liams paused with one hand on top of the banisters balancing
himself in readiness for instant flight.

"You have not answered me. Did you meet with any one on your ride here
from Los Bocos?"

"I met several men on foot, and the mail carrier passed me a league out
from the coast, and oh, yes, I met a carriage at the cross roads, and
the driver asked me the way of San Pedro Sula."

"A carriage?--yes--and what did you tell him?"

"I told him he was on the road to Los Bocos, and he turned back and--"

"You are sure he turned back?"

"Certainly, sir. I rode behind him for some distance. He turned
finally to the right into the trail to San Pedro Sula."

The man flung himself across the railing.

"Quick," he commanded, "telegraph to Morales, Comandante San Pedro
Sula--"

He had turned his back on MacWilliams, and as the younger man bent over
the instrument, MacWilliams stepped softly down the stairs, and
mounting his pony rode slowly off in the direction of the capital. As
soon as he had reached the outskirts of the town, he turned and
galloped round it and then rode fast with his head in air, glancing up
at the telegraph wire that sagged from tree-trunk to tree-trunk along
the trail. At a point where he thought he could dismount in safety and
tear down the wire, he came across it dangling from the branches and he
gave a shout of relief. He caught the loose end and dragged it free
from its support, and then laying it across a rock pounded the blade of
his knife upon it with a stone, until he had hacked off a piece some
fifty feet in length. Taking this in his hand he mounted again and
rode off with it, dragging the wire in the road behind him. He held it
up as he rejoined Clay, and laughed triumphantly. "They'll have some
trouble splicing that circuit," he said, "you only half did the work.
What wouldn't we give to know all this little piece of copper knows,
eh?"

"Do you mean you think they have telegraphed to Los Bocos already?"

"I know that they were telegraphing to San Pedro Sula as I left and to
all the coast towns. But whether you cut this down before or after is
what I should like to know."

"We shall probably learn that later," said Clay, grimly.

The last three miles of the journey lay over a hard, smooth road, wide
enough to allow the carriage and its escort to ride abreast.

It was in such contrast to the tortuous paths they had just followed,
that the horses gained a fresh impetus and ga