back against the wall, watching him from beneath the brim. The only
signs of life about the ex-cowboy turned mechanic were the occasional
movements of the eyes, and the occasional refilling of his pipe, from
which lazy streamers of smoke now and again floated upward.

All the evening these two had held watch. And, as hour after hour
passed, with no word from the boys, Mr. Temple's anxiety rose to a
fever. He condemned himself for ever having given his consent to his
son and Jack starting upon so foolhardy an expedition as that of
attempting to rescue Jack's father from the rebel headquarters and fly
to safety with him in Bob's airplane.

Surely, he thought, the boys long since would have reached the ranch
and made their departure. They had promised to call him by radio from
the airplane the moment they started on their return flight. From
their failure to do so he argued the worst. Their expedition must have
come to grief, probably even now they were prisoners, perhaps--

But he shuddered to think of the alternative. He would not let himself
consider that possibility. In desperation he turned to Dave
Morningstar.

"Isn't there something we can do?" he asked imploringly.

The old ex-cowboy took his pipe from his mouth, spat deliberately to
one side, then brought the forelegs of his chair to the floor.

"Le's see," he said. "I been a'most asleep. Le's see. What say to
calling the cave?"

Mr. Temple eagerly grasped at the proposal.

"Yes, certainly," he said. "Why haven't I thought of that before?
Perhaps Frank has heard something."

He did not pause to consider that the party at the cave in all
likelihood was little better prepared than he with information. The
mere idea of doing something, of taking some action that would break
up this horrible spell of waiting, appealed to him in his excited
state.

But after hearing from Frank an account not only of the fight the
latter had had to recover the cave, after once having been
dispossessed, but also of the attempt to warn the Calomares ranch
ahead of the boys' coming which Morales had made, he began to wish he
never had called Frank.

"Think of it," he said to Dave Morningstar, after explaining the
situation. "In all likelihood all that clash of conversation in the
air put them on guard at the Calomares ranch. They were led to suspect
all was not well. And then when the boys landed they were captured.
That can be the only reason for our failure to hear from B