officer
in charge of the detachment.

"You live here?" said the officer.

"Yes, senor capitan," answered Young Glory, "this is my poor house."

"Very well. You're the man I want. Have you seen anybody pass this way?"

"No."

"Have you been standing here long?"

"Yes, for an hour."

"And you saw no one pass?"

"I said no, senor capitan."

"They must have passed this way," said the officer, in a low voice, to
his sergeant. "The fellow's deceiving us."

"Pardon, senor capitan," said Young Glory. "I have something to say.
Just now I saw two men."

"Two men!" cried the captain, excitedly. "It must be they. Where!
Where!"

"They came out of the wood about two hundred yards below, and seeing me
standing at the door they darted back again into the trees."

"Ask him what they were like," whispered the sergeant. "That will test
his story."

The officer, pleased with the suggestion, put the question.

"Like! well, now, it wasn't as if I had many minutes to examine them,
and, besides it was too far off for me to tell the color of their hair
or eyes."

"Fool!" exclaimed the captain, savagely. "Their dress! that's the
point."

"One of them seemed to be a civilian, a Cuban I should say, capitan. The
other, was certainly a sailor, a navy man, the----"

The captain waited for no more.

"Our men," he cried enthusiastically. "They cannot escape us now."

Young Glory threw away his cigarette and smiled as he looked after them.

CHAPTER III.

MORE VISITORS TO THE HUT--DAN DALY ROWS DOWN
THE CREEK.

"You can crawl out of your shell, Dan, now," said Young Glory, when the
last soldier had disappeared.

"Faith, that's a comfort. An' what did them sogers want?"

"They were looking for you, Dan. They found me, but didn't know me."

"It's great ye are, Young Glory. There's nobody but yourself could
decave them. It's time we have for talkin' now, an' it's mesilf 'd like
to know how ye stopped them spalpeens from shootin' me."

"When I saw you taken prisoner, Dan, I determined to save you. The boats
went back to the cruiser, but I didn't."

"Ye stayed on shore?"

"Yes. By good luck I managed to get into a house while everyone was
away, and get a change of clothes. Then I came to look after you. Why, I
was present when they tried you."

"No!"

"But I was. It's not Young Glory's way to desert a comrade, Dan."

The Irishman pressed his hand warmly.

"It's the lucky man who has yourself for a friend,