Curtin was looking up the steep rock. Howard saw him. “Yes, kiddy, I’ve thought of that several times. Kept me from sleeping well last night. I had my eyes on this rock most of the time, thinking and thinking about a solution—a way out over this rock. But there is no escape over this rock, and none on either side of this furrow here. Not even under the cover of night, with the thickest thunderstorm coming to your aid above you, can you get away from this trench without running straight into their arms.”
The bandits were again cooking their meals.
The partners looked at them at times as if by merely watching them they might come upon an idea to help them out of the grave they already felt buried in.
Into this silence came suddenly an excited cry: “Compadre, compadre, pronto, muy pronto, quick, come here!”
“What the hell is up?”
One of the guards by the horses, who from his post could overlook and watch the trail leading to the camp, had come up and called the chief.
All the men banded together, and the partners could hear the men all talking to each other at the same time. But it was difficult to make out what it was about. Then the men hurriedly picked up all their things that lay about and went off down the trail.
Curtin started to jump out of the trench to watch them more closely. Lacaud pulled him down, saying: “Wait, pal, this may be only a trick to lure us out of here and get us without even using their barricades.”
“I don’t think so,” Howard said. “They would have to be awfully good movie actors to play a trick like that so perfectly. Didn’t you notice that guy running up here like wild with his message? There’s something else behind this. I wonder what.”
Curtin, not heeding Lacaud’s warning, had left the trench and gone far to the left, where he climbed up to their look-out, whence the whole valley could be seen. There he sat for quite a while looking around, seeming to see something of importance.
Then he called: “Hey, partners, up here, all of you. Here is a sight, if there ever was.”
The partners, forgetting all about the bandits, climbed up to where Curtin was sitting.
“Trust my eyes,” Howard exclaimed. “Do I see right or do I? Hell, that’s a pleasure. I should say a real relief.”
It was surely a good sight for the partners: a marching squadron of federal cavalry.
There was not the slightest doubt as to what they were after. The villagers must have tipped them off that the bandits had gone up to this plateau to rob the gringo of his shotguns and provisions, for these soldiers were coming up the trail to the camp.
“I can’t quite get it why these bandits left rather than wait for the soldiers up here,” Dobbs wondered.
Howard laughed. His laughter was heartier than it was meant to be, for it carried all the anxiety he had felt during the last two days, all the anxiety that he now wanted to blow off. “You mustn’t think them dumber than they are. They may not have as much brain as you have, Dobby sweet, but they still have something in their cones. Didn’t I tell you they are old fighters, fairly well trained in all tricks of warfare? If they should wait here, they would be lost for good. In the first place, they would have us at their backs and the soldiers blocking their only way of escape. Even if they could overcome us, and I’m sure that was what they discussed so hotly, they couldn’t hold out very long in this trench. The soldiers would attack them the minute they arrived, perhaps even using the same shields these rascals had fixed to catch us with. Their only way to safety, or a least to a few days more of life, is to get out of this trail before the soldiers enter. That’s the reason why they are in such a devilish hurry. Their pants are wetter now than ours were an hour ago. Tell you that.”
It was not a great joke, but all were laughing as they had not laughed for weeks.
Dobbs said: “For once in my life I’m actually grateful that there are still soldiers in the world. Geecries, they sure have come at a good time, that’s what I say. I could kiss them soldiers wherever they would like it, those sons of sunshine. Gee, fellers, tell you the naked goddamned truth, I was already chewing earth between my teeth, and that’s the damned truth, it sure is. Do I feel happy, do I?”
“You bet.” Lacaud had got his color back and also his speech.
Howard laughed again. “Yeah, and these bandits, I think, have done us still another favor by leaving in such a hurry. Had they stopped here and waited for the soldiers—well, boys, I wouldn’t have liked it too much to have soldiers sneaking about here. Soldiers are all to the good sometimes, but sometimes they can be a real nuisance to a decent feller. They might, if only for fun, start to grill us about what we’re doing up here and they might nose around. I wouldn’t have liked it so very much, would you, partners?”
“It’s better this way, I figure,” Dobbs said.
“Let’s take in the second act of the picture.” Curtin was again watching the valley eagerly.
The soldiers had taken up the trail. There could no longer be the slightest doubt. When still half a mile away from where the trail entered the base of the mountains they divided up in three sections and formed a very wide circle. They did not know precisely where the trail left the valley. This was to the advantage of the bandits, for when the bandits finally reached the valley, the soldiers were not close. So the bandits, riding in the brush along the base of the mountains, won a good headway against the soldiers.
For two hours the partners could only occasionally see a soldier, because the squadron had come close to the base. But then shots were heard roaring over the valley. The soldiers had caught sight of the bandits, and those who had come upon the fresh tracks had fired signal shots to get the whole troop on the right trail.
Now a lively race started in the valley. The soldiers were chasing the bandits, who disbanded, each trying to escape in his own way. Such were their usual tactics, a procedure which made it very difficult for the soldiers to round up all the bandits within a short time. A few always escaped. These men joined others, also escaped, and formed a new band no less ferocious than the original one. The task for the soldiers and the police was seldom an easy one. Many of them lost their lives in these battles, and still more returned to their barracks wounded, or crippled for the rest of their days.
For the partners, watching the fight of civilization against barbarism, it became more and more difficult to follow the events in the valley. The bandits were seen riding in all directions with the soldiers after them. They went farther and farther out of sight down the valley. Shots became fainter and fainter.
“I would suggest,” Dobbs said, “that we now, for the first time in two days, sit down to a quiet and decent dinner and have a friendly talk about the news of the day.”
“Not so bad, that idea. Let’s do it right away.” Howard laughed.
“If I should be asked,” Curtin shouted mirthfully, “I’d say it’s okay by me. What say, Laky-Shaky?”
Lacaud made a hardly visible effort to smile, which he hoped Curtin would understand and take for a perfect answer.
Chapter 14
Camp was pitched once more. Having had their eats, the partners were loafing about. Sunset was still far off. Yet no one felt like working. The burros were taken from their hiding-place and led down to be watered and then left to return to pasture.
After nightfall, when they sat around the fire smoking and discussing the events of the last forty hours, they found the happenings of the last two days had so exhausted them that they had lost interest in the work which had enabled them to endure all sorts of hardships and privations for so many months. They felt almost as though they had aged overnight.