nd brushed against his face. And then he understood.

They were firing at the rope!

A panic terror seized him. He had reached the limit of human endurance.
Again the shots, and a trembling that told him that the rope was hit. He
tried to struggle upward. If he could only ease his weight. He
stretched his bound hands aloft in a hopeless effort to climb up to the
branch. He no longer dared to look below. Another volley and a sound of
tearing. He drew in a long breath as though it would buoy him up. His
feet felt about for something to rest on and relieve the strain. And
still he could hear the crackling and feel the yielding and once more the
guns rang out and the rope broke. With curses on his lips and delirium
in his heart, he fell. Once he turned over in his awful flight. Then, a
mere atom in that immensity of space, he shot like a plummet to the rocks
below.

CHAPTER VII

OFF FOR PANAMA

It had been a day of tremendous strain from start to finish, and there
was a general sigh of relief, as they gathered up their traps and
prepared to leave the camp. Not since their fight with the pirates, had
the boys had a closer "shave." It had been a case of touch and go, and
they had barely escaped with their lives. But they had won out, after
all, and, as Tom said, "a miss was as good as a mile." And their hearts
warmed at the sense of comradeship, that had once again been tested to
the limit and proved equal to the emergency. They had risked their lives
for each other, and the "fortune that favors the brave" had not deserted
them.

For Melton, their feeling was too deep for words. His was a heart of
gold. Without the slightest personal end to be served, and prompted
solely by his great, big, generous soul, he had come to their aid in the
moment of deepest need, and fought shoulder to shoulder, in their effort
to save their friend. Again and again they sought to voice their thanks,
but the hardy old frontiersman would have none of it.

"Cut it out, boys," he laughed. "I didn't do a thing that you wouldn't
have done for me, if you knew that an American was in trouble. Some day
perhaps, you can pay me back, if you insist on considering it a debt. I
only hope, if I ever do get in a scrape, I'll have some young fellows of
your brand behind me."

As none of them could read the future, they did not know that there was a
touch of prophecy in his words, and that the time was coming, when, in
his