e story, as
he had learned it, of the affair at San Matteo Bay, ending with the
rescue of the entire party.

"Poor Reynolds," laughed Captain Beauchamp. "He must have had a jolly
meeting with the Senor. I wrote to Reynolds that everybody had been
blown sky high, and that the slate was clean."

The mate, whose voice was a low grumble, made some remark which Juarez
could not hear.

"Yes, about that Jim," the captain was saying. "What we want to do is to
surprise him, take him unawares."

Again the murmur of the mate's voice, but he spoke too low for his words
to be heard.

"It's near dusk," resumed the captain. "In half an hour it will be pitch
dark. We'll jog along towards the bay and take some observations."

The listener heard no more.

Some bird flitted into a branch close beside Juarez and uttered a gentle
chirp. He knew that he was alone. He knew, too, that a serious task was
cut out for him. To descend the mountain by the route he had come and
reach the shack or shelter at the landing place would necessitate his
passing the villainous pair he had overheard. This they would likely
prevent. The feat was well nigh impossible.

It seemed right good fortune that he had overheard their plans, but how
could he circumvent them? He had it. A sudden inspiration burned into
his soul. He must descend by the precipitous route on the side toward
the sea down which he and Jo had traveled the day before. They had made
the descent for pleasure, then, helping each other, and in broad
daylight. Could he do the trick alone and in the dark?

He tried to scramble to his feet. The effort sent a paralyzing pain
through his head and neck, and he relaxed again with a stifled moan.
After a moment he tried again, more slowly now, and in spite of the
terrible pain, soon staggered to his feet.

He looked about. Directly above him was an overhanging boulder. It was
upon its jagged edge he had struck when falling. Below was the stone
turreted, bushy mountain side. Supporting himself with his hands he
crept around the base of the boulder and soon got a broader outlook. His
gun, as too great a handicap to carry on his trip, he discarded,
carefully secreting it.

A considerable interval must have elapsed since he received that
paralyzing abrasure from the rock against which he had struck, for the
sun was gone and a melancholy gloom was settling over the wild
landscape. Assuredly he must be moving. Those unscrupulous cutthroats
would s