ullets "pinged" harmlessly against the steel
shutters, or buried themselves in the thick, wooden walls.

Suddenly there came an angry shout from some one evidently in authority
among the insurrectos. Instantly the attack melted away, the
retreating men dragging their wounded with them. It was Jack's first
sight of real warfare, and it made his blood, as well as that of the
others, run cold.

"Now what are they up to?" wondered Buck, as this sudden cessation of
activities came.

"Search me," rejoined Coyote Pete, "but it's some deviltry, you can bet
on that--that voice was Ramon's. He's got a plan in his head to get us
out of here."

"Well, he'll have a man's-sized job on his hands," rejoined Buck,
calmly reloading the magazine of his rifle and running a cleaning rod
through the foul barrel.

The others employed their time in the same manner. Thus they waited
for what seemed an interminable age. Still there was no sign of the
Mexicans. The yard without was empty of life.

"If they don't show up in a few minutes, what say if we open the door
and make a rush for it?" asked Jack.

"As good an idea as any," rejoined Buck, "but what I would like to know
right now is what they can be doing."

"Queer, ain't it?" said Pete.

They all agreed that it was, but not one could hit upon an explanation
that seemed plausible.

Suddenly, Buck, who had been sniffing suspiciously for a few seconds,
gave a sharp exclamation.

"Do you fellows smell anything?"

"No----" began Jack, and then:

"Good heavens, yes! Something's on fire!"

"That's right," agreed Pete, without a quaver in his voice. "The
varmints hev set fire to the building from the rear."

"That's what!" rejoined Buck, "and we can't get within a mile of them.
I don't suppose there are any rifle holes in the specie room are there,
Mr. Geisler?"

"Nodt a vun," rejoined the German, in a peculiar voice, and then they
noticed, in the gloomy light of the closed-up place, that his face was
ashen white.

It was clear that the German was badly frightened. His knees seemed to
be knocking together, in fact. Small wonder, too. The sharp, acrid
smell of blazing wood was in the air now. They could hear the crackle
of the flames as they devoured the wooden outer walls of the specie
room.

"Come, cheer up, my man," Buck admonished the quaking German. "Why
you've stood it all through like a major, and----"

"Idt ain't dot. Idt ain't dose mis-er-able crease