CHAPTER VIII.
ARCHIE LEARNS SOMETHING.
If Don Carlos had only known where his missing guest was all thiswhile, and what he was doing, and what he was seeing, he would havehad good cause for alarm. Archie was not at home, as Frank fondlyhoped, nor was he outside the rancho. He was in a worse predicamentthan he had ever been in before, and was learning some things aboutDon Carlos and his house that greatly astonished him.
We said that the last time Frank saw him, he was standing before alarge oil-painting in the room where the Spaniard had left them. Itwas a life-size picture of an Indian warrior; and so well was itexecuted that, as Archie stood looking at it, he almost expected tosee the savage open his lips to give the war-whoop, and then draw thebow which he carried in his hand, and discharge an arrow at him.
"The man who painted that was an artist, and understood his business,"said Archie, to himself. "I have seen lots of those fellows, andthat's just the way they look."
Something in the picture, which he had not before noticed, caught hiseye at this moment, and interrupted the thread of his soliloquy. Thehandle of the warrior's hunting-knife, which he wore in his belt, wasrounded off into a knob at the end, and Archie was sure that it stoodout a little way from the canvas. He leaned forward and looked at itmore closely, and sure enough it was a wooden button, which fittedinto the end of the handle of the knife, and not a painted one. Hestepped up and examined it with his fingers, and to his surprise ityielded to his touch.
"Now I'd like to know what this means," thought he, pressing the knobharder than before. "This thing must be attached to a spring, becauseit comes back when I let go of it. Well--by--gracious!"
It was very seldom indeed that Archie used any slang words, butsometimes, when he was greatly excited or astonished, he did likeother boys--forgot all the good resolutions he had made regarding thisbad habit. It was no wonder that he was amazed now, for the paintingbegan to move as if it had been suddenly endowed with life. It openedbefore him like a door, swinging swiftly back on a pair of invisiblehinges, and revealing a narrow, winding stairway which seemed to rundown into a cellar beneath the outer wall. Archie stood like a woodenboy for a few seconds, his neck outstretched, his eyes dilating andtrying to pierce through the thick darkness which enveloped thestairs, and then, scarcely knowing what he was about, he steppedcautiously into the passage. An instant afterward he would have givenevery thing he possessed, or ever expected to possess, if he had beena little more prudent; but then it was too late. The painting swungback to its place as swiftly and noiselessly as it had opened, and thesmooth click of a spring-lock told Archie that he was a prisoner. Hedid not intend to remain one long, however. He understood the mysteryof that secret door, and it would not be many seconds before he wouldget out again. Perhaps Frank would now be willing to look up from hisbook long enough to hear him tell of this wonderful discovery he hadmade; and perhaps, too, he would be ready to believe that he had somefoundation for his suspicions.
Talking thus to himself, Archie groped his way back to the painting(for now that the opening was closed the passage was as dark asmidnight), and began to pass his hands over it, searching hurriedlyfor the concealed spring. He now found that the back of the picturewas formed of heavy oak planks, nearly a foot in thickness; or, tomake the matter clearer, the whole contrivance was simply a ponderousdoor, with the painting spread over one side of it to conceal it. Butwhere was the spring? Archie ran his fingers over every inch of thedoor, from top to bottom, but could not find it. He examined every oneof the planks separately, and finally turned his attention to the hugeblocks of stone which formed the walls, in the hope that he might findthe spring imbedded in one of them. Five minutes--ten minutes--aquarter of an hour were passed in this way, and then Archie sank downupon the floor, all in a heap, panting and sweating as though he hadbeen engaged in the most violent exercise. His face was very pale, hishands trembled as though he were suffering from an attack of the ague,and one to have seen him at that moment would have believed that hewas almost overcome with fear. His words, however, did not indicatethe fact.
"Now here's fun," said he, with a desperate attempt to keep up hiscourage; "here's sport--here's joy by the wagon-load. I am corneredeasy enough, and it serves me just right for prying about where I hadno business. What will the Don say when he comes back and finds megone?"
As this thought passed through Archie's mind, he sprang to his feet,the cold perspiration starting out anew from every pore in his body,and his heart beating fast and furiously. What _would_ the oldSpaniard think when he found that one of his guests was missing, and,above all, what would he _do_? If he was an innocent man, and Archie'ssuspicions regarding him were without any foundation, he would hunthim up and release him; there would be a hearty laugh all around; andthe Don would have a long story to tell about the passage-way, thereasons why he had built it, and the use he had made of it. Butsuppose that Archie's suspicions were correct--that Don Carlos wasreally one of the robbers, and that the passage led to someunderground cavern where he and his men concealed their plunder--whatwould he do when he found that his secret had been discovered? Archiedid not stop to answer this question, but once more searched all overthe door for the spring; but with no better success than before. Thenhe pounded upon the door, and called his cousin; but the walls werethick, and the sound of his voice did not reach Frank, who read on inblissful ignorance of what was transpiring on the other side of thepainting.
"He must have gone out," said Archie, now beginning to be thoroughlyalarmed, "and I am left to my own resources, which are scarce, I cantell you. What if one of the band should come up here with a light?"
Archie pulled his revolver from his pocket, faced about, and peeredthrough the darkness in the direction of the stairs, listeningintently, and almost imagining that he heard light footstepsapproaching. But he was alone in the passage-way, and having satisfiedhimself on this point, he leaned against the wall to think over thesituation, and determine upon some course of action.
"It would be awkward to be caught here--for the robber, I mean, for itis my opinion that he would go down those stairs with much greaterhaste than he came up. Of course there must be two ends to thispassage, and as I can not get out here, I must try some other way ofescape. I can't be in a much worse fix than I am now."
