The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  CHAPTER X. BILLY CRACKS A SAFE

  BILLY BYRNE, captain, rode into Cuivaca from the south. He had made awide detour in order to accomplish this; but under the circumstances hehad thought it wise to do so. In his pocket was a safe conduct from oneof Villa's generals farther south--a safe conduct taken by Pesita fromthe body of one of his recent victims. It would explain Billy's presencein Cuivaca since it had been intended to carry its rightful possessor toJuarez and across the border into the United States.

  He found the military establishment at Cuivaca small and ill commanded.There were soldiers upon the streets; but the only regularly detailedguard was stationed in front of the bank. No one questioned Billy. Hedid not have to show his safe conduct.

  "This looks easy," thought Billy. "A reg'lar skinch."

  He first attended to his horse, turning him into a public corral,and then sauntered up the street to the bank, which he entered, stillunquestioned. Inside he changed a bill of large denomination whichPesita had given him for the purpose of an excuse to examine the lay ofthe bank from the inside. Billy took a long time to count the change.All the time his eyes wandered about the interior while he made mentalnotes of such salient features as might prove of moment to him later.The money counted Billy slowly rolled a cigarette.

  He saw that the bank was roughly divided into two sections by a wire andwood partition. On one side were the customers, on the other the clerksand a teller. The latter sat behind a small wicket through which hereceived deposits and cashed checks. Back of him, against the wall,stood a large safe of American manufacture. Billy had had businessbefore with similar safes. A doorway in the rear wall led into the yardbehind the building. It was closed by a heavy door covered with sheetiron and fastened by several bolts and a thick, strong bar. There wereno windows in the rear wall. From that side the bank appeared almostimpregnable to silent assault.

  Inside everything was primitive and Billy found himself wondering howa week passed without seeing a bank robbery in the town. Possibly thestrong rear defenses and the armed guard in front accounted for it.

  Satisfied with what he had learned he passed out onto the sidewalk andcrossed the street to a saloon. Some soldiers and citizens were drinkingat little tables in front of the bar. A couple of card games were inprogress, and through the open rear doorway Billy saw a little gatheringencircling a cock fight.

  In none of these things was Billy interested. What he had wished inentering the saloon was merely an excuse to place himself upon theopposite side of the street from the bank that he might inspect thefront from the outside without arousing suspicion.

  Having purchased and drunk a bottle of poor beer, the temperature ofwhich had probably never been below eighty since it left the bottlingdepartment of the Texas brewery which inflicted it upon the ignorant, hesauntered to the front window and looked out.

  There he saw that the bank building was a two-story affair, the entranceto the second story being at the left side of the first floor, openingdirectly onto the sidewalk in full view of the sentry who paced to andfro before the structure.

  Billy wondered what the second floor was utilized for. He saw soiledhangings at the windows which aroused a hope and a sudden inspiration.There was a sign above the entrance to the second floor; but Billy'sknowledge of the language had not progressed sufficiently to permit himto translate it, although he had his suspicions as to its meaning. Hewould learn if his guess was correct.

  Returning to the bar he ordered another bottle of beer, and as he drankit he practiced upon the bartender some of his recently acquired Spanishand learned, though not without considerable difficulty, that he mightfind lodgings for the night upon the second floor of the bank building.

  Much elated, Billy left the saloon and walked along the street until hecame to the one general store of the town. After another heart rendingscrimmage with the language of Ferdinand and Isabella he succeeded inmaking several purchases--two heavy sacks, a brace, two bits, and akeyhole saw. Placing the tools in one of the sacks he wrapped the wholein the second sack and made his way back to the bank building.

  Upon the second floor he found the proprietor of the rooming-house andengaged a room in the rear of the building, overlooking the yard. Thelayout was eminently satisfactory to Captain Byrne and it was witha feeling of great self-satisfaction that he descended and sought arestaurant.

  He had been sent by Pesita merely to look over the ground and thedefenses of the town, that the outlaw might later ride in with hisentire force and loot the bank; but Billy Byrne, out of his pastexperience in such matters, had evolved a much simpler plan forseparating the enemy from his wealth.

  Having eaten, Billy returned to his room. It was now dark and the bankclosed and unlighted showed that all had left it. Only the sentry pacedup and down the sidewalk in front.

  Going at once to his room Billy withdrew his tools from their hidingplace beneath the mattress, and a moment later was busily engaged inboring holes through the floor at the foot of his bed. For an hour heworked, cautiously and quietly, until he had a rough circle of holesenclosing a space about two feet in diameter. Then he laid aside thebrace and bit, and took the keyhole saw, with which he patiently sawedthrough the wood between contiguous holes, until, the circle completed,he lifted out a section of the floor leaving an aperture large enough topermit him to squeeze his body through when the time arrived for him topass into the bank beneath.

