as finished the officers sat in silence for a few moments.

"Well, gentlemen," inquired Captain Cortland at last, "have you anything
to offer?"

"Are you going to arrest the man, Draney?" inquired Captain Freeman, of
C Company.

"Frankly," replied Cortland, "that is what is puzzling me. What do you
think, Freeman?"

"We cannot doubt Sergeant Overton, and he tells us that Tomba boasted
that Draney is in league with the natives in some conspiracy here."

"It is a matter of evidence," replied Captain Cortland musingly. "Not
one of you gentlemen would doubt Sergeant Overton's word on any question
of fact on which he has knowledge. But his report is based only on what
Vicente Tomba told him. Now, at the test, not one of you gentlemen
doubts that Tomba would deny it all point blank. I believe that Draney
is a scoundrel. I never liked the looks of the man from the first
moment, but I can't arrest him on account of my bad opinion of him. Nor
would any military or civil court hold him on account of what Sergeant
Overton says Tomba told him. That evidence would not satisfy the
requirements of any court of trial."

"Sir, is Draney really an American or an Englishman?" inquired
Lieutenant Hampton.

"I don't know, Hampton, nor do I believe any one else knows for certain.
Englishman or American, it is equally bad either way. If he's an
American, then I am sorry to say that there are multitudes of people
back in our own country who would welcome only too gladly a chance to
attack the government for locking an American up on what they would call
a flimsy charge. On the other hand, if Draney is an Englishman, and we
arrest him on anything but the most satisfactory evidence, then the
British government would be sure to make a noise about the affair. Hang
it all, I wish we had just a shade more evidence, and I'd have Draney
behind steel curtains in the guard house before daybreak, for his
plantation is only eight miles out from here. Personally, I haven't a
doubt that Draney is behind all the trouble of which we're hearing
rumors."

"What can be Draney's object?" asked Captain Freeman.

"Perhaps he hasn't really a sane object," responded Cortland. "Whatever
his motive for standing in with the worst of the Moros, and plotting
against the government that we represent, there is sure to be something
that he regards as being in line with his own advantage."

"Everything connected with this fellow, Draney, seems to be a puzzle,"
mu