doubt my alertness, my lieutenant," begged Sergeant Penumbra, saluting and retiring when he received the signal.

"When a Mexican knows that an enemy is near, he is a marvel of watchfulness," whispered Carrick in Fleming's ear. "But sometimes the Mexican soldier is found napping on his post. That sergeant and his men have surely been making up some arrears in sleep."

"May the whole command here sleep forever!" was the doctor's pious wish. Farther on a group of half a dozen soldiers played cards, almost silently, by the light of a second fire. Many men of the command, wrapped in their tattered rags, were now sound asleep under the stars.

"There is little to be feared from this sleepy lot," asserted the Hound. "Come, we will move around them and on toward Mattanegua. We must learn if the Budzibu is at anchor in the bay. We already have a fairly good idea of how Li Shoon, if he be here, has managed to gain asylum in this pirate's nest of a closed port. He is spending a part of his wicked plunderings in bringing in munitions of war to Calvoras. It is a clever way of gaining the hiding place and protection that he needs!"

With infinite care the Hound picked his way around the camp, under the deep shade of the trees. But on the northern side of the camp the two Americans, despite their stealth, made slight sounds that reached the ears of two Mexican sentries. This brown pair, after listening for an instant, slipped silently, on their bare feet, behind two tree trunks. Carrick and Fleming passed between the trees. Just another instant, and rifle butts descended on their heads. Both men pitched forward to the earth, half-stunned.

"Alerta! Al numero sierte!" bawled both sentries at once. It was their way of summoning help for post No. 7. Two rifle bolts clicked ominously, and two rifle muzzles were pressed against the two dismayed captives.

In the camp, confused murmurs followed. Half a dozen soldiers ran up at once. Others could be heard following. With instant death as their portion in case of resistance, Carrick and Fleming wisely made no effort to draw their automatics. Had they been on their feet, they would have opened vigorous fire, then taken to their heels.

"Ah, we have prisoners, and Americanos, at that!" cried Captain Bustanobo, turning the rays of a lantern on the captives. "These must be they, for whom we were told to watch."

"That is hardly likely, my captain, since they did not come by ship," interposed Lieutenant Calderas gravely. "But, none the less, they are Americanos, and our brave general loves that breed so well that he sends them immediately to heaven!"

"Guard the prisoners, and kill them if they attempt to escape," ordered Captain Bustanobo briskly.

"You are taking a lot of trouble to be sure of securing two unarmed men," scoffed Carrick, in Spanish.

"Search them!" commanded Bustanobo. A dozen eager hands were stretched forth at once, as though the soldiers hoped to discover real loot. Of course, the automatics and extra magazines, as well as the cartridges, were speedily brought to light.

"Lieutenant," cried Bustanobo joyously, "you and I have long craved just such excellent revolvers. They are ours now. And men who lied to us about being unarmed will prove no more truthful in anything. I shall ask them no questions, but will take them at once to our brave general. Lieutenant, you will take command of the camp, and you will keep as close lookout as before against the coming of the expected ship. Sergeant, take a guard of ten men, and stand ready to shoot the prisoners at any sign pf a wish to escape! March!"

Forward the little procession went. What Carrick and Fleming may have said, under their breaths, does not matter much. Through a seemingly endless jungle they finally arrived upon the semblance of a road, which became somewhat better as the party came within sight of the lights of the little port of Mattanegua. Now the arrest party passed a few outpost guards at frequent intervals. Then down through a street the captors marched their prisoners, halting before a large, two-story white building, before which stood at least a dozen armed guards. These saluted Bustanobo's party, permitting them to enter an oblong courtyard within. Bustanobo passed in through a guarded door, but soon reappeared, to say:

"The prisoners will follow me!"

Under his guidance, Carrick and his friend were led into a corridor and through the second door to the right. In that room stood two young officers, while a man of fifty-five, seated at a table, with a bottle and wineglasses at his elbow, turned to scowl at the prisoners.

"Welcome, my most excellent friends!" exclaimed an unctuous voice, and Li Shoon, in richest Chinese garb, appeared in a doorway.