  While Billy had worked three men had ridden into Cuivaca. They wereTony, Benito, and the new bookkeeper of El Orobo Rancho. The Mexicans,after eating, repaired at once to the joys of the cantina; while Bridgesought a room in the building to which his escort directed him.

  As chance would have it, it was the same building in which Billy laboredand the room lay upon the rear side of it overlooking the same yard. ButBridge did not lie awake to inspect his surroundings. For years he hadnot ridden as many miles as he had during the past two days, so thatlong unused muscles cried out for rest and relaxation. As a result,Bridge was asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow, andso profound was his slumber that it seemed that nothing short of aconvulsion of nature would arouse him.

  As Bridge lay down upon his bed Billy Byrne left his room and descendedto the street. The sentry before the bank paid no attention to him,and Billy passed along, unhindered, to the corral where he had left hishorse. Here, as he was saddling the animal, he was accosted, much to hisdisgust, by the proprietor.

  In broken English the man expressed surprise that Billy rode out so lateat night, and the American thought that he detected something morethan curiosity in the other's manner and tone--suspicion of the strangegringo.

  It would never do to leave the fellow in that state of mind, and soBilly leaned close to the other's ear, and with a broad grin and a winkwhispered: "Senorita," and jerked his thumb toward the south. "I'll beback by mornin'," he added.

  The Mexican's manner altered at once. He laughed and nodded, knowingly,and poked Billy in the ribs. Then he watched him mount and ride outof the corral toward the south--which was also in the direction of thebank, to the rear of which Billy rode without effort to conceal hismovements.

  There he dismounted and left his horse standing with the bridle reinsdragging upon the ground, while he removed the lariat from the pommel ofthe saddle, and, stuffing it inside his shirt, walked back to the streeton which the building stood, and so made his way past the sentry and tohis room.

  Here he pushed back the bed which he had drawn over the hole in thefloor, dropped his two sacks through into the bank, and tying the braceto one end of the lariat lowered it through after the sacks.

  Looping the middle of the lariat over a bedpost Billy grasped bothstrands firmly and lowered himself through the aperture into the roombeneath. He made no more noise in his descent than he had made uponother similar occasions in his past life when he had practiced thegentle art of porch-climbing along Ashland Avenue and WashingtonBoulevard.

  Having gained the floor he pulled upon one end of
the lariat until hehad drawn it free of the bedpost above, when it fell into his waitinghands. Coiling it carefully Billy placed it around his neck and underone arm. Billy, acting as a professional, was a careful and methodicalman. He always saw that every little detail was properly attended tobefore he went on to the next phase of his endeavors. Because of thisingrained caution Billy had long since secured the tops of the two sackstogether, leaving only a sufficient opening to permit of their eachbeing filled without delay or inconvenience.

  Now he turned his attention to the rear door. The bar and bolts wereeasily shot from their seats from the inside, and Billy saw to it thatthis was attended to before he went further with his labors. It werewell to have one's retreat assured at the earliest possible moment. Asingle bolt Billy left in place that he might not be surprised by anintruder; but first he had tested it and discovered that it could bedrawn with ease.

  These matters satisfactorily attended to Billy assaulted the combinationknob of the safe with the metal bit which he had inserted in the bracebefore lowering it into the bank.

  The work was hard and progressed slowly. It was necessary to withdrawthe bit often and lubricate it with a piece of soap which Billy hadbrought along in his pocket for the purpose; but eventually a hole wasbored through into the tumblers of the combination lock.

  From without Billy could hear the footsteps of the sentry pacing backand forth within fifty feet of him, all unconscious that the bank he wasguarding was being looted almost beneath his eyes. Once a corporal camewith another soldier and relieved the sentry. After that Billy heard thefootfalls no longer, for the new sentry was barefoot.

  The boring finished, Billy drew a bit of wire from an inside pocket andinserted it in the hole. Then, working the wire with accustomed fingers,he turned the combination knob this way and that, feeling with the bitof wire until the tumblers should all be in line.

  This, too, was slow work; but it was infinitely less liable to attractattention than any other method of safe cracking with which Billy wasfamiliar.

  It was long past midnight when Captain Byrne was rewarded withsuccess--the tumblers clicked into position, the handle of the safe doorturned and the bolts slipped back.

