pleasant companion to have in that dusky loft.

He wished that John Berwick might wake, but he did not want to disturb
his much-needed rest until necessary. At that moment there came that
horrid shriek, and, as if in reply to it, the engineer struggled up with
a loud yell. Jim had to shake him vigorously to bring him out of his
very natural nightmare. The sound outside had suddenly stopped, and Jim
heard a rustling, creeping noise, and then all was silence.

"What in the deuce was that?" whispered Berwick.

Jim made no reply, only put his hand on his friend's shoulder. He could
imagine this object rising up and peering through the dusk, trying to
make out what that other noise might be, then evidently not much worried
about it. After a short interval, it began its peculiar croon again.

"I don't know what it is, John," replied Jim to his friend's repeated
question; "it has been going on some time before you waked. You must
have heard it in your sleep, and that is what gave you that nightmare."

"It must have been that," remarked the engineer, "because it could not
have been anything that I have eaten." There was no doubt about the
humor of this. They were able to talk together in low tones, for this
object outside seemed to be more concerned with its own troubles than
anything else.

"How long have we slept?" queried Berwick.

"Bless me if I know," replied Jim, "and it is so dark in here now that I
can't make out the time."

"Well, I reckon that it is high time to get up, anyhow," remarked
Berwick.

"It is more a question of getting out than of getting up," remarked
James, with his usual quaint humor.

But at this point Berwick put a hand of caution on Jim's shoulder, for
he was sure that there was something on hand.

CHAPTER XXVII

LOOK DOWN AND NOT UP

THE engineer was entirely right. There was somebody knocking at the
gate, as they are wont to say in romantic novels, but in this particular
case it was the barn doors where the noise was heard. They were rolled
back and then came the sound of loud voices, or, to be accurate, they
were rather shrill.

"That's the Mexicans," declared Berwick; "they are on our trail."

"We will make them get off," remarked Jim grimly.

"Better throw them off," said the engineer wisely.

"Gosh ding, I don't see how we are going to get out of here now if they
decide to make a search of the premises," remarked Jim; "we are in for
it."

John Berwick was on the