on them
with its thick enveloping whiteness, and they could not see more than
two feet in either direction. It was indeed a case where fortune
appeared to favor the brave.

"They're down there all right," cried the captain in his harsh voice;
"we've got 'em where they can't get away. Don't shoot, lads, we'll take
'em alive."

A roar of approval met this declaration.

"Give me a lasso, Manuel, and hurry, or I'll take the end of it to you,"
roared the captain.

Jim put his hand on his comrade's shoulder and whispered:

"I want that lasso," and he edged along until he was directly underneath
the balcony, then he rose slowly to his feet, which, in his wet
stockings, did not slip. Manuel, indeed, had hurried, for no sooner had
Jim risen to the height of his precarious position than he saw the rope
dangling downward like a snake. He let it alone until he believed that
it was paid out to the full.

Then he gripped it with both of his powerful hands, and gave it a yank,
as though he were ringing out the old year. It pulled the sailor who was
paying the rope out bodily out of the balcony, and only the agility and
strength of the captain kept him from falling into the hands or upon the
head of the enemy below, but in the struggle he let go of the rope.

Jim, with his treasure firmly in hand, now moved rapidly along the ridge
of the roof to a chimney, paying no attention to the uproar on the
balcony above, nor to the shots that, with a dimmed report, tore
harmlessly through the gray garment of the fog. It did not take them
long to tie the rope around the chimney and then Berwick slid down past
several windows and with a drop of ten feet was on the ground once more.
In a moment Jim was standing by him. His first act was to seek out and
put on his shoes.

"Over the fence now, Captain?"

"No," replied Jim, "we won't give up the fight till we're beaten."

"Better get, while we have the chance," protested the engineer
earnestly.

"Come quick; I have a scheme," announced Jim. "We won't run yet."

"No faster than molasses in January," said the engineer irritably.

"Take it easy, John," said Jim soothingly, with a pat on the shoulder;
"we'll come out all right, my boy."

It was as though Jim were the older of the two, but it was the quality
of leadership in him that made him hearten his comrade. Berwick
responded, his good nature instantly restored.

"Go it, Cap. I'll see you through this if it takes my head and both
f