  To swing open the door and transfer the contents of the safe to the twosacks was the work of but a few minutes. As Billy rose and threw theheavy burden across a shoulder he heard a challenge from without, andthen a parley. Immediately after the sound of footsteps ascending thestairway to the rooming-house came plainly to his ears, and then he hadslipped the last bolt upon the rear door and was out in the yard beyond.

  Now Bridge, sleeping the sleep of utter exhaustion that the boom of acannon might not have disturbed, did that inexplicable thing which everyone of us has done a hundred times in our lives. He awakened, with astart, out of a sound sleep, though no disturbing noise had reached hisears.

  Something impelled him to sit up in bed, and as he did so he could seethrough the window beside him into the yard at the rear of the building.There in the moonlight he saw a man throwing a sack across the horn ofa saddle. He saw the man mount, and he saw him wheel his horse aroundabout and ride away toward the north. There seemed to Bridge nothingunusual about the man's act, nor had there been any indication eitherof stealth or haste to arouse the American's suspicions. Bridge lay backagain upon his pillows and sought to woo the slumber which the suddenawakening seemed to have banished for the remainder of the night.

  And up the stairway to the second floor staggered Tony and Benito. Theirmoney was gone; but they had acquired something else which appeared muchmore difficult to carry and not so easily gotten rid of.

  Tony held the key to their room. It was the second room upon the rightof the hall. Tony remembered that very distinctly. He had impressed itupon his mind before leaving the room earlier in the evening, for Tonyhad feared some such contingency as that which had befallen.

  Tony fumbled with the handle of a door, and stabbed vainly at an elusivekeyhole.

  "Wait," mumbled Benito. "This is not the room. It was the second doorfrom the stairway. This is the third."

  Tony lurched about and staggered back. Tony reasoned: "If that was thethird door the next behind me must be the second, and on the right;" butTony took not into consideration that he had reversed the direction ofhis erratic wobbling. He lunged across the hall--not because he wishedto but because the spirits moved him. He came in contact with a door."This, then, must be the second door," he soliloquized, "and it is uponmy right. Ah, Benito, this is the room!"

  Benito was skeptical. He said as much; but Tony was obdurate. Did he notknow a second door when he saw one? Was he, furthermore, not a grown manand therefore entirely capable of distinguishing between his left handand his right? Yes! Tony was all of that, and more, so Tony insertedthe key in the lock--it would have turned any lock upon the secondfloor--and, lo! the door swung inward upon its hinges.

  "Ah! Benito," cried Tony. "Did I not tell you so? See! This is our room,for the key opens the door."

  The room was dark. Tony, carried forward by the weight of his head,which had long since grown unaccountably heavy, rushed his feet rapidlyforward that he might keep them within a few inches of his center ofequilibrium.

  The distance which it took his feet to catch up with his head was equalto the distance between the doorway and the foot of the bed, and whenTony reached that spot, with Benito meandering after him, the latter,much to his astonishment, saw in the diffused moonlight which pervadedthe room, the miraculous disappearance of his former enemy and erstwhilefriend. Then from the depths below came a wild scream and a heavy thud.

  The sentry upon the beat before the bank heard both. For an instant hestood motionless, then he called aloud for the guard, and turned towardthe bank door. But this was locked and he could but peer in through thewindows. Seeing a dark form within, and being a Mexican he raised hisrifle and fired through the glass of the doors.

  Tony, who had dropped through the hole which Billy had used so quietly,heard the zing of a bullet pass his head, and the impact as it sploshedinto the adobe wall behind him. With a second yell Tony dodged behindthe safe and besought Mary to protect him.

  From above Benito peered through the hole into the blackness below. Downthe hall came the barefoot landlord, awakened by the screams and theshot. Behind him came Bridge, buckling his revolver belt about his hipsas he ran. Not having been furnished with pajamas Bridge had not thoughtit necessary to remove his clothing, and so he had lost no time indressing.

  When the two, now joined by Benito, reached the street they found theguard there, battering in the bank doors. Benito, fearing for the lifeof Tony, which if anyone took should be taken by him, rushed uponthe sergeant of the guard, explaining with both lips and hands theremarkable accident which had precipitated Tony into the bank.

  The sergeant listened, though he did not believe, and when the doors hadfallen in, he commanded Tony to come out with his hands above his head.Then followed an investigation which disclosed the looting of the safe,and the great hole in the ceiling through which Tony had tumbled.

  The bank president came while the sergeant and the landlord were inBilly's room investigating. Bridge had followed them.

  "It was the gringo," cried the excited Boniface. "This is his room. Hehas cut a hole in my floor which I shall have to pay to have repaired."

