pointed for the meeting with the insurgent courier.

Clif hid the boat among some bushes and quickly led the men up the steep
bank toward a clump of trees.

"This is the spot," he exclaimed as they reached it, "and we are
evidently ahead of time."

No one was in sight, as far as the eye could penetrate the darkness.
There was barely enough light from the moon just emerging from behind a
cloud to enable the sailors to take some notice of the surroundings.
Where they stood, near the sparse clump of trees, it was smooth and
level, but close to one side of them rose a ridge of ground forming a
natural rampart. It almost seemed as though Spanish forms might at any
instant appear upon it behind threatening guns.

Seaward the view was unobstructed, and as Clif turned his gaze in that
direction, he could see the moonbeams reflected on the heaving bosom of
the waters. He saw another sight an instant after that caused him to
utter an exclamation of surprise.

Far out to seaward the beam of a searchlight suddenly shot across the
water. It swept from side to side in a gradually widening radius, until
after a few moments its glare fell upon a steamer whose hulk rose up
between it and the shore.

"It is one of our ships chasing a blockade runner," cried Clif. "She was
trying to sneak out, but is caught in the act."

The little party on shore watched with eager eyes the chase as shown by
the bright beam from the warship's searchlight. In the excitement of the
novel sight that was afforded them they for the moment forgot why they
were there.

Then a strange and mysterious thing happened. As they watched the
pursued vessel they suddenly saw a flash from a gun on the side facing
the land.

"What fools!" cried Clif. "Firing toward the land instead of at our
ship. The fool Spaniards must be rattled worse than usual. That
beats----"

He did not finish the sentence. As he spoke the shell fired from the
ship crashed through the trees and landed almost at his feet. The fuse
was burning and spluttering, and it seemed ready to explode on the
instant, carrying death and destruction to the little party.

It was a perilous moment. Several of the men instinctively dodged and
seemed on the point of running away.

Clif saw his peril in an instant and the only hope of averting it.
Without a moment's hesitation he sprang forward and picked up the shell
as it seemed about to burst. With a mighty effort he hurled the
spluttering missile ov