His confidence in his ability to escape lessened as the days went by. He tried to pick the lock on his door, and loosen a bar at the window, but without success. It was the fifth day of his captivity and the Mexican girl came to bring him his supper.
To Bob's surprise, this time she did not hurry away. She set the tray of food down and looked at him anxiously.
"You want go?" she asked, in a broken accent.
"You mean escape? Get away from here? Leave?" asked Bob, taking sudden hope.
"Um! Go 'way. Leave bad mans! Maximina help! You go?"
"Of course," replied Bob. "But how are you going to manage it?"
"Wait till dark. Me come. You go, we go. Leave bad mans. Me no like it here. Bad mans whip Maximina."
By which Bob understood that the girl would come when it got dark and help him to escape, accompanying him because she herself had been ill treated by the Mexicans.
"Be good boy! Me come. You glad!" she said, in a whisper.
Just then the sound of voices was heard outside the room, in the corridor.
"Hush! No tell!" cautioned the girl as she glided from the room.
Bob began to eat his supper. His heart was in a flutter of hope.
"Queer why that money don't come," he heard Vasco say, outside. "We'll have to do something pretty soon."
It was getting dark now, and Bob waited anxiously.
Several hours passed. Bob was beginning to think Maximina had forgotten her promise, when he heard a soft footstep outside. Then came a gentle tapping at his door. It was unlocked from the outside, opened, and the Mexican girl stepped in.
"Hush!" she whispered. "We go now. All bad mans gone to feast--holiday. We go. Put on cloak."
She gave Bob a long, dark serape, and produced one for herself. Little time was lost. Led by Maximina, Bob passed out into the dark corridor, down the stairs and through the courtyard, out of the house, under the silent stars that twinkled in the sky.
"This way!" whispered the girl. "We ride ponies. No one here, we take horses. Where you live?"
Bob was at a loss what to do. He wondered how he could make Maximina, whose language he could not speak, and who could talk but imperfectly in his, understand about the underground city. Equally hard would it be to make her comprehend where he lived and how to start for the nearest large city in order to get help or communicate with his friends.