  A captain came next, sleepy-eyed and profane. When he heard what hadhappened and that the wealth which he had been detailed to guard hadbeen taken while he slept, he tore his hair and promised that the sentryshould be shot at dawn.

  By the time they had returned to the street all the male population ofCuivaca was there and most of the female.

  "One-thousand dollars," cried the bank president, "to the man who stopsthe thief and returns to me what the villain has stolen."

  A detachment of soldiers was in the saddle and passing the bank as theoffer was made.

  "Which way did he go?" asked the captain. "Did no one see him leave?"

  Bridge wa
s upon the point of saying that he had seen him and that he hadridden north, when it occurred to him that a thousand dollars--even athousand dollars Mex--was a great deal of money, and that it would carryboth himself and Billy to Rio and leave something for pleasure beside.

  Then up spoke a tall, thin man with the skin of a coffee bean.

  "I saw him, Senor Capitan," he cried. "He kept his horse in my corral,and at night he came and took it out saying that he was riding to visita senorita. He fooled me, the scoundrel; but I will tell you--he rodesouth. I saw him ride south with my own eyes."

  "Then we shall have him before morning," cried the captain, "for thereis but one place to the south where a robber would ride, and he has nothad sufficient start of us that he can reach safety before we overhaulhim. Forward! March!" and the detachment moved down the narrow street."Trot! March!" And as they passed the store: "Gallop! March!"

  Bridge almost ran the length of the street to the corral. His pony mustbe rested by now, and a few miles to the north the gringo whose capturemeant a thousand dollars to Bridge was on the road to liberty.

  "I hate to do it," thought Bridge; "because, even if he is a bankrobber, he's an American; but I need the money and in all probabilitythe fellow is a scoundrel who should have been hanged long ago."

  Over the trail to the north rode Captain Billy Byrne, secure in thebelief that no pursuit would develop until after the opening hour ofthe bank in the morning, by which time he would be halfway on his returnjourney to Pesita's camp.

  "Ol' man Pesita'll be some surprised when I show him what I got forhim," mused Billy. "Say!" he exclaimed suddenly and aloud, "Why thedevil should I take all this swag back to that yellow-faced yegg? Whopulled this thing off anyway? Why me, of course, and does anybody thinkBilly Byrne's boob enough to split with a guy that didn't have a hand init at all. Split! Why the nut'll take it all!

  "Nix! Me for the border. I couldn't do a thing with all this coin downin Rio, an' Bridgie'll be along there most any time. We can hit it upsome in lil' ol' Rio on this bunch o' dough. Why, say kid, there must bea million here, from the weight of it."

  A frown suddenly clouded his face. "Why did I take it?" he askedhimself. "Was I crackin' a safe, or was I pullin' off something fine ferpoor, bleedin' Mexico? If I was a-doin' that they ain't nothin' criminalin what I done--except to the guy that owned the coin. If I was justplain crackin' a safe on my own hook why then I'm a crook again an' Ican't be that--no, not with that face of yours standin' out there soplain right in front of me, just as though you were there yourself,askin' me to remember an' be decent. God! Barbara--why wasn't I born forthe likes of you, and not just a measly, ornery mucker like I am. Oh,hell! what is that that Bridge sings of Knibbs's:

  There ain't no sweet Penelope somewhere that's longing much for me, But I can smell the blundering sea, and hear the rigging hum; And I can hear the whispering lips that fly before the out-bound ships, And I can hear the breakers on the sand a-calling "Come!"

  Billy took off his hat and scratched his head.

  "Funny," he thought, "how a girl and poetry can get a tough nut like me.I wonder what the guys that used to hang out in back of Kelly's 'udsay if they seen what was goin' on in my bean just now. They'd callme Lizzy, eh? Well, they wouldn't call me Lizzy more'n once. I may begettin' soft in the head, but I'm all to the good with my dukes."

  Speed is not conducive to sentimental thoughts and so Billy hadunconsciously permitted his pony to drop into a lazy walk. There was noneed for haste anyhow. No one knew yet that the bank had been robbed,or at least so Billy argued. He might, however, have thought differentlyupon the subject of haste could he have had a glimpse of the horseman inhis rear--two miles behind him, now, but rapidly closing up the distanceat a keen gallop, while he strained his eyes across the moonlit flatahead in eager search for his quarry.

