Hence he has decided to go
away and so have I. Ned, look at those papers on his desk. You might
find among them a pass or two which would be mighty useful to us."

"Do you mind if I light a cigarette?" asked the officer. "You can see
that my hands and the cigarettes alike are on the table."

"Go ahead," said Obed hospitably, "but don't waste time."

The officer lighted the cigarette and took a satisfied whiff. Ned
searched among the papers, turning them over rapidly.

"Yes, here is a pass!" exclaimed he joyfully, "and here is another and
here are two more!"

"Two will be enough," said Obed.

"I'll take this one made out to Joaquin de la Barra for you and one to
Diego Fernandez for me. Ah, what are these?"

He held up four papers, looking at them in succession.

"What are they?" asked Obed White.

"Death warrants. They are all for men with Mexican names, and they are
signed with the name of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, General-in-chief
and President of the Mexican Republic."

The officer took the cigarette from his mouth and sent out a little
smoke through his nostrils.

"Yes, they are death warrants," he said. "I was looking over them when
you came in, and I was troubled. The men were to have been executed
to-morrow."

"Were to have been?" said Ned. Then a look passed between him and the
officer. The boy held the death warrants one by one in the flame of the
lamp and burned them to ashes.

"I cannot execute a man without a warrant duly signed," said the
officer.

"Which being the case, we'd better go or we might have to help at our
own executions," said Obed White. "Now you just sit where you are and
have a peaceful and happy mind, while we go out and fight with the
storm."

The officer said nothing and the two passed swiftly through the far
door, stepping into a paved court, and reaching a few yards further a
gate of the castle. It was quite dark when they stepped once more into
the open world, and both wind and rain lashed them. But wind and rain
themselves were a delight to the two who had come from under the sea.
Besides, the darker the better.

Two sentinels were at the gate and Ned thrust the passes before their
eyes. They merely glanced at the signatures, opened the gate, and in an
instant the two were outside the castle of San Juan de Ulua.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BLACK JAGUAR

It was so dark that the two could see but a narrow stretch of masonry on
which they stood and a tossing se