The Mark On The Door Part 7

Silently Frank moved out from behind the bush and crept slowly closer. When he was within a few feet of the intruder he suddenly rushed and leaped upon Vincenzo before the man realized what was happening. There was a frightened yell as the boy bore him to the 79 ground. The intruder struggled furiously, trying to break free of Frank's grasp. He was a big man and very strong, but young Hardy had the advantage of taking him by surprise. He locked both arms tightly around Vincenzo's neck and hung on.

"Joe!" he shouted. "Come quick, Joe! I have him!"

Vincenzo struggled madly, trying to shake Frank lose as the two wrestled back and forth on the gravel walk. Frank heard an answering cry from Joe, and shouts of alarm from within the house.

Then suddenly a dark figure plunged swiftly out from the bushes.

Frank had one glimpse of his attacker, but he was powerless to save himself. An arm rose and fell. A heavy object descended sharply on Frank's head. He felt himself tumbling limply to the ground. Then he knew no more.

Pedro Vincenzo and the other man rushed off into the darkness.

CHAPTER X.

* * HEADQUARTERS ' '.

job, who came running through the garden a few moments later, found his brother lying unconscious in front of the servants' entrance.

"Frank!" he cried wildly, kneeling down beside the prostrate figure. "Frank! You are hurt!"

A door crashed open nearby. Then Senor Marcheta came running out, clad in pajamas and a dressing gown.

"What is it?" he cried in alarm. "What has happened?"

Frank stirred and opened his eyes.

"Pedro!" he whispered. "Don't let him get away. He came to the door-I tackled himsomeone knocked me out-----"

"Pedro?" shouted Senor Marcheta.

In a moment he was summoning the servants, organizing a general search of the grounds.

Frank was carried into the house where Juan and Dolores helped Joe attend to his injuries. He had been struck a violent blow on the head, which had stunned him for a while. Beyond so 81 that, he was not seriously hurt, fortunately.

Lights were flas.h.i.+ng in the garden as Mar-cheta and his servants made a thorough search for the intruders. When Senor Marcheta tramped into the house ten minutes later, he admitted that the miscreants had made good their escape.

"You are sure it was Pedro Pancho?" he asked Frank. "He dared to come here?"

"It was Pedro Vincenzo. I saw his face. Pedro Vincenzo and Pedro Pancho are one and the same, I think. He was trying to unlock the door."

"But how does it happen that you were there?" demanded Juan in bewilderment.

Frank and Joe then explained how they had decided to keep watch on the house after they saw the strange sign on the door. The Mar-chetas were greatly disturbed.

"I shall send word to the police of the city tomorrow," declared Senor Marcheta. "If Pedro Pancho is in the neighborhood he will be arrested."

"I'm afraid the police will have a hard time catching him now," Frank said. "He knows that I recognized him. He won't dare stay around here."

Frank's a.s.sumption was evidently correct. Although Senor Marcheta used his influence with the police department the following day, 82 and the whole city was searched, the officials could find no trace of their man.

The affair proved, however, that Pedro Pancho, alias Vincenzo, was actually in Mexico.

Why he had attempted to enter the Marcheta home was explained in various ways. He might have been making a second attempt to abduct Juan. He might have intended to harm the Hardy boys. Or he might have planned to avenge himself upon the Marcheta family by setting fire to the house. One thing, however, was certain. There would be danger as long as the man remained at large.

'' I must not allow you out of my sight from now on," Senor Marcheta said gravely to Juan and the Hardy boys. "I have asked the police to guard my home at night. I have no further fear of danger from that source. But I think it would be best if we could go away for a little journey."

"That's a good idea!" declared Juan enthusiastically. "It will be dull for them if we stay at home. Perhaps there is some part of the country you would like to see?" he queried, turning to the Hardy boys.

Frank took from his pocket the elaborately engraved certificate of Rio Oil stock that Pedro Vincenzo had given the landlady in payment for his board bill. It had a highly colored picture of an oil well, together with a paragraph " Headquarters" 83 purporting to give the location of the Eio property.

