The boys kept their horses in a rapid gallop until they reached the bridle-path in the mountains, and then Archie went ahead with the pack-horse, and the others followed in single file.  They rode along singing and shouting, and little dreaming of the danger that was so near, until they arrived in sight of the spring, near which Frank had his last encounter with the robber.  He soon found that he was to have another adventure there; for, as he and his companions rode toward the spring, they were startled by a shrill whistle, which echoed among the mountains, and was answered on all sides of them; and, before they had recovered from their surprise, Pierre Costello appeared in the path, as suddenly as though he had dropped from the clouds, and came toward them, holding a pistol in each hand.

“Halt!” shouted the robber.

The boys looked about them, as if seeking some avenue of escape, and then they saw that Pierre was not alone.  Every thicket, toward which they turned their eyes, bristled with weapons, and a dozen revolvers were leveled straight at their heads.  It was useless to think of flight.

CHAPTER XIII.

Pierre and his band.

“Halt, I say!” repeated Pierre, riding up beside Frank, and seizing his horse by the bridle.  “Disarm them, men, and shoot down the first one that resists,” he added, as the band closed up around the boys.

Frank, seeing, at a glance, that it was useless to think of escape, sat quietly in his saddle, and allowed Pierre to take possession of his rifle, pistols, and lasso.

Johnny and Archie also surrendered at discretion; but Arthur, believing that the time had come to retrieve the reputation he had lost so ingloriously a few days before, determined that he would not surrender without a fight.  It was a part of his contract with the robber chief, that he should be allowed to resist as desperately as he pleased, and he took advantage of it.  He gazed at the Rancheros for a moment with well-assumed astonishment, and then, appearing to comprehend the situation, he shouted: 

“Stick together, fellows, and fight for your liberties!  Don’t give up, like a pack of cowards!  Knock ’em down!  Shoot ’em!  Take your hand off that bridle, you villain!”

As Arthur spoke, he dashed his spurs into the flanks of his horse, which bounded forward so suddenly, that he jerked the bridle from the grasp of the Ranchero who was holding him.

“Hurrah!  I’m free, boys!” he shouted, clubbing his gun, and swinging it around his head.  “Follow me, and I’ll show you how we used to clean out the Indians.”

Arthur’s triumph was of short duration.  The Ranchero, from whom he had escaped, was at his side in an instant, and, again seizing his bridle with one hand, he leveled a pistol full at his prisoner’s head with the other, while Pierre caught his gun from behind, and wrested it from his grasp.  At the same moment, a lasso, thrown by the Ranchero who had taken charge of Archie, settled down over his shoulders, and was drawn tight.