CHAPTER XXII

THE TOLA EMBLEM

But if the detective and the cowboys with him thought they could silence this raging Mexican with one shot, they were soon to find out to the contrary.

"Dogs and pigs!" hissed the man as he leaped to his feet, for the shock of the bullet in his right hand had sent him spinning around so that he fell. "Pigs!"

"Seems to be their pet word!" chuckled Nat, as he eyed the fellow.

The detective did not give the Mexican credit enough for brute courage and indominable grit. But no sooner was the Mexican on his feet than he made a rush for the double dagger that had fallen to the ground near Slim.

"Grab that knife!" yelled Ike, sensing the fellow's intention.

But Slim was still dazed by the fall from his tripped horse, and not capable of action. It might yet have gone hard with him had not Nat Ridley fired again.

This time the sleuth did not risk shooting at the hand which held the double-pointed knife--the left. It appeared that the Mexican could use either fist for stabbing. Instead Nat aimed at his head.

Such an accurate shot was the detective that he could have sent a bullet through the assassin's head, but he was more merciful than was the member of the Tola gang, and only shot off one ear.

As the bullet gave him this injury, the Mexican, with a scream of terror and pain, dropped the double dagger the second time and then fled down the road that ran in front of the black cave.

"That's the last we'll see of him!" cried Ike.

"There may be more," observed Nat. "Get your gun ready while I go take a look at Slim."

Ike drew his heavy revolver, but no others of the gang came from the cavern, and while Ike stood guard Nat bent over the stunned cowboy. Luckily he was only stunned, and when he had recovered the wind that had been knocked out of him he looked up at Nat, started to rise and murmured:

"Thanks, old man. Hope I can do the same for you some day."

"I don't want to be in as tight a place as that," remarked Nat. "I like a little bigger margin."

"I sure thought he had you!" exclaimed Ike while Nat walked to where the emblem of the Tola gang had been dropped by the murderous Mexican and picked up the double dagger.

"A nasty weapon," observed Slim as he got to his feet, little the worse for his fall. The horse was not hurt, and after scrambling up and running on a little way, was now cropping grass. "He sure did me a dirty fall," he added, dusting off his clothes.

"You're lucky," commented Ike. "Mr. Ridley fired just in time. Look out, sleuth," he added as he heard the detective give a surprised exclamation. "Cut yourself?" he asked.

"No," Nat answered. "But this is a trick dagger. Look here!"

He held out in his hand what seemed to be only the handle of a knife. Both blades had disappeared. But, as the cowboys watched, the shining points of steel sprang into view again.

"What's the idea?" asked Ike.

"The blades appear and disappear by pressure on a spring hidden here," Nat said, indicating where, amid the carving on the handle, a little head of a grinning Aztec god appeared. "Look!"

The detective worked the mechanism, which he had discovered by accident, causing the blades to shoot out and in with a sinister suggestion of the injuries they could cause in the hands of a Tola.

"That's a bad knife," remarked Ike.

"The Tolas have a miniature one like it, which they use as a pin to fasten their cards on the bodies of their victims," Nat informed his friends. "The points of the little dagger are doped in some way so the person about to be murdered is rendered helpless."

"Better look out that the points of that double dagger aren't smeared with dope," advised Slim.

"I'll be careful," Nat promised. "I'll sheath the blades before I put it in my pocket," and he suited his action to his words.

"What are you going to do with it?" asked Slim.

"I don't know yet," was the answer. "But I have an idea that with it I can get hold of some of the secrets of the Tola gang. Now at last we're at the cave where we wanted to hide. But I am in two minds about it. Since getting this dagger, I have half a notion to go back to Rolamotaza and have a look for Miss Ardell."

"Let's rest a bit," suggested Slim. "I don't feel as chipper as I might."

"Oh, I didn't mean to rush off now," remarked Nat. "We'll spend the night here in the cave."

