n had caught up his boots as he leapt from the bed. The man
outside had evidently taken the precaution to remove his, for his
step was perfectly noiseless. Dick followed him downstairs and out
into the courtyard. He could then see that the man was not, as he
had expected, in uniform; but wore a long cloak and a sombrero,
like those in general use among the peasantry. He turned in at the
passage that had been indicated to Ryan, and stopped at the grated
opening at the end.

Ryan at once took out the saw, poured some oil on it, and passed
his nail down the bar until he found a fine nick. Clearing this out
with the saw, he began to cut. The task was far easier than he had
expected, for the bar had been already almost sawn through and, in
five minutes, the cut was completed. A couple of feet higher up he
found the other incision, and completed it as quietly as before.
Then he removed the piece cut out, and handed it to the man, who
laid it quietly down on the pavement of the passage.

In ten minutes the other bar was removed.

"I have the cord," the man said, and unwound some ten feet of stout
rope from his waist.

Ryan put his head out through the hole, and looked down. In the
darkness he could see nothing, but he heard the heavy tread of two
sentries. As the sound of their footsteps faded away in the
distance, he heard a sudden exclamation and a slight movement and,
a few seconds later, a voice below asked in a whisper:

"Are you there?"

"Yes," Ryan replied joyfully.

Putting a noose which was at one end of the rope over the stump of
one of the bars, he at once slid down. A moment later, the other
man descended after him.

"This way, senor," the voice said and, taking his hand, led him
across the street; and then, after a quarter of a mile's walk,
stopped at the door of a large house. He opened this with a key,
and led the way up the stairs to the second floor; opened another
door, and said:

"Enter, senor, you are at home."

Ryan had noticed that the man who had released him had not followed
them, but had turned away as soon as they left the prison.

"You are most welcome, senor," his guide said as, opening another
door, he led the way into a handsome apartment, where a lamp was
burning on the table.

"First let me introduce myself," he said. "My name is Alonzo
Santobel, by profession an advocate. I am a friend of Don Leon
Gonzales, one of Moras's officers, whom I believe you know. He will
be here in a