to no reason, no argument. They had a friend in the
American consul, he said, who would look out for them and I--I was
already doomed."

"Doomed," repeated O'Connor, starting forward, his eyes snapping.

"Yes, it was to have been this morning at dawn."

O'Connor choked back something suspiciously like a sob and for a few
minutes neither spoke. The man was thinking with a chill at his heart
how near to death she had been. Then he beckoned to Mason.

"Come here, youngster, and hear what your brave comrades have been
doing. This is the young woman we set out from the _Mariella_ to save.
Your friends have done that nobly for us; now we must return the
compliment with proper interest."

The Midget bowed gravely and sat down on the ground beside O'Connor.

"They are resourceful youngsters, Juanita, as I have reason to know, but
how under the sun did they manage it? I see you are wearing the suit of
one of them."

"Their cell was next to mine. Night before last they heard me crying at
my window. They could not see me but they spoke and asked me what they
could do to help me. There was nothing to be done, so we talked and they
tried to cheer me up and in some way they learned who I was and
they--they told me you were safe and then I didn't mind so much. Then
the guard came and we had to go away from the windows. As one of them
jumped down from the table on which they had been standing, he touched
the spring of an old secret passage between the cells. The next day, I
don't know how, they got a pass from General Serano to visit the
American consul. The pass was good anywhere within the lines. That
night, just after dark, they touched the secret spring and rolled back
the rock between the cells and one of them insisted that I should put on
his suit and take the pass and escape. As I have told you he would
listen to no form of argument and in the darkness of the cell I put on
his clothes and he took my dress. I felt so strangely that I was sure
the deceit must be discovered at once, but no one questioned me from
the time I left the prison until I passed safely through the lines."

"Hooray for Hal Hamilton," shouted Mason, enthusiastically. He had
listened breathlessly to the girl's story of her escape and the part his
chums had played in it.

"But your escape must have been discovered in the morning if not before.
What were the boys to do then? How was Hamilton to account for the
absence of his clothes?"

"They would no