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But, he added, if the raiders are successful, "then it might please our Captain to give unto him, as much as might suffice for him and his mistress to live upon, as he had heard our Captain had done to divers others" promising, in such a case, to make his name as famous as any of them which had received the like favour. Being now "at the place appointed" Drake divided his men into two companies.
Of course the death of those warriors will have to be avenged by their relatives. Perhaps you don't know it, but that is Indian law." "I do know it," interrupted George. "I couldn't have lived so close to these raiders, both Indians and Mexicans, nearly all my life without learning something about their ways, could I? I am a Texan, like yourself." "You are? I took you for a Yankee soldier."
"On the afternoon that I have in mind, a farmhouse just outside the village bore mute evidence that raiders had been there. All the windows had been broken out, doors smashed in and blackened spots about the windows and doors on the outside wall indicated that the house had been set on fire on the inside, but for some reason had not burned down. The scene was a cheerless one.
"We were sleeping pretty soundly, Bessie," said Eleanor, her cheeks red with indignation at the trick that had been played upon her girls. "If the windows had been open, they couldn't have done it." Bessie had hard work getting through the tiny closet window, which had been overlooked by the raiders, but she managed it somehow, and in a moment she was outside.
The sheriff's men leapt into their saddles, and advanced both in front and in rear of the trapped raiders. And the cowpunchers came racing down from the corrals to hurl themselves into the mêlée whooping and yelling, as only men of their craft can. The fight waxed furious, but the odds were in favor of the ambush. The clouded sky lent neither side much assistance.
Sprawled upon the floor lay the raiders, and to them Pete and Nails turned their attention, while Lawrence glided among them, peering into their faces. Watching for the slightest move, stood a dozen of the cowboys, with Mr. Wilder and the four lads.
Then the raider wheeled his plunging horse back to the level, and went racing wildly down the valley. The compact bunch of bays and blacks seemed to break apart and spread rapidly from the edge of the mesquites. Puffs of white smoke indicated firing, and showed the nature of the raiders' excitement. They were far out of ordinary range, but they spurred toward Ladd, shooting as they rode.
There is time for flight, a chance, too, for a reprisal. But against these raiders of the sky there is nothing. One sits and waits. And no town is safe. One moment there is a peaceful village with war twenty, fifty miles away. The next minute hell breaks loose. Houses are destroyed. Sleeping children die in their cradles. The streets echo and reëcho with the din of destruction.
"A great explosion of gunpowder ended the conflagration of the magazines the raiders had set on fire without loss of time. In less than six hours they were riding away at the same mad speed, without the loss of a single man. Good as they were, such an exploit is not performed without a still better leadership.
Presently the party came upon a little village, lying peacefully nestled on the hillside. It was evening, and the smoke was rising tranquilly into the air, while the men and boys were driving the cows home for the evening milking. Little did the raiders care about the quiet beauty of the scene. With a shout they bore down upon the village.