Taken thus at a disadvantage, it was not strange Merry could not prevent his enemy from rising to an upright position. Then once more the Mexican exerted all his strength to hurl Merry over the brink. To the right and to the left they swayed. Once they staggered to within a foot of the edge. Frank sought to break the other man’s hold, and this he finally accomplished just as Del Norte made an upward surge and thrust out a foot in an effort to trip the American. The Mexican’s heel struck something, and a moment later, with a shrill cry of horror, he found himself tottering at the edge of the bluff. Merry leaped forward with one hand outstretched in an effort to grasp the fellow and save him from that fall. Too late! Beneath Porfias del Norte’s feet the ledge crumbled, and, with another cry of despair, the miserable wretch dropped from view, turning over and over as he fell. It happened that Inza Burrage, who had concealed herself some distance away, being directed by the sound of voices during the struggle, had approached the cliff just in time to witness Del Norte fall. To her horrified eyes it seemed that Frank sprang forward with hand outthrust and hurled the wretched Mexican over the precipice. She stopped in her tracks, turned to stone by what she had witnessed. Merry stood for a moment or two as if horrified. As he dropped on his hands and knees and peered over the brink, he heard a crashing sound amid the treetops far, far below. “They will find a dead Mexican down there!” he muttered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXIX IN THE HANDS OF DEL NORTE. “Pard,” said Brad Buckhart, edging his chair close to Dick as they sat on the veranda of the hotel, “this yere business is a whole lot like a Sunday-school picnic to me. I sure am getting some weary of it. I don’t want to kick any, but it seems to me you’re not having a hilarious old time yourself.” “Oh, I am enjoying it all right,” answered Dick. “Still don’t you feel a heap like a misfit in this crowd? If it were our bunch it would be different. We don’t seem to pair up any. There’s Rattleton, he’s satisfied to sit and look on, and Browning is too lazy to be disturbed over anything, while the rest of the party kind of pair up and go it first-rate. I don’t want to make a holler, but I’d some prefer to be down on the _Sachem_ about now, and I think we can add to the bliss of the others if we vamoose.” “Well, if you’re anxious to go——” began Dick. “Not exactly anxious, but I am tired of keeping still. We won’t break up the congregation any if we pull out by our own selves, partner.” “All right,” said Dick, “we will do so. I fancy we’ll have no trouble in following the wagon road down the mountain.” Young Merriwell told Rattleton of their decision, and asked him to inform Frank when Merry returned to the hotel.