ick!"

"The window!" panted the sailor. "Look!".

The man in his excitement had awakened the rest and they were sitting up
staring at him.

Clif meanwhile had rushed to the window, and when he looked out he acted
just as the sailor had done.

It might be well to describe in a few words what he saw.

There was a small clearing around the deserted building, and beyond that
a heavy wood. Clif remembered having made his way through those woods.

And now somebody else had done likewise. There was a squad of a dozen
soldiers standing on the clearing's edge.

And they were Spaniards!

"Can they have surrounded us?" gasped the cadet.

"Or perhaps they don't know we're here," whispered one of the men.

The full meaning of that startling discovery was made evident to them an
instant later. The officer of the Spaniards was standing to one side
watching a man, who, with bowed head, was carefully scanning the ground.

And he was coming slowly toward the building.

"They're tracking us," whispered Clif.

And just then the man raised up his head and Clif got a glimpse of his
face.

"The villain!" he gasped.

It was Ignacio!

Yes, it was the villainous Spanish spy. He and his Spanish companions
must have succeeded in getting ashore. And they had tracked their
unsuspecting enemies to their hiding-place.

"I wish I had killed him!" Clif muttered half to himself.

One of the sailors heard him, and he drew his revolver significantly.

"It's not too late, sir," he said.

But Clif held up his hand.

"No, no," he whispered. "Not yet!"

That suggestion called him back to action. Not yet--because they had not
yet been discovered.

Ignacio was apparently off the scent; he did not know whether his
victims had dodged the building or had the temerity to enter.

And instantly Clif leaped forward, over to the other side of the
building. If none of the enemy was there it might not be too late for
flight.

"If they are," Clif muttered to himself, "by jingo, they've still got
the building to capture."

Whatever was to be done had to be done quickly, for Ignacio was a
cunning fellow, and wouldn't be apt to delay very long.

Clif gazed out in the other direction and saw to his delight that the
thicket came close to the house, and there were no Spaniards in sight.

He called in a low voice to the men, who stole silently over toward him.

"Quick!" he gasped. "Out, for your lives!"

It was a thrilling moment, and Clif w