  So absorbed was Billy Byrne in his reflections that his ears were deafto the pounding of the hoofs of the pursuer's horse upon the soft dustof the dry road until Bridge was little more than a hundred yards fromhim. For the last half-mile Bridge had had the figure of the fugitive infull view and his mind had been playing rapidly with seductive visionsof the one-thousand dollars reward--one-thousand dollars Mex, perhaps,but still quite enough to excite pleasant thoughts. At the first glimpseof the horseman ahead Bridge had reined his mount down to a trot thatthe noise of his approach might thereby be lessened. He had drawn hisrevolver from its holster, and was upon the point of putting spursto his horse for a sudden dash upon the fugitive when the man ahead,finally attracted by the noise of the other's approach, turned in hissaddle and saw him.

  Neither recognized the other, and at Bridge's command of, "Hands up!"Billy, lightning-like in his quickness, drew and fired. The bullet rakedBridge's hat from his head but left him unscathed.

  Billy had wheeled his pony around until he stood broadside towardBridge. The latter fired scarce a second after Billy's shot had pingedso perilously close--fired at a perfect target but fifty yards away.

  At the sound of the report the robber's horse reared and plunged, then,wheeling and tottering high upon its hind feet, fell backward. Billy,realizing that his mount had been hit, tried to throw himself from thesaddle; but until the very moment that the beast toppled over the manwas held by his cartridge belt which, as the animal first lunged, hadcaught over the high horn of the Mexican saddle.

  The belt slipped from the horn as the horse was falling, and Billysucceeded in throwing himself a little to one side. One leg, however,was pinned beneath the animal's body and the force of the fall jarredthe revolver from Billy's hand to drop just beyond his reach.

  His carbine was in its boot at the horse's side, and the animal waslying upon it. Instantly Bridge rode to his side and covered him withhis revolver.

  "Don't move," he commanded, "or I'll be under the painful necessity ofterminating your earthly endeavors right here and now."

  "Well, for the love o' Mike!" cried the fallen bandit. "You?"

  Bridge was off his horse the instant that the familiar voice sounded inhis ears.

  "Billy!" he exclaimed. "Why--Billy--was it you who robbed the bank?"

  Even as he spoke Bridge was busy easing the weight of the dead pony fromBilly's leg.

  "Anything broken?" he asked as the bandit struggled to free himself.

  "Not so you could notice it," replied Billy, and a moment later he wason his feet. "Say, bo," he added, "it's a mighty good thing you droppedlittle pinto here, for I'd a sure got you my next shot. Gee! it makesme sweat to think of it. But about this bank robbin' business. You can'texactly say that I robbed a bank. That money was the enemy's resources,an' I just nicked their resources. That's war. That ain't robbery.I ain't takin' it for myself--it's for the cause--the cause o' poor,bleedin' Mexico," and Billy grinned a large grin.

  "You took it for Pesita?" asked Bridge.

  "Of course," replied Billy. "I won't get a jitney of it. I wouldn't takenone of it, Bridge, honest. I'm on the square now."

  "I know you are, Billy," replied the other; "but if you're caughtyou might find it difficult to convince the authorities of yourhighmindedness and your disinterestedness."

  "Authorities!" scoffed Billy. "There ain't no authorities in Mexico. Onebandit is just as good as another, and from Pesita to Carranza they'reall bandits at heart. They ain't a one of 'em that gives two whoopsin hell for poor, bleedin' Mexico--unless they can do the bleedin'themselves. It's dog eat dog here. If they caught me they'd shoot mewhether I'd robbed their bank or not. What's that?" Billy was suddenlyalert, straining his eyes back in the direction of Cuivaca.

  "They're coming, Billy," said Bridge. "Take my horse--quick! You mustget out of here in a hurry. The whole post is searching for you. Ithought that they went toward the south, though. Some of them must havecircled."

  "What'll you do if I take your horse?" asked Billy.

  "I can walk back," said Bridge, "it isn't far to town. I'll tell themthat I had come only a short distance when my horse threw me and rana
way. They'll believe it for they think I'm a rotten horseman--the twovaqueros who escorted me to town I mean."

  Billy hesitated. "I hate to do it, Bridge," he said.

  "You must, Billy," urged the other.

  "If they find us here together it'll merely mean that the two of us willget it, for I'll stick with you, Billy, and we can't fight off a wholetroop of cavalry out here in the open. If you take my horse we can bothget out of it, and later I'll see you in Rio. Good-bye, Billy, I'm offfor town," and Bridge turned and started back along the road on foot.

  Billy watched him in silence for a moment. The truth of Bridge'sstatement of fact was so apparent that Billy was forced to accept theplan. A moment later he transferred the bags of loot to Bridge's pony,swung into the saddle, and took a last backward look at the diminishingfigure of the man swinging along in the direction of Cuivaca.

  "Say," he muttered to himself; "but you're a right one, bo," andwheeling to the north he clapped his spurs to his new mount and lopedeasily off into the night.