wn steps to those of the sufferers. As they moved along
Coxswain Riley vented his feelings in an undertone:

"We need only a band and a dead march to make a funeral of this!
And---yet---no war!"

From the slow-moving ranks came only a deep, surly growl. Lieutenant
Trent turned around, then faced front once more; he had no heart
to utter a rebuke.

Mingled cheers and growls greeted the arrival of the pitiful fugitives
at the advanced lines. The cheers were for the fact that the
refugees had at least escaped with their lives. The growls were
for the Mexicans responsible for this spectacle.

"We must secure conveyances of some kind to take these poor people
into the city," declared Commander Dillingham. "I will send a
messenger to ask for the best sort of carriages that can be found
in a place like Vera Cruz. Lieutenant, as the second airship
is returning yonder, your duty outside the lines is over. You
may march your men to the camp yonder and let them rest until
they are needed."

"I wish a word with you, sir, when possible," Trent urged.

"At once," replied Commander Dillingham. Darrin was with Lieutenant
Trent when he reported the discovery of the whereabouts of Cantor
and Cosetta.

"It wouldn't do any good to go out in the daytime," the commander
decided. "The fellows would see you coming, and take to their
heels toward the interior before you came within rifle range.
You will have to go after dark, Lieutenant, and better still,
towards midnight. In the early evening they might be watching
for an American advance, but late at night they would decide that
their hiding place is not suspected. You will plan, Lieutenant,
to leave here at a little before eleven o'clock to-night, which
will bring you to the adobe house about midnight. I will communicate
my information to the commander of the forces ashore, and, if
not reversed by him, my present instructions will hold."

The orders were not reversed. At 10.45 that night Trent marched
his detachment beyond the advanced line. Every man moved as softly
as he could, and there was no jingling of military accoutrements.

Finally the adobe house stood out dimly against the night sky at
a distance of less than half a mile.

"If Cosetta has his men with him, they are doubtless sleeping
outside, on their arms, tonight," Lieutenant Trent explained,
after a softly ordered halt. "When we attack, Cantor and perhaps
Cosetta, will try to escape from the rear of