ood flowed.

The sight seemed to please the crowd.

"Por dios!" they laughed. "Good for them! Keep it up!"

Perhaps the sight of blood enraged them; but at any rate, their
hostility became more evident. They shook their fists and muttered
savagely.

And all the while Ignacio's voice chimed in.

"Kill 'em! Kill 'em!"

The prisoners seemed about to have a very unpleasant experience indeed.
There was no one to restrain the crowd except the soldiers and they
sympathized with the angry people.

And the crowd seemed to know that; they surged nearer.

"A prison's too good for them!" they roared.

The old hag was still shaking her cane and yelling her maledictions. At
that moment a man snatched the stick from her hand and aimed a blow at
Clif's face.

The cadet's hands were tied behind him, and he was nearly helpless. But
he managed to turn and catch the blow upon his shoulders.

And an instant later his foot shot out and caught the enraged Spaniard
squarely in the stomach.

The man staggered back.

"Madre di dios!" he gasped. "He's killed me."

Clif's daring action set the crowd in a perfect frenzy.

"Stone 'em!" yelled Ignacio.

And seemingly all at once they sprang at the prisoners with sticks and
stones and knives and fists.

The soldiers made a feeble effort to stop them, but the crowd saw them
laughing as they did so.

"Nobody cares about the Yankee pigs!" the crowd roared. "Go for them."

It would have gone hard with the Americans just then had it not been for
the fact that the captain reappeared. He had no love to waste on them,
but he knew his duty.

And he sprang forward with a stern command:

"Drive that crowd back! Quick!"

And then the cavalrymen acted in a quite different manner. The angry mob
was forced away, in spite of their protests. The sailors breathed
somewhat more freely.

Still it was to their relief when they saw an engine and a single
freight car coming up the track. They knew that was for them and that
they would soon be out of the reach of that mob.

"But not of Ignacio!" Clif groaned. "Not of Ignacio."

The "private car" intended for the strangers came to a stop in front of
the little station, and they were told to dismount from the horses and
enter.

The crowd gave a parting jeer as they lost sight of them. Once inside
the sailors were gruffly ordered to sit down, and their feet were tied
securely.

A sergeant and three men were detailed to mount guard over them,