revent, if you can," laughed the Mexican.

"We shall see what will happen," retorted the Army boy.

"Nothing--so far as you American soldiers are concerned," came the
triumphant answer.

"You shall see," vaunted Hal, though inwardly he groaned. He had been
outwitted, in his first command as an officer, and he could feel the hot
shame of the whole thing.

"But I don't see how you fellows can get anything out of Guarez's barn,
unless you have been able to noose the whole of the sergeant's guard
posted there."

Another laugh, and one of undisguised, unmistakable merriment, escaped
the Mexican.

"Eh?" wondered Hal, for that laugh set him to thinking. Yet he did not
pretend to himself that he could fathom what lay behind that laugh.

"It is our night to laugh," explained the guard.

"Your merriment is ill-timed, then," growled young Overton. "Wait until
you have all your war stuff on Mexican soil before you laugh again!"

"My time to laugh is every time that I look at you seven brave
_soldados_, tied up like so many chickens for the butcher," grinned the
guard. "In the meantime, our boat must now be at the pier, and soon she
will be laden. Then--ah, well, there will be rejoicing on the other side
of the Rio Grande!"

"I'll wager there'll be rejoicing," thought Lieutenant Hal. "And, as for
me, I'm an officer with a blasted reputation. I've failed with my first
chance to do my duty!"

In sheer disgust with himself, though he was really little if any at
fault, Lieutenant Hal Overton, U. S. Army, rolled further over that he
might cool his hot face against the cool earth.

CHAPTER XIV

AFFAIRS TAKE A MILITARY TURN

As he did so Hal's hands touched against the wrists of Private Simms,
who lay next to him.

"Confound me, why didn't I think of that before?" the Army boy demanded
of himself, a sudden, brief hope surging up in his breast.

Then he tried it, to see how well it would work.

Though he was bound at elbows and wrists, the young lieutenant's fingers
were free. Wriggling slightly nearer, Hal fingered at the cords that
bound Simm's wrists. That soldier felt and understood. Wriggling
slightly nearer, and doing it so easily and gradually as not to attract
the attention of the Mexican guard, Simms waited to see what would come
of his officer's new move.

Slowly, diligently, Hal worked at the first knot. He felt a thrill of
joy when his busy fingers untangled that knot. Then another one, and
anothe