HEN Hampton wakened again, it was to darkness. The reflection of cooking fires outside cast a very faint glow into the bunk-horse, where men were talking and smoking; the slaves of Dias were not supplied with lights, but were given a goodly allowance of tobacco. The guards at the entrance were checking off those who entered, as usual.
Hearing a soft sound of sobbing, Hampton put out his hand and found his brother lying at his side. Eli gripped his fingers quickly, with a low word.
“Dick! I've been half-wild today—to think that it was to help me you came here”
“Shut up,” said Hampton curtly. “I'm not hurt. Did Hoskins tell you about tonight?”
“Yes.” Eli controlled himself. “You're feeling able to walk?”
“Able to do more than walk, I hope,” said Hampton grimly. “I don't say that I enjoyed myself, but I'm not much hurt. Hoskins got me some grease that helped a lot.”
“He was keeping that to use on himself—Dias threatened to burn him, last week. Well, Dick, you'll have to let me over next the wall; if I'm to finish cutting the hole, it must be now before the noise quiets down. I'll get out first.”
There was no room for Eli to crawl over his brother, so when the bunk was clear, Hampton sat up and swung his feet to the floor, while Eli crept in past him. Much to his own surprize, Hampton found himself in much better condition than he had anticipated. Every movement cost its share of pain, naturally, yet his freedom of movement in general was not restricted; and on that unhappy traverse up from Panama, Hampton had learned anew the admirable results of muscular pain coupled with necessary exertion. All seamen were compelled to learn that lesson at bitter cost—yet Hampton had now learned it in ways not of the sea.
“I'm fit enought,” he muttered to Eli, as he took the outside place. “Once let me get a grip on that Yaqui, and I'll give him something to remember me by! Who else goes with us?”
“Talk later,” grunted Eli, who was head and shoulders inside the wall opening. “Got a foot of adobe yet to cut through.”
Hampton composed himself in patience, thankful now for the noise as the half-drunken men continued to come up from the pulque mill. He could hear the machete busily at work in the four-foot wall, whose adobes crumbled rapidly before it; and presently, by the occasional whiff of fresh air and the sound of falling fragments, knew that Eli was through the wall. He lay breathless, fearful lest some one hear the sounds, but no alarm was raised, and after a bit Eli, breathing hard, was back beside him and stuffing blankets into the opening.
“Now we're fixed,” said Eli, in an inaudible murmur, his lips at Hampton's ear. “I got word to Frenchy—he and Hoskins will be along, and maybe a couple of greasers I've sounded out. Can't trust many. At midnight the guards are changed and they come poking in here and there, so, quick's they've gone, we'll get to work.”
Hampton, not trusting himself to respond, lay quiet, and presently dozed off again.
He wakened to a light before his eyes, blinked into a lantern just above his face, and heard the Yaqui guards exchange a jest; it was midnight, the inspection and change of guard were under way. Beside him, El Bobo flung an oath and an incoherent babble at the guards, who laughed and passed on. Their lantern bobbed a moment at the door, then passed outside.
A dull sound came from the wall, and a breath of cold, clear night air. Then the low voice of Eli.
“Come on. They'll be along any minute.”
“They” referred to Hoskins and the others, no doubt. Hampton rolled over and shoved his legs at the ragged hole. Movement cost him a good deal of pain, of course, though not enough to hamper him in action; he wriggled into the hole, felt his feet gripped from the outside, and presently scraped through into the open air. Eli caught and supported him, helped him find his feet.
“Wait here for the others,” said Eli, his voice athrill with eagerness. “Keep 'em quiet. I'm going to get the guards—they belong to me—I don't calculate to let Pap Hoskins cheat me neither—he'll get his knife in 'em first if he has the chance”
The dark figure melted away.
Hampton found himself standing alone at the rear of the adobe barracks. Brilliant starlight showed him the cactus-dotted hill side and the black cañon wall behind; all else was cut off by the long adobe building. The night was cold, crystal-clear. Under the blazing stars objects stood out distinctly.