ake you to the stone
wall from which I jumped. That ought to guide us to the house."

"Right," said the general.

He called another member of his staff and gave a few brief
orders.

In another ten minutes two launches loaded with regulars and
armed with a rapid-fire gun in each, steamed swiftly up the
harbor.

"There's the wall!" exclaimed Donald a few minutes later, "and
there's where I jumped," pointing to a spot near the abutment.

The officer in command headed the boats for the shore.

"It is not only a question of freeing Lieut. Grimes," said the
officer, "but we also want to capture the conspirators. This is
a much more serious matter than Gen. Funston is willing to
admit."

"Then if you will take my suggestion, sir," said Donald modestly,
"I would let a few soldiers go over the wall as well as entering
the front of the house."

The officer looked up twenty feet. The wall was absolutely
perpendicular and as smooth as the side of a house.

"I'm afraid none of my men can scale it," he said.

"Can't we throw a grapnel over it, sir?"

"We might; but it would be a very slight hold."

"If you can make it hold at all," laughed Donald, "I'm willing to
make the effort. At best I can only fall back into the water."

"True," declared the officer. "We'll try it."

A grapnel was tied to a long line, such as is used in tying the
launch to the shore, and after several vain attempts the grapnel
caught in the top of the wall.

Donald sprang forward and tested it with his weight and it held.
Then, without another word, he braced his feet against the wall
and in almost less time than it takes to write it, he was at the
top.

"Do you see any one?" asked the officer from below.

"No, sir; but there is the sound of pacing footsteps on the walk
that runs along the side of the house."

"Good! Now make fast the grapnel and we will see if there are a
dozen men here who can climb to the top."

The dozen were quickly found and they were soon at the top of the
wall. The officer finally decided to add to their armament one of
the rapid-firers.

"If there is any resistance," he said, "we'll knock the side of
the house in."

"What shall I do?" asked Donald.

"You'd better come back into the boat. You can help us to enter
the house in front."

Donald slid down the rope and the expedition quickly made a
landing. Silently, so as not to alarm those within the house, the
men took their way to the front of the mansion