"What they certain deserve," growled Buckhart, unable to repress his indignation longer, "is to be shot up a whole lot, and I'd sure like the job of doing it."
"I don't understand it--I cannot understand it!" muttered the monk. "It's far beyond me to comprehend. Why did they set upon me, my son?" he questioned, his unsteady hand touching Frank's arm. "Why did they seek to slay you?"
"Wait a minute, father, and I will explain," said Merry.
He then told briefly of the abduction of Felicia and his pursuit of her captors. As he spoke, the aged listener betrayed some signs of excitement.
"My son, is all this true?" he solemnly questioned. "You are not one of our faith, yet your words ring true."
"Then I have been twice deceived!" cried the old man, with surprising energy, shaking his hands in the empty air. "Yesterday there came here two men and a sweet-faced child. They told me they were taking her home. I believed them. With her they knelt at the shrine to pray. I blessed them, and they went on their way."
"At last!" burst from Merry's lips. "Now there's no question. Now we know we're on the right trail! Father, that little girl is a cousin of my half-brother here. He will tell you if I have spoken the truth."
"Every word of it is true," affirmed Dick, who spoke Spanish as fluently as Frank. "If you can tell us whither they were taking her, father, you may aid us greatly in our search for her."
"Alas! it is not possible for me to tell you! I know that they were bound eastward. Beyond these mountains are the great San Bernardino plains, a mighty and trackless desert. Where they could go in that direction I cannot say."
"Is it possible to cross the desert?" questioned Dick.
"It is a waste of burning sand. Who tries to cross it on foot or mounted is almost certain to leave his bones somewhere in that desert."
"If they kept straight on," said the old monk, "I fear greatly you will never again behold the child you seek."
"They are not fools!" exclaimed Frank. "It is not likely they will try to cross the desert. The fact that they have taken so much trouble to endeavor to check pursuit here is proof they felt hard pushed. Is there no town, no human habitation beyond these mountains?"