it."

Slowly and silently he climbed the steps once more, and as silently
opened the door. There was light in the hall, and the boy could make out
which way to go. He turned toward the room in which he had been taken
prisoner and entered softly.

There, stretched out on the bed, was the Apache chief's lieutenant. Duval
himself was not to be seen.

Hal, with revolver ready, tiptoed into the room. He saw a revolver on the
little table, and muttered to himself:

"Careless of him."

At that moment the man on the bed turned and slowly opened his eyes. A
cry of terror escaped him, as his gaze rested upon Hal, whom he was
morally certain was in a living tomb in the cellar.

"Ghost, go away!" he exclaimed.

Hal laughed loudly, and it was no ghost laugh, either. The man in the
bed sat up.

"How did you get out of there?" he demanded, as if it were the most
momentous question in the world.

"I blew the lock off the door," replied Hal calmly.

"But your gun? You had no gun."

"Oh, yes, I had," smiled Hal. "I had two of 'em, and I've got 'em
yet. See?"

He pointed both straight at the head of his late captor.

"Now," he said quietly, "get up and get out of there."

"What are you going to do with me?" asked the man in alarm.

"Deliver you into the care of General Gallieni."

The Apache lieutenant slowly moved toward the edge of the bed and Hal
lowered his weapons. This act almost proved the lad's undoing.

A second revolver suddenly flashed in the hand of the man in the bed, and
he cried in a stern voice:

"Hands up!"

Hal, taken absolutely by surprise, could do nothing but obey.

"You see the tables are turned again," said the man in the bed
pleasantly. "You should always remember that a man may keep one of his
revolvers under his pillow."

Hal was crestfallen, and he showed it plainly. However, he still held his
own weapons in his upraised hands, and he had no mind to release the
weapons if there was any way in which he could avoid it.

"Put those guns on the table, and be quick about it," ordered his enemy
and slipped from the bed to the floor.

Hal advanced slowly toward the table, and laid down the revolver he held
in his right hand. The man in the bed took a step toward him. It was the
moment for which the lad had been waiting and he acted instantly.

Slowly his weapon came down, and then it suddenly flashed in the Apache's
face as the lad's hand pressed the trigger.

A miss was impossible. Ha