Free The Adventurers by Harold Robbins Page A

"Estamos aqui," I said.
    Manuelo was off his horse in a second. "You and Roberto take the horses back into the cave!" he ordered. "The others come with me. We must cover our tracks from the road!"
    They slid out of their saddles as Roberto and I gathered up the reins and led the horses into the cave. At first they whinnied and shied from the darkness but we talked soothingly to them and after a few moments they quieted. Roberto put a loop through their reins and tied them to a boulder, and we ran back to the entrance.
    Fat Cat and Santiago the Older were backing toward us through the trees, sweeping the ground with branches. Manuelo and the younger Santiago were setting up one of the tommy guns on its tripod. When it was assembled they picked it up and ran back to the mouth of the cave.
    When Fat Cat and the older Santiago were finished, they nodded with satisfaction at the gun. Fat Cat plumped himself down behind it and squinted along the sights with approval.
    Manuelo gestured to the younger Santiago. "Up into the trees. Cover us with your rifle if there is trouble."
    Santiago was settled among the branches almost before the order was completed. The leaves quivered for a moment as he disappeared from sight.
    Manuelo looked at us two boys. "You, back into the cave."
    Before we could protest Fat Cat held up his hand. We stood very still, listening. The heavy drum of hoofbeats was clear now. "There are more than twenty," he said, his hand gesturing for us to lie down.
    Manuelo went to his hands and knees and crept out toward the road. At the edge of the clump of trees I could see the back of his head as he raised himself to peer down. I tried to look past him to the road but it was hidden by the dipping curve of the mountainside.
    The hoofbeats grew louder and Manuelo's head disappeared. The sound rose from the road directly in front of us, then it passed and began to grow fainter.
    Manuelo came running back. "Cavalry," he said. "A whole troop! I counted thirty-four."
    Fat Cat's lips pursed. "What are they doing here? El militar was not reported in Bandaya."
    Manuelo shrugged. "They are here."
    There was the distant sound of a bugle, then silence. Manuelo listened for a moment more, then sat down behind the machine gun and lit a cigarrillo. His eyes were thoughtful.
    "Hola, Younger!" he called in a low penetrating voice. "What do you see?"
    The voice came back muffled by the leaves. "Nothing. The road it is clear."
    "Not the road, you fool! The valley."
    There was a silence, then the voice came again. "There is smoke rising into the air but it is too far to tell what is burning."
    "Can you see anything else?"
    "No. Shall I come down now?"
    "Stay there!"
    "My cojones are sore from straddling this branch."
    Fat Cat laughed. "It isn't the branch that your cojones are sore from." He turned to Manuelo. "What do you think?"
    "I don't know," Manuelo answered thoughtfully. "It could have been a raiding party passing through the valley."
    "What now?" Fat Cat asked. "Do we go home?"
    "Guns are a poor substitute for meat."
    "But if there are soldiers in the valley—"
    Manuelo interrupted. "We do not know that there are. The only ones we saw were riding away."
    Fat Cat was silent. Santiago the Older came over and sat down opposite him. They sat there silently staring at one another.
    I felt a pressure in my kidneys. "I have to pee." I went over to a tree to relieve myself. A moment later Roberto joined me. We stood there side by side, the two yellow streams arcing golden in the sunlight. I looked at his with satisfaction. Maybe he was older but I could pee farther. He didn't seem to notice. I was just about to call his attention to it when the stream trickled off. I buttoned my fly and returned to the mouth of the cave.
    The three men were still sitting silently around the machine gun. Manuelo pinched out his cigarrillo and carefully stored the butt in his pocket. "There is only one way to find out. One of us must go down into the