but, judging by the rifle flashes there were not more
than twenty men in that flanking party. We still have to hear
from another body, and I believe they are hiding in the mill,
ready to snipe us from there. Besides, probably a smaller party
has been sent from the flankers to lie in wait and get us as we
go through the lagoon. It's a bad trap, Mr. Carmody, and we must
move slowly, if we wish to get away with our lives."

While they stood watching, Riley's handful of men came running to
the spot.

At the same moment shots rang out from the roof of the sugar mill.

"There we are!" Darrin exclaimed. "And men on a roof are the
hardest to hit."

In a jiffy a yell rose from the flankers, who now rose and came
charging forward across some four hundred feet of intervening
space.

"Give 'em the Colt, Corporal!" Ensign Darrin roared.

There was a yell of rage from the Mexicans as the machine gun
barked forth. With the muzzle describing an arc of several degrees,
many of the flankers were hit. The others threw themselves flat
on the ground to escape its destructive fire.

From the mill another score of charging Mexicans had started,
yelling in Spanish:

"Death to the Gringos."

Leaping forward, Darrin felt a sudden sting of pain in his right
foot. A bullet, sent in low, had ripped the sole of his shoe,
inflicting a painful wound.

"Cease firing, Corporal!" Dave ordered, hobbling to the machine
gun. "Swing her nose around. Now, give it to 'em."

As the machine gun barked forth again the raiders from the mill
found good excuse for halting. There are times when a machine
gun is worth a battalion of infantry.

Yet one bullet is enough to kill a man. A marine fell at Dave's
feet. The young ensign bent over him; one look was enough to
prove that this defender of his countrymen was dead.

As the fire from the machine gun ceased, a wild cheer rose on the
air. Now, from four different points groups of Mexicans rose and
charged, firing as they ran.

One desperate dash, and they would overwhelm the crippled little
Navy party.

Defeat for Dave Darrin's command meant the massacre of all the
survivors of his rescue party, and of the American men and women
in their care!

Ensign Dave Darrin realized this with a sickening heart.

CHAPTER IX

CANTOR FINDS HIS CHANCE

Prompt action alone could save the women and children who lay
cowering in the launch.

"Corporal, kneel with your men, and let them