Urging Blondie to go faster, Jupe heard the two horses break into a gallop behind him. A minute later they all reached the shelter of the cliff face and drew to a halt.
Ascención grabbed the blanket that was folded under his saddle. He pulled out his knife and began slashing at it, cutting the blanket into strips.
“Go and look for your friends,” he called to Jupe.
Jupe crawled into the tunnel. Pete and Bob were lying back to back, curled up on the floor. Pete had just managed to unfasten one of the knots binding Bob’s ankles. He was working on Bob’s wrists. Jupe quickly cut both of them free with Dusty’s sheath knife.
“I thought you went out for pizza,” Pete said, stretching the stiffness out of his arms and legs. “So where is it?”
Bob was stretching too. He stared at Jupe’s head. “Is that the new in thing?” he asked. “Wearing glass beads in your hair?”
Jupe ran his hand over his head, trying to dislodge the beads. They were cool now, but he couldn’t comb them out with his fingers. “It’s hailing hot glass out there,” he said. “Come on, guys. Let’s move it!”
The three guys ran back out through the tunnel. The rain of glass had stopped for the moment. Ascención handed them long strips of blanket. “Tie these over your heads,” he said. “Try to protect your arms and hands too.” His own head and Brit’s were already covered. Mercedes had spread her shawl over her face and shoulders.
“Okay. We go,” Ascención shouted. Even Pete understood the vamos. He quickly mounted behind Brit. Bob vaulted up behind Ascención.
This time the Mexican led the way. Urging his horse down the twisting path, he headed for the valley below. When they reached the gullies that cut between the rocks, they snaked-on down them as fast as they could. They could hear a low rumbling behind them now. It sounded like distant thunder. The smell of sulfur was so thick they could hardly breathe.
And then it happened. They were less than half a mile from the cave when the volcano erupted with a roar.
A great fountain of red-hot lava shot up from the mountaintop, then fell back. More fountains rose, higher and higher, like fireworks. Lava bombs rocketed out of the crater with deafening booms. They pounded the mountain slopes, spraying molten rock wherever they landed.
The roaring red geysers on top blasted hundreds of feet into the air, arced over, spilled lava down the mountainside. Streams of lava flowed, met, joined. They formed burning rivers. The rivers cascaded over the cliff face and into the gullies below.
Hot cinders began to rain down on the fleeing people, along with more burning glass beads. The hail of lava debris startled the unprotected horses and burros. Ascención’s horse suddenly reared on its hind legs. It plunged and kicked so hard even Ascención could barely control it, and Bob had to tighten his arms around the Mexican’s waist.
“Bring up Blondie,” Ascención yelled.
Jupe spurred the burro into a canter.
“Between the horses!” Ascención shouted. “She’ll calm them.”
Jupe took a breath, then raced Blondie forward into the narrow gap between the two terrified animals. Gradually the horses settled down. As Blondie trotted on, they followed her.
The shower of burning hail thinned in a gust of wind. Jupe choked on a blast of sulfur, then held his blanket headdress in front of his mouth and nose. He had never trusted the outdoors. And now he knew he’d been right not to. How could they ever get out of here alive?
Bob looked back. Those rivers of red-hot lava were oozing closer and closer. Birds and small animals fled before the molten rock. Bushes burst into flame without even being touched. Bob heard a strange, crackling sound like shattering glass as the rivers approached. This is it, he thought.
“At least we’re going out in style,” he said to Pete. “Right,” Pete answered. “Not everyone gets bleeped by a volcano.”
The two of them stared back at the mountain. The heat from the onrushing lava stung their eyes, but they forced themselves to keep looking.
The sound of shattering glass grew louder. Bob felt a sudden surge of hope. A black crust was forming over those deadly rivers. They were no longer pouring down the slope. They slowly staggered forward, then paused. They lurched on another few yards and finally halted.
Then the shower of hot cinders and beads came to a stop too, falling short of the fleeing horses and burros.
They were safely out of range of the exploding volcano at last!
Half a mile farther on they reached the valley. Ascención led them quickly up the foothills of the next mountain range. There they halted.
They were all coughing from the poisonous fumes they had ridden through. They raised their heads and took deep gulps of fresh air. Then they turned and looked back at the volcano.
Ascención saw him first. He raised his arm and pointed. A distant figure was leaping desperately from rock to rock. It stumbled and scrambled upright again, racing away from Villa’s cave.
On that side of the mountain the oncoming lava had only just reached the top of the cliff face. It seemed to hang there for an instant. Then it cascaded down — a river of death.
By some trick of sound they heard it quite clearly, echoing off the roaring mountain — Dusty’s terrified scream as he disappeared under the molten stream of lava.
All four of the young guys closed their eyes. Dustin Rice had been a ruthless crook. And maybe a killer. But they had known him, traveled with him, eaten his food. And none of them had ever seen a man killed before. It shook them deeply. They were still shivering as they opened their eyes.
Ascención crossed himself and murmured a prayer in Spanish.
“I warned you,” he said at last, looking at Jupe. “I warned you there was danger in the mountains.”
They rode on, keeping to the crest of the foothills. Mercedes drew level with Ascención.
“I’m sorry, old friend,” she said. “If Tom and Brit had gotten that silver, you could have bought your ranch back.”
“Who knows?” Ascención shrugged. “Perhaps my ranch will return to me anyway.”
He smiled in his patient Mexican way. “When my mother told me about Villa’s cave,” he went on, “she also told me no one would ever find those pesos. There were too many of Villa’s dead soldiers guarding them.” He paused. “And now they’ll guard them forever.”
Riding on, out of danger now, they circled for miles around the volcano. They were heading for the well-protected village beyond the foothills on the mountain’s other side.
They didn’t talk much. Even Jupe’s mind was at rest for a change. The last pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place.
Mercedes had first learned about Villa’s treasure from Ascención.
