hat were they doing?"

"The Lieutenant was working over papers and the others were playing
cards."

"Could you hear what they were talking about?"

"Yes, until the other man came."

Ned and the others bent forward with new interest. Here was a fresh
feature in the case--a man who had not been referred to before coming
into the hut about midnight.

"Who," asked Ned, "was this other man?"

"An Americano."

"Had you seen him about the place before?"

"Never. He came in the night and went in the night."

"Was he in uniform--the uniform of a soldier?"

"No; he wore citizen's clothes."

"Which way did he come from?"

"I don't know," was the surprising reply. "I first saw him when he was
climbing in at the window."

"Climbing in at the window!" repeated Captain Godwin. "If he climbed in
at the window when the others were awake, he must have been expected!"

"Yes; I should think so."

"I can't understand this at all!" exclaimed Captain Godwin, his
good-natured face looking anxious. "Lieutenant Rowe said nothing to me
about expecting company. And why should he conceal the fact from me?
Why, indeed, should a visitor come crawling in at a window at midnight?
Are you sure it wasn't one of the three men I conducted to the hut that
you saw at the window?" he added, turning to the Filipino.

"Oh, yes; I am quite sure it was a fourth man. He mounted to the
window-ledge on a ladder, pushed the screen aside and vaulted over the
sill."

"And how was he received?" asked Ned.

"He was welcomed, and given a chair at the table. But first he went back
to the window and made some sort of a signal to those waiting outside."

"Oh, so there were others waiting outside!" grated out the Captain. "Why
didn't you come and tell me what was going on? Why didn't you tell me
about this the first thing this morning? That is the trouble with these
made-over men," he continued, half angrily as he looked at Ned. "You can
teach them to do things by rote, but when an emergency comes they are
like putty."

"I had no instructions to report what I saw at the hut--no orders to
play the spy," answered Tag, indignant that his conduct should be
criticized. "And this morning you gave me no chance to talk with you."

"How many people were there outside?" demanded the Captain.

"I don't know," was the reply. "There was the flash of a match to show
that the signals from the hut were understood, and then I went to bed.
There is no accounting fo