ers.
After washing and tidying up his tattered clothing as well as he could,
the boy returned to the military headquarters, where the three men were
again in earnest conference. O'Connor motioned to a big wooden settee at
one end of the room. Mason stretched out on this and, utterly worn out,
his eyes closed and in five minutes he had dropped off into a heavy
slumber.

For half an hour longer the men continued their conference, and then,
having come to some unanimous conclusion, they rose from the table.
O'Connor, seeing the sleeping boy, stepped over to the settee and
removing his coat, rolled it up and placed it gently under his head.
Then, with a military salute to President Betancourt, he and General
Gomez passed out of the building.

Mason was suddenly awakened by the shouts of men and the jangling of
guns and sabres. He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes, looking around
the room in a bewildered manner. At first the train of recent events
would not form themselves properly in his mind. He could not for a
moment recall the room in which he found himself, or how he got there.
The moonlight was streaming in at the low open windows and fell upon the
long table at which again sat the three men, while an orderly stood
silently behind the chair of the general. They were apparently eating,
and hunger gnawing at the boy's stomach dulled any sense of delicacy and
he rose and walked directly to the table.

"I think you said we would sup here, Captain," he said.

O'Connor turned and motioned to the orderly to bring a chair.

"I certainly did, my boy, but seeing you asleep I thought I would not
disturb you at present. Sit down, and while you eat tell me all you know
of the capture of the boys and the movements of their captors."

Mason told the details of the boys' capture and O'Connor repeated it in
Spanish to Gomez and Betancourt. In the meantime outside of the building
all was confusion, and through the open door and windows the boy could
see that armed men were rapidly gathering in response to the loud
commands of leaders. As fast as one squad or company formed, it moved
off and down the mountain trail by which Mason and Washington had
approached the plateau. Another squad began forming at once. There
seemed to be a constant stream of men pouring down the mountain side.

CHAPTER XIII

HARRY REFUSES TO BETRAY CAPTAIN DYNAMITE

Harry and Bert had hardly time to inspect the bare room in which they
were imp