It was some time before Jack and the rest of the Americans were able to make the wounded comfortable in the makeshift hospital. When the task was accomplished, however, Phil Underwood and Lance Carpenter were put in permanent charge of the toolhouse. Their first action was to bar everyone else from entering the building and disturbing their patients. Since nothing remained for Jack to do but obey these orders, the lad soon left the place and sought employment with the men who were engaged in eliminating the evidences of the recent battle from the vicinity of the power house. In the meantime, however, he kept careful track of the time and constant watch for some message from Mr. Ryder and the repair crew.
As a result of the industriousness of the[194] regulars, the dead and wounded were fast being removed from the valley. Those who still showed signs of life were carried to the toolhouse to be cared for by Phil and Lance. The dead men were carried into the forest to the west. This puzzled Jack for he could not understand why graves were not dug in the open. Indeed, he became so curious about the whole thing that he finally asked Lyman what the regulars did with the bodies.
“In Mexico,” explained Lyman, “they don’t bother to bury dead men after a battle. They merely gather them all in one pile, saturate them with kerosene and touch a match to them. You see, bodies must be removed quickly in the Tropics or serious disease will be spread immediately. The funeral pyre is the quickest and best method of avoiding this danger.”
“Goodness, but that’s a gruesome way of caring for the dead. But then, I suppose, it is best from a sanitary standpoint and it certainly is far better than leaving the remains for the vultures.”
“Si, se?or, it es best zan ze vultures,” said some one in broken English, and Jack and[195] Lyman turned to find Captain Alvarez, of the rurales, addressing them. “I hear your remarks what you say about dead mens and I agree. Fire es best zan ze vultures. Oh; ze vultures zay are ah—what you call—ah—higeous, eh!”
“Indeed they are hideous. They are the most repulsive creatures I have ever seen,” said Jack.
“Ah, you are right, Se?or Jack, but it is not of vulture I wish to see you for. It is of my mans Alfonso Perro, the one wiz ze scar foot which is in ze guardhouse now. We mus give him ze court-martial soon and ze execution. Also his peon assistant must we shoot. Will you and Se?or Ryder be ready for ze court zis evening?”
“I think so,” replied Jack. “I will be ready and I think Mr. Ryder will—”
“Who is that,” interrupted Lyman, pointing across the clearing in the direction of the trail that followed the transmission line.
Jack beheld a swarthy, long-haired individual clad only in white trousers running toward the power plant, a dog loping along at[196] his heels. The man’s stride was long and regular, like that of an experienced distance runner, and the lad recognized him immediately as the Indian messenger.
“Why, it’s the runner. I saw him here at the plant only an hour ago. I wonder where he’s been? I’ll warrant he has word about Mr. Ryder.”
Together Jack and Lyman hurried to greet the messenger who by this time had crawled under the barbed-wire fence and was swinging up the slope. But while he was still some distance away he began to call in Spanish.
“What does he say?” queried Jack of Lyman, who had been listening intently to catch every word.
“Quick, call out the rurales!” replied Lyman; “he says that the repair crew has been taken prisoners by José Cerro himself!”
“But how does he know? How did he get the information?” demanded Jack.
“Don’t know, he must have slipped out and followed Mr. Ryder and his men. Hurry, we’ve no time to lose. He will guide us.”
But Captain Alvarez had followed them[197] down the slope and he needed no persuading. He had understood everything the Indian said and even while Lyman was urging him to hurry the officer drew a tiny silver whistle from his pocket and blew three shrill blasts upon it. A moment later an orderly appeared running toward the commander.
Brief instructions were given and the soldier hurried back toward the plant again. Five minutes later the clear notes of a bugle echoed and re-echoed through the valley, calling the troopers to saddle.
By the time the three arrived at the corral the rurales were ready. There were other horsemen, too, eager to go to the rescue of Mr. Ryder, for the news had been spread throughout Necaxa and all the Americans who could be spared and who could find horses or mules to ride upon had gathered with the troopers.
Mozos found mounts for Jack and Lyman and the Indian runner, and in less than twenty minutes after Miguel appeared upon the trail the troop was galloping out of the enclosure and along the path that followed the transmission lines. Captain Alvarez, the Indian, Jack[198] and Lyman were in the lead and the rest of the band was strung out behind, their position depending entirely upon the speed of their horses. And as they galloped toward the break in the transmission line the wounded Indian explained how he had left the toolhouse hospital and followed the repair crew at a distance, hoping to be of assistance in case of trouble. But soon he began to find traces of the presence of rebels along the trail. He tried to reach Mr. Ryder and warn him of the ambush, but he said that the woods in the vicinity of the pole on which the men were working were so full of José Cerro’s men that he could not get through their lines without running the risk of being shot. Quietly he waited until he could be certain of the direction José Cerro and his men would lead their prisoners. Then he returned to Necaxa as fast as he could run.
 
“The horsemen in green swept down the valley”
 
Half an hour after the rurales left the plant they arrived at the point where the transmission line was down. Here the Indian dismounted and looked over the ground carefully.
[199]
“They are many peons,” he said laconically to Cap............