st. Hal put up a sturdy fight. Had he been on his feet, and
confronting only the fists of his assailants, he might have won. But on
the ground, face downward, with his assailants piling over him, he had
little chance to make trouble.

"He's all right, now," chuckled Guarez. "If he tries to make any more
noise throw him to the ground and gag him. If he shows fight give him
the steel."

Two of the Mexicans seized Lieutenant Hal by the arm on either side,
while Guarez led the way into a stretch of forest.

They were soon at the end of their walk. Lieutenant Overton gave a gasp
of dismay as his gaze fell upon the recumbent forms of six of his men,
every one of them bound. Twenty feet beyond them lay a heap of six
rifles and as many ammunition belts. Hal's eyes roved from face to face,
his men grinning back sheepishly at him.

"All of our sentries for a thousand feet on either side of the pier!"
gasped the young lieutenant, in deep humiliation.

Pedro Guarez, laughing harshly, said to Hal:

"Bah! You _Gringos_ are no men to compete with the sons of Mexico! You
are like children to us, who roam always by night, in preference to the
light of day. And there is much Indian blood in Mexican veins. Now, if
you are wise, no harm will come to you. But if you make a noise or show
fight--_so_!"

Guarez made a significant gesture across his throat.

"How did you men come to be taken, Simms?" asked Hal, of the nearest
soldier, after his captors had forced him to lie on the ground with his
men.

"A Greaser crept up behind me, sir, and threw a noose that got tangled
around my windpipe," replied Private Simms. "He did it so swiftly and
quietly, too, that not even Bolton on the next post heard him."

"I heard nothing, sir," confirmed Private Bolton, "until I heard a
roaring in my own ears just after I got the noose trick, and then a lot
of other Greasers piled on me."

Again Guarez laughed, though he added with a snarl:

"You will do well to stop the use of that word, Greaser, fellow.
Otherwise you will feel the weight of a boot in your face. So!"

Guarez swung his foot back as though intending to plant a vicious kick
in Bolton's face.

"Have done with cowardice, Guarez!" ordered Lieutenant Hal sternly.

"Oh!" sneered the Mexican. "Me? I do as I please, and it would give me
joy to kick your head off."

"I'd bide my time, and make you swallow your own foot in time, if you
did," retorted Hal undauntedly.

"Be not too bol