As Archie said this, he put his revolver into his pocket again, andbegan feeling his way along the wall toward the stairs. It was adangerous undertaking, for the floor might be full of trap-doors, forall he knew, and one of them might open beneath his feet at anymoment, and let him down into some dungeon; or, he might run againstone of the robbers in the darkness, who would slip a lasso around hisneck, and make a prisoner of him before he could raise an arm todefend himself. He reached the head of the stairs, however, withoutany such misfortune, and slowly and cautiously felt his way to thebottom. There he found himself in a passage-way which ran at rightangles with the one above. After a moment's deliberation, he decidedthat if he followed it to the left it would lead him under the court(through which Frank was, at that very moment, running a race withPedro for the gate), and that was the way Archie did not want to go.By turning to the right, if the passage ran far enough in thatdirection, he would reach the bank of the creek, and there he mightfind some way of escape. Having decided this point, he was about tomove on again, when he was frightened nearly out of his senses byhearing a whisper close at his elbow:
"Beppo, is this you?"
The fight for which Archie had been bracing his nerves ever since hefirst made up his mind to visit Don Carlos' rancho, was to come offnow--he was sure of that. He was much calmer than he had thought hecould be under such circumstances, but still he trembled violently inevery limb as he drew his revolver, and thrust it straight out beforehim in the direction from which the voice came. A person thinksrapidly when in danger, and during the moment's pause that followedthe question thus unexpectedly propounded to him, Archie thought overand rejected a dozen wild schemes which suggested themselv
es to him.One, however, he accepted. He would reveal himself to the man, and ifthe latter would agree to show him the way above ground, it would beall right; he would then be willing to believe that Don Carlos was anhonest man, and that there was nothing wrong about him or his rancho.But if the man made an outcry, and began shouting for help, or triedto secure him, he would give him some idea of American pluck andmuscle.
"Beppo, is that you?" asked the voice again, in the same cautiouswhisper. Then, before Archie had time to act on the resolution he hadjust formed, the man, whoever he was, continued: "here are the keys.We shall be ready in half an hour. Follow this gang-way, and enter thefirst door on your left. Be sure and lock the door after you, becausethere's always somebody roaming about here, and you might bediscovered. Do your work well, now, and the revolver is yours."
A moment afterward Archie stood holding a bunch of keys in his hand,and listening with beating heart to the retreating footsteps of theman, who was hurrying toward the other end of the passage. He hadnever been more excited and alarmed in his life. If the man hadbrought a lantern with him, the fight he had been expecting wouldcertainly have come off.
When the sound of the footsteps had died away, Archie drew a longbreath of relief, and began to congratulate himself on his escape, andto repeat what the man had said to him. Two things were evident: onewas that he had been mistaken for Beppo, a Mexican boy about his ownage who was employed on the rancho; the other, that he had some sortof a secret commission to execute, and that for the faithfulperformance of his work, he would be rewarded by the present of arevolver. What that commission was, Archie neither knew or cared; hehad something of much more importance to think about. Suppose the manshould happen to meet the genuine Beppo, and should find out that hehad given the keys to somebody else! Would he not try to ascertain whothat some one else was, and wouldn't he call for help, and begin athorough search of the rancho?
"I haven't a single instant to lose," said Archie, to himself. "Let mesee! I must follow this gang-way and open the first door on my left,and be sure and lock it after me. I don't much like to do it, forthere is no knowing what I may find in that room. I hope one of thesekeys will let me out of this den of robbers."
So saying, Archie began to feel his way along the left wall of thepassage, 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 passing through the door, he closed and locked it, and thenbegan to feel a little more secure; although he did not know which wayto turn next. If he kept straight ahead, he might come in contactwith some object, or step upon one of those trap-doors he so muchdreaded. After a little hesitation he placed his hands upon the wall,and began moving slowly around the apartment, but had not taken morethan half a dozen steps before he ran against something. A moment'sexamination showed him that it was a table, with several articles uponit--a bowie-knife, a brace of pistols, two or three lassos, a lantern,and a box of matches. These last were just what he had been wishingfor. He lighted the lantern, and then turned to take a survey of theroom. It proved to be a sort of armory and depot of supplies. Thewalls were covered with weapons, and saddles, bridles, blankets,ponchos, and numerous other articles of like description, werescattered about over the floor. A hundred horsemen could have beenequipped from that room.
As soon as Archie had satisfied himself that he was alone, he began toexamine the objects about him a little more closely; and almost thefirst thing his eyes rested on was a piece of property belonging tohimself.
"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 mysaddle. I would know it among a million. It is the very one that wason Sleepy Sam when Uncle James bought him in St. Joseph. Now, my horseis in this very rancho; and he isn't far off, either. This settles thequestion 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 wasalways roaming about those passage-ways, and as long as he remainedthere he was in danger of discovery. But he had said that if his horsewas in that rancho, he would have him out, and he was going to keephis 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 couldlaugh 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 retreatwithout being discovered; and if he could do that, wouldn't heastonish his cousin when he came home in the morning? But somethingprevented Archie from carrying out this plan. As it happened, Frankwas the one who recovered the horses; and if it had not been for himand Roderick, Archie would never have mounted King James again.
Archie's first care was to take possession of the weapons he found onthe table; then he raised his lantern, and took another survey of theroom. He saw a door opposite to the one by which he had entered; andwhen he had opened it, he found that it led into a long, lowapartment, which was used as a stable. It contained several horses,which the robbers had selected and kept on account of their greatspeed and endurance, and conspicuous among them stood Roderick andKing James.
"Aha!" exclaimed Archie.
"Santa Maria!" cried somebody else.
Archie looked up, and there was Beppo. His mouth and eyes were wideopen, and he stood gazing at the intruder as if he could not quitemake up his mind whether he was a solid flesh-and-blood boy, or onlyan apparition. The fight must come off now, and Archie was ready forit.