nd crawled once more into the open.
Larry followed, and both hurried away from the vicinity with all
possible speed. It was the last seen or heard of the party who had so
unexpectedly blockaded their progress on the highway.

The jungle at the top of the hill was as dense as that below, and the
pair had not proceeded far before they found themselves in a veritable
tangle of bushes and vines. The bushes were of the thorny kind
peculiar to this locality, and more than once Larry found himself
caught and held as if in a vice.

"My clothing will be in tatters if this keeps on," he panted, as he
cut himself loose with difficulty. "Did you ever see such a thicket!"

"We missed it when we started out to-night," returned Luke, gravely.
"We've gone astray o' the firm' line and everything else, to my way o'
lookin' at it."

Bad as was their situation, they felt it would be worse with the
coming of daylight. "We must get out of the enemy's territory before
the sun rises," said Larry. "If we don't, we'll have no show at all."

But getting out was not easy; indeed, the farther they advanced, the
more difficult did it seem to become, until both came to the
conclusion that they had missed their bearings entirely, and were
lost. "And can't even see the stars to read 'em," groaned Luke.
"Larry, we might as well make the best of it, and wait for daylight."

But the youth demurred and insisted on going ahead. "We're bound to
strike something soon," he said, and did, immediately afterward. It
was a log lying on the edge of an incline, and down he pitched, and
log and lad rolled over and over, with Luke following, to bring up
with a loud splash in the river below.

The force of their fall took them under the surface of the stream, and
in the struggle to save themselves both lost their cutlasses. But, as
old readers know, each could swim well, and they speedily came up and
struck out for the most available landing-place, which was on the
opposite bank.

"_Alto!_" came the sudden cry, in Spanish. "Halt!" And now a sentry
appeared from behind a pile of cord-wood lying but a short distance
away.

[Illustration: "Alto!" came the sudden cry.--_Page 47._]

"Discovered again," muttered Luke, and felt for his pistol. "Soaked!"
he muttered, in disgust.

The cry of the rebel on guard had given the alarm to several others,
and in a twinkling Larry and the old Yankee tar found themselves
confronted by an even more determined crowd than tha