"Take  the  girl  back  to  the  cave,  Bepo,"  Pancho  com-
manded. "Send  'Rico  and  Dato  to  me."


54  FRANCISCO  VILLA,  BANDIT;

Stooping  Bepo  touched  Betty.
"Don't  take  me  back— kill  me  first !"  she  pleaded.
"Quick,  take  her  away,"  thundered  Villa,  then
called,  "'Rico!  Dato!"

Struggling  every  inch  of  the  way,  the  girl  was
dragged  into  the  cave  by  Bepo,  while  Shorty,  held
motionless  by  The  Tiger's  six-shooter,  was  compelled
to  look  on.
Quickly  the  two  men  he  had  summoned  joined  the
bandit.
"Take  this  man  down  to  the  camp-fire,"  he  com-
manded. "Ill  be  there  directly."

And  as  the  greasers  led  Shorty  away  Villa  entered
the  cave.
In  a  moment  he  reappeared,  carrying  an  iron  bar.
Going  to  the  camp-fire,  he  thrust  it  into  the  coals.
"Take  off  his  shirt,"  snapped  The  Tiger,  pointing
to  the  cowboy.
This  done,  the  four  waited  while  Villa  tested  the
heat  of  the  iron  bar.
At  last  it  satisfied  him.
Raising  it,  he  laid  it  full  length  across  Shorty's
back.
Again  and  again,  he  repeated  the  terrible  torture,
till  at  last  the  cowboy,  unable  longer  to  bear  the  awful
pain,  swooned  and  fell  to  the  ground.
FRANCISCO  VILLA,  BANDIT  55

"Now  saddle  up,"  ordered  the  Tiger.  "We'll  take
this  Gringo  back  to  Los  Rodas.
"Perhaps  it  will  serve  as  a  warning  to  other  white-
faced  Americano  or  English  pigs  that  they  cannot
capture  Francisco  Villa  single-handed,  and  that  it  is
dangerous  to  come  to  his  retreat."


56  FRANCISCO  VILLA,  BANDIT


CHAPTER  IX.
THE  CATTLE  DRIVE.
It  was  dark  when  The  Tiger  with  his  companions
and  the  man  he  had  tortured  so  fiendishly  arrived  at
the  Los  Rodas  ranch.