"This is a company that we're-we're interested in to some extent," he said. "We'd like to see their property. Is it far from here?"

Senor Marcheta examined the fake security closely.

"I have never heard of the Rio Oil Company," he said. "According to this certificate, their property must be located about two days' journey from here. Ah, yes, the name of the village is written here. Would you care to go there?"

The Hardy boys said they would be glad to make the trip. In the back of their minds lay the hope that at the Rio Oil Company property they might pick up some information about Vincenzo and Elmer Tremmer.

"Then," declared Senor Marcheta, "we shall set out early tomorrow morning. Perhaps your father will be back by that time."

Fenton Hardy had not returned by the following day, however. Instead, there came a letter in his handwriting, and mailed from some obscure town in the mountains, stating that his return would be delayed for at least a week. The boys were curious as to the reason for his being held up. It occurred to Frank that the letter might be a hoax. A close inspection of 84 the handwriting, however, persuaded them that the missive was indeed from Fenton Hardy.

"In that case," said Juan, "there is no need to wait. We can leave without delay."

Frank and Joe could not help but think, as thev set off on their journey, mounted on horses from Senor Marcheta's stables, that their chums back in Bayport would have been envious if they could have seen them. Clad in the costume of the country, with wide-brimmed sombreros to shade their eyes from the sun, thev jogged along picturesque country roads through subtropical hills and valleys riotous with vegetation, stopping here and there at quaint little inns along the way. The boys had an opportunity of seeing the real beauty of Mexico, and many of their former ideas of the country were changed completely.

"I always had a notion it was just a big, sunburnt desert!" said Joe. "Nothing but cactus plants and bandits." Juan laughed.

"Mexico has much beauty, "he said. '' There are mountains, and canons, and jungles, and cities, and towns. The Tamasopa Canon is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is on the way from Tampico to San Luis Potosi. You cannot find such color anywhere else on earth. Millions of flowers grow there-cape jasmine, wild gardenias and orchids. Then 85 there are the b.u.t.terflies and the tropical birds. But of course we have deserts, too. "We are going toward the desert called the Bolson de Mapimi. It Bolson de Mapimi. It was at one time a great lake. was at one time a great lake.

The bones of mastodons and other animals that lived millions of years ago have been found there. That is why the people of Coahuila call the place the Llano de los Gigantes, Llano de los Gigantes, the the desert of giants."

Then Juan broke into a merry laugh.

"I sound like a school teacher," he said. "Yet you shall see for yourselves. That is much better than to be told."

On the second day of their journey the boys began to leave the fertile country behind.

Juan told them that they were drawing closer to the desert. Senor Marcheta had made inquiries at the inn where they had spent the night, and informed Frank and Joe that they must not be disappointed if they found no oil wells in the neighborhood to which they were going.

"This is not oil country," he said. "No one to whom I have spoken has heard of this Rio company you mention.''

"We won't be surprised to learn that the Rio outfit hasn't any oil wells," Frank admitted.

"When the travelers finally reached the village that had been indicated on the oil certificate, they learned that their suspicions had 86 been correct. An innkeeper with whom Senor Marcheta conferred said that no oil had ever been found within many miles of the place, and that no such company as the Bio Oil Company had ever been heard of in the vicinity.

The innkeeper, a stout, swarthy fellow with a good-natured face, served the group a meal. Thereupon he went over and whispered confidentially to Senor Marcheta. Their conversation lasted for some time. "When the man returned to the kitchen Senor Marcheta said: "Perhaps there may be something to this Rio company after all. The man tells me that there are rumors in town about a place called 'Headquarters,' run by some shady characters who come here occasionally. It is out in the desert-an oasis, the innkeeper says."

"We're not going to turn back now," Juan declared. "What do you say, Frank and Joel Shall we strike on to this oasis, or 'Headquarters,' as they call it?"

The Hardy boys needed no urging. Even if Pedro Vincenzo had not taken flight to this part of the country, they were determined to see the desert at all costs. Senor Marcheta, smiling, agreed to continue the journey the following morning.

