Like a cat the native was on his feet. Rushing at Dick with a savage
cry he drew back his right arm, in which was a dangerous looking knife.
His assailant was within a few feet of him when Dick launched his one
hundred and sixty-five pounds of brawn and muscle in a low tackle which
did credit to his football training at Bankley. Unaccustomed to such a
method of attack, the native had no chance at all, and again he fell to
the path, his head striking against a rock; the knife flew from his hand
into the bushes, and he lay there motionless.
In another moment Dick was up, and taking the pieces of rope he found
near by, he quickly tied both men securely, nor did he do the task at
all gently. The man whom Dick had first struck was now groaning, for the
terrific blow had fractured his jaw; as for the other, it was not
certain in Dick’s mind whether he was dead or not, for he had not moved
since his second fall.
For the first time Dick looked at the woman whose summons for help he
had so effectually answered. To his surprise she was lying in the road,
her eyes closed and face deathly pale. What should he do? Was she
dead? Had her assailants dealt her some fatal blow? Had he arrived too
late to save her?
Kneeling at her side Dick looked anxiously into her face; he felt
incompetent to cope with this phase of the situation. She was a comely
woman about thirty years of age, her fair complexion and light hair
proclaiming her of a northern race. As he watched, the color began
slowly returning to the white cheeks. He saw her lips move and bending
he caught the one word they uttered:
"Soledad!"
He was still bending over her when the eyelids quiveringly opened and
drawing a deep sigh the blue eyes of the woman looked straight up into
the dark eyes of the brown-skinned boy, whose straight black hair and
aquiline features, now covered in dirt and dust, brought to her mind but
one thought--the horrible men who had attacked her. She started to
scream, but the unspeakable terror again crept over her and again she
fainted.
Dick’s mind was working with lightning rapidity. The name "Soledad" must
be that of Señor Perez’s daughter; this woman must be the new governess!
Her two assailants, securely bound, were no longer a menace, but the
child was in a dangerous predicament. The German woman would soon
regain consciousness and be able to secure help--but Soledad, the little
girl already in mortal fear of rebels, who for two years had suffered
from a former revolution, what of her? If he returned for help her
abductors would be far away by that time. If he set out in pursuit at
once he might overtake them and--and what?
He was unarmed! What could he accomplish against so many? Six men had
disappeared in the tangle of woods,--there might be more, and those he
had seen were armed with rifles. He remembered that point distinctly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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