turning his friend's grip; "now I'm off."

Without any further words Jim crawled to the edge of the thicket,
leaving John Berwick in the grewsome company of the dead man, but
Berwick took up a position where he could see the tall, shadowy figure
of James Darlington as he advanced straight toward the stronghold of
this gang of unmerciful pirates.

"That boy has them all beaten when it comes to unqualified nerve,"
muttered the engineer to himself; "the best fellow in an emergency I
ever saw, and that's something."

James would have felt proud to have heard his friend's eulogy, but his
mind was fully taken up with the problem he was facing. He must get into
that house without delay; to stand long where he was meant sure
detection in a short time. If he had only possessed his revolver, he
would have felt more comfortable.

"Have to get or borrow a gun from one of those chaps inside there," he
mused with shrewd humor.

He was now directly below the long mullioned window, but as he was not a
little birdie with wings, he could not fly, and had to climb.

"Here's luck," he said; "this vine is bigger than I thought it could
be. Takes California to grow a vine like a tree and that's a fact."

Indeed, the vine that spread its dark green splendor over the whole
north side of the great structure and wrapped itself around the giant
chimney had a stem that was more like the trunk of a small tree and very
tough and fibrous. Jim did not hesitate, but quickly removed his shoes,
and with both free hands, noiselessly climbed up towards the window,
sustaining his weight partially on the rough jutting bricks until he
finally reached in safety the broad sill of the mullioned window.

"So far so good," he murmured, "now to get inside."

Very slowly and cautiously he pushed on the lower part of the center
window and it gave easily enough, the gang in foolhardy security never
dreaming that an enemy would dare approach their stronghold, much less
come into their very castle. Indeed, their confidence was in some
measure justified, for their head and chief, old Captain Broome, was
very powerful through this section, had strong friends among the
officials in the city and was safe from being bothered by the
authorities. As for private enemies, he could very well take care of
them himself.

So without any trouble at this point Jim slipped through the window and
was within the castle of his bitterest enemy. He let himself down from
the wind