ors, he was put under guard, and left to await the
pleasure of his captors.

Then at last, they drew breath. The work was done and well done. Dick
was with them, safe and sound, and none the worse for his terrible
experience. The band which had been the scourge of that distracted
country had been practically wiped out, and the leader, who for so long
had defied God and man, was a prisoner, awaiting his fate. What that
fate would be no one could doubt, who knew how richly he merited death.

"I suppose," said Dick, as they sat a little apart from the others taking
lunch with the captain of the troop, at his invitation, "that he'll be
taken to Montillo for trial."

"Guess again," chuckled Melton, who knew something of the methods of the
Mexican Government in dealing with guerillas.

"My orders were to take no prisoners," smiled the captain, and there was
a meaning in his smile that boded ill for the remnant of the bandit crew.

"And, of course, I must obey my orders," he added drily. "The more
readily," he went on, as his face grew dark, "because there is a private
score that I have to settle with this scoundrel. The blood of my younger
brother is on his hands. You can guess then, senors, whether I was glad,
when I was trusted on this mission."

"Are they to be shot, then?" ventured Bert.

"All but the leader," answered the captain. "He must hang. And yet he
shall not die by hanging."

Before they could ask an explanation, he rose and excused himself, as he
had to give some orders to the soldiers, and they were left to ponder in
vain for his meaning.

The next two hours were spent in clearing up the camp and burying the
dead. The bodies of the guerillas were thrown hastily into a narrow
trench, but those of the soldiers received full military honors, the
bugler playing taps, and a salvo of musketry being fired over the graves.
In the meantime the boys had wandered over the camp, now shorn of the
terror that had so long been connected with it. On the upper end, it
terminated at the very brink of a precipice. All of Mexico seemed to be
stretched out before them. The abyss fell sheer down for a thousand feet
to the rocks below. They shuddered as they stood on the edge and looked
through the empty space. On the brink stood a mighty oak tree, with one
of its limbs overhanging the chasm.

A sudden recollection struck Melton.

"This must be the place the consul told me about, in one of his stories,"
he