"Maybe we'd better find out first," suggested Ike, "whether there are any more of the gang in there."

"It is hardly likely," said Nat. "They would have come out after what has happened--the shooting and the talking."

They picketed their horses--Ike said it was an insult to good cow ponies to call the three "crow-baits" by that name--and started for the cavern. But they had no sooner entered it than they became aware that it was inhabited, at least by a voice.

Out of the depths, in which showed a glow from either a lantern or a candle some distance in, echoed a pleading voice:

"Help! Help! Don't leave me alone this way! Help!"

Something like an electric shock went through Nat Ridley. He uttered an exclamation, drew his powerful flashlight from his pocket, and ran back into the cave, while the cowboys, after a startled look at each other, followed.

"Miss Ardell--Cora!" cried Nat. "Is that you? Are you here?"

"Yes! Yes! I am! Oh, is that Mr. Ridley? Thank heaven you have come to save me! Oh, help me!"

"That's just what we'll do, lady!" declared Slim.

"Surest thing you know!" added Ike, and both cowboys began rearranging their neckerchiefs, though the cave was too dark, even with the glow of a lantern and Nat's flashlight, to show any personal adornments.

"This must be the girl the sleuth was telling about," murmured Ike to Slim.

"That's right--the one kidnapped in Paloma. He sure is playing in great luck!"

Cora Ardell it was, a bound prisoner in the black cave. Nat Ridley soon freed her of the bonds.

"What happened and how did you get here?" asked the detective, when the girl had been given water to drink and led to a seat on a rude, wooden bench.

"That night after you came in late at the Paloma boarding house," related Cora when she had recovered her composure, "I fell asleep. I was awakened by feeling a hand over my mouth. I tried to get up, to scream, and to fight my assailant, but I was not able. I guess they had drugged me. I remember dimly that they asked me certain questions and that I answered, though I don't know what I said.

"Then they made me walk with them out of the house--two men in masks. It was as if I was in a daze. I dimly remember being put into an automobile, and then I came to my senses in this cave. I have been a prisoner here ever since, and the men have taken turns in demanding that I sign papers giving them back the oil wells."

"Did you?" asked Nat.

"I did not! They said they would kill me unless I signed, but I said my friends would rescue me. There were a number of men in this cave all the while. I think it must be the headquarters of the Tola gang."

"It begins to look so," admitted Nat. "But they must have only recently taken over this place, for you saw no signs of them when you two were here before, did you?" he asked the cowboys, and they answered in the negative.

"The other day," went on Cora, "there seemed to be a sudden alarm. All the men rushed out and I was left alone with an old Mexican and his wife. He has been my jailer ever since. I must say he did not treat me cruelly, though he kept me bound. Then the woman went away this morning, and I did not know what to think. A little while ago I heard horses approaching."

"They must have been our nags," remarked Ike. "And that rush the other day was after us."

"Yes," assented Nat. "Well, what happened then, Miss Ardell?"

"My Mexican guard suddenly rushed out a little while ago," the girl reported, "and then I began to work the gag from my mouth. I heard shots, and I struggled to free myself and shouted for help. Then you came in."

"I'm glad we did," replied Nat Ridley emphatically. "Your guard is out of the way," and he told something of what had happened. "The gang of Tolas left this cave to chase us," he went on. "But we gave them the slip and got back here by a roundabout way. They haven't returned yet, it seems."

"And will we be here when they come moseying in?" asked Ike.

"Not if I know it!" declared Slim. "I don't like the looks of their double daggers!"

"No, we sha'n't stay here," decided Nat Ridley. He had quickly made up his mind to a daring plan for rounding up the Tola gang, now that he had in his possession one of their double daggers.

"With your help, my cowboy friends," said the detective, "I'll have these scoundrels just where I want them. Can I count on you?"

"You bet!" came fervently from the pair.

"Then," said Nat Ridley in a low voice, "this is what I intend to do."