Eager with antic.i.p.ation the Hardy boys had their first experience of the desert the next day. For miles and miles, stretching out to the dis87 tent horizon, lay wastes of golden sand in smooth hillocks and slopes blown up by the wind. As the horses jogged out into the arid wastes, clumps of bright blossomed cacti and occasional b.u.t.tes of rock rising sharply out of the desert arrested the attention of the boys.

"Do people actually live out here?" Frank inquired of Senor Marcheta.

"It is not all desert, of course," replied his host. "There are the oases, and sometimes large lakes, where wandering bands of Indians stop." He glanced at his compa.s.s. "This oasis to which we are going is a fertile place. Up in Chihuahua this desert was known as the Llano de los Cristianos, Llano de los Cristianos, because in the early days of the Jesuit because in the early days of the Jesuit padres padres many converts many converts were driven out of the mountains by those who refused to be converted. They were literally forced into the desert, and wandered from plac& to place."

"Wouldn't they die of thirst!" asked Joe.

Juan laughed.

"There is plenty of water on the desert," ha said.

Joe stared at him unbelievingly.

"Cactus," explained Juan. "Every species of cactus has its water reservoir. Some have them below the ground, others above. The barrel cactus has saved hundreds of desert travelers from dying of thirst."

88 As the sun rose higher in the clear sky the heat became more intense. Frank and Joe were not able to keep up with their more experienced companions, and bit by bit lagged behind.

"It's all a grand experience, Frank," said Joe. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Just the same, I don't believe we're going to find any trace of Pedro Vincenzo."

"We'll have something to tell the folks back home at any rate. Boy! It's warmer out here than I bargained for. I'm getting thirsty."

"Don't let that worry you," Joe replied, swinging himself out of the saddle. "There's a fine big cactus just a few yards away. I'm glad Juan told us about them.''

He strode over to the large spiked plant that rose from the sands and took a tiny folding cup from his pocket. He broke open the cactus with his knife and dipped into the nectar.

"Come and try it," he invited, draining the contents of the cup.

"What does it taste like?"

Joe made a grimace.

"Sort of bitter and sort of sweet," he said. "It isn't bad, though."

Frank climbed out of the saddle.

"The desert beats the city all hollow," he remarked. "You don't find drinking fountains every five yards apart in town."

89 Joe handed his brother the cup and motioned toward the cactus plant.

"Help yourself to a nice clear drink."

Frank was just dipping into it when they heard a thunder of hoofs. The boys looked up to see Juan riding swiftly toward them. He *was shouting and gesticulating wildly.

"I wonder what's the matter!" exclaimed Frank, the cup raised halfway to his lips.

In another moment Juan rode up in a cloud of sand, flung himself out of the saddle, and ran toward them.

"Don't drink it I Don't drink it!" he cried, and dashed the cup out of Frank's hand.

"Why?" demanded Frank.

"I forgot to tell you. Some varieties of cactus contain deadly poison." Juan looked at the plant. "And this is one of them!" he declared.

Joe uttered a gasp of horror.

"I just drank some!" he gasped.

CHAPTER XI.

THE INDIAN.

the Hardy boys were white with terror. Juan wrung his hands.

"It's all my fault," he cried. "I should have warned you. How much did you drink?" he demanded.

"A cupful."

Sefior Marcheta was riding toward them and Juan summoned him to hurry.

"We'll have to get you back to the town right away," the Mexican boy snapped.

"Perhaps, if we get there in time, we may be able to find medicine to counteract the poison."

"I'm beginning to feel sick already," said Joe dolefully.

Senor Marcheta's horse thundered up to the boys.

"What's the matter?" demanded Juan's father in alarm.

Then, when he saw the broken cactus plant, his face became serious, and he swung himself out of the saddle.

"He drank from a poison cactus," said Juan.

Senor Marcheta strode quickly over to the plant and examined it. Finally he turned aside with a sigh of relief.