LITMIR.BIZ

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dropping on one knee, his Winchester in his hands. "They're comin' right soon!"

      This was true. With mad cries and a fusillade of shots, the bandits charged.

      Bushnell opened fire, and Frank followed his example. Several of the bandits were seen to fall, but still the others came on.

      "Lead won't stop 'em!" snarled the Westerner. "It'll be hand ter hand in a jiffy."

      "And that means——"

      "We'll get wiped out."

      "The balloon——"

      "Won't carry more'n two—possibly three. In with ye, boy! You may escape! It don't make any diffrunce 'bout an old coon like me."

      "Not much will I get in and leave you!" cried Frank. "We are partners in this expedition, and partners we'll stay to the end!"

      "But ther others—ther professor an' ther Dutch boy! They might escape if——"

      "They shall escape!"

      Out flashed a knife in Frank Merriwell's hand, and, with one sweeping slash, he severed the strong rope that held the tugging, tossing balloon to the earth. Away shot the balloon, a cry of amazement and horror breaking from the lips of the professor and Hans.

      "Mein gootness!" gasped the Dutch boy. "Vot vos happened?"

      "I'll tell you," groaned the professor. "The balloon could not carry all four of us, and Frank Merriwell, like the noble, generous, hot-headed, foolish boy he is, refused to leave Bushnell. At the same time he would not doom us, and he cut the rope, setting the balloon free. He has remained behind to die at Bushnell's side."

      "Led me git oudt!" sobbed Hans. "I vant to go pack und die mit him!"

      "It was too late now. Look—see there! We are directly over the Silver Palace! What a beautiful——"

      The professor's words were interrupted by a frightful rumbling roar that came up from the gulf surrounding the plateau on which the palace stood. All the way around that gulf a sheet of flame seemed to leap upward through smoke, and then, paralyzed, helpless, hypnotized by the spectacle, they saw the plateau and the palace sink and disappear into the blackness of a great void. Then, like a black funeral pall, the smoke rolled up about them and shut off their view.

      But they knew that never again would the eyes of any human being behold the marvelous Silver Palace of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

      When the balloon had ascended higher another current of air was encountered, and the course changed. Away they floated over the mountain peaks and out beyond the great range.

      At last they came down, made a safe landing, and, to their satisfaction, found themselves within a mile of Huejugilla el Alto.

      They had escaped the most frightful perils, but Professor Scotch's heart lay like lead in his bosom, and Hans Dunnerwust was not to be comforted, for they had left Frank Merriwell to his doom.

      In Huejugilla el Alto they remained four days, neither of them seeming to have energy enough to do anything.

      And, on the fourth day, Frank, Al Bushnell, and two others rode into town and stopped at the hotel.

      Picture the meeting between Frank and his friends! Hans shed nearly a bucketful of joyful tears, and Professor Scotch actually swooned from sheer amazement and delight. When the professor recovered, he clung to Frank's hands, saying:

      "This is the happiest moment of my life—if I am not dreaming! Frank, my dear boy, I never expected to see you again. How did you escape?"

      "The eruption of the volcano broke the bandits up," explained Frank; "and, by the time they had recovered and were ready to come at us again, a band of natives, headed by Rodeo, Pacheco's brother, came down on them. A terrible battle ensued. The bandits were defeated, many of them slain, among the latter being the false Pacheco. And whom do you fancy the impostor proved to be, professor?"

      "I haven't the least idea."

      "He was my villainous cousin, Carlos Merriwell."

      "And he is dead?"

      "Yes."

      "That is a good thing. He will not trouble you any more."

      "No, I shall never be troubled by him again. With Rodeo and the natives was Jack Burk——"

      "Jack Burk! The man is dead!"

      "Not quite, professor," declared a familiar voice, and Burk himself stepped forward. "I am still quite lively for a dead man."

      "But—I saw you dead!" declared the astounded professor.

      "You saw me nearly dead, but not quite. You remember I told you of a native who had found me in the hut, and how he had said it was not a fever that ailed me, but was a trouble brought on by drinking the water of the spring near the hut?"

      "Yes, I remember."

      "And I told you the native hastily left me—left me to die alone, as I supposed."

      "I remember that."

      "He did not leave me to die, but went for an antidote. While you were away he returned and administered some of the antidote for the poison, bringing me around, although but a feeble spark of life fluttered in my bosom. Then he took me on his shoulders, and carried me from the hut to another place of shelter, where he brought me back to my full strength in a remarkably brief space of time."

      "I understand why we did not find you," said the professor.

      "We followed the bandits," Jack Burk continued. "This native was Rodeo, the brother of the true Pacheco, and he is here."

      Rodeo stepped forward, bowing with the politeness of a Spanish don.

      "Rodeo made me swear to aid him in hunting down the murderer of his brother. That was the pay he asked for saving my life. I gave the oath, and it was his whim that I should not reveal myself to you till the right time came. But when I saw the spy tracking you, saw him locate you, and saw him hasten to tell the bandits, I was forced to appear and give a warning."

      "We took you for a ghost."

      "I thought it possible you might, and I fancied that might cause you to give all the more heed to the warning."

      "Well, of all remarkable things that ever happened in my life, these events of the past few days take the lead," declared Scotch. "However, I have come through all dangers in safety, and I am happy, for Frank is alive and well."

      "But the Silver Palace is gone, with all its marvelous treasure," said Frank.

      "Thet's right, boy," nodded Bushnell, gloomily. "Ther palace has sunk inter ther earth, an' nary galoot ever gits ther benefit of all ther treasure it contained."

      "Don't take it so hard, partner," said Jack Burk. "Mexico is the land of treasures, and we may strike something else before we cross the Death Divide."

      "Vell," sighed Hans Dunnerwust, "you beoples can hunt for dreasure all you don'd vant to; but I haf enough uf dis pusiness alretty soon. I nefer vos puilt for so much oxcitemend, und I vos goin' to took der next drain for home as soon as I can ged to him. Uf I don'd done dot I vos afrait mein mutter vill nefer seen her leedle Hansie some more."

      "I fancy I have had quite enough of Mexico for the present," smiled Frank. "The United States will do me a while longer, and so, if you are going home, Hans, Professor Scotch and myself will accompany you till we strike Uncle Sam's domain, at least."

      A few days later, bidding their friends adieu, they left Mexico, taking their way northward to New Orleans, where new adventures awaited them, as the chapters to follow will prove.

      CHAPTER XIII.

       A STAMPEDE IN A CITY

       Table of Contents

      It was the day before Mardi Gras

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