work," he said. "Demand that he tell his men to surrender." And
Uraso repeated the message.

The chief saw the situation, but refused to give the order.

"Then we shall have to kill them, and unless you surrender we shall
attack at once."

He had hardly finished the words when Muro, seeing the condition of
affairs, left their fortress, and rushing forward scaled the low
entrenchments, directing a volley into the now thoroughly disorganized
and excited warriors. The entire body of Illyas had seen the capture of
their chiefs.

The appearance of the chiefs at the head of the column commanded by John
made his position safe from attack. Whether the chief refused to comply
with Uraso's demand from stubbornness, or because he was paralyzed at
the sudden changes from his fancied security, was not apparent at the
time.

The warriors now advanced with guns ready for a volley, and the chief
saw that resistance was useless. He held up his hand as a signal. John
rushed forward toward the oncoming warriors led by Muro, and the latter,
seeing the chief in the hands of Uraso, ordered his men to halt.

Meanwhile the forces under Uraso had spread out and were approaching the
halting warriors, who, one by one, threw down their bows, and, as they
did so, were marched to the open central part of the village and
surrounded by the men led by Muro on one side and Uraso on the other.
John rushed back to the cordon surrounding the chiefs.

Up to this time not the sign of a woman or a child had been seen. But
when order was finally restored and the defenseless warriors were herded
together as compactly as possible, the huts surrounding the main
buildings were opened, as by magic, and the women poured forth wailing
and shrieking.

It was bedlam let loose. They pictured all the terrors of captivity.
They knew what it meant. They passed around the cordon beating their
breasts, and shrieking like demoniacs. John, motioning to Muro and
Uraso, stepped aside, and ordered the chiefs to follow.

"This is the building they came out of," said George quietly to John.

"Then it will be a good place to hold the conference. Uraso, instruct
your men not to allow anyone to leave his place within the circle, and
then attend the conference with us."

The guards followed John as he entered the building. The boys were eager
to see the interior. Once within they saw a dozen women and twice that
number of children huddled together in one of the rooms. The