Plop!--Plop!--Plop! and three of the four eggs targeted an accurate
twelve o'clock. Pete leaped and kicked viciously. His high heel
caught one choking Mexican in the jaw just as Brevoort jumped and swung
the single-tree. Pete grabbed up his belt and gun.
Brevoort had no need to strike again.
"You go see if the horses are saddled. I'll watch the door," said
Brevoort.
Arguilla was awakened from a heavy sleep by the sound of a shot and the
shrill yelp of one of his men. A soldier entered and saluted. "The
Americans have gone," he reported.
Arguilla's bloated face went from red to purple, and he reached for his
gun which lay on the chair near his bed. But the lieutenant who had
reported the escape faced his chief fearlessly.
Arguilla hesitated. "Who guarded them?" he asked hoarsely.
The lieutenant named the men.
"Take them out and shoot them--at once."
"But, Senor Comandante, they may not stand. The Americans have beaten
them so that they are as dead."
"Then shoot them where they lay--which will be easier to do."
CHAPTER XXIX
QUERY
Far out across the starlit gloom the two thoroughbreds raced side by
side.
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