lowly back to the jail, his lips still moving in
prayer.

A man stepped out of the ranks and tied a silk handkerchief over the
eyes of the prisoner. The boys, watching breathlessly through the bars
of the window, were pale with the horror of the scene. They now
understood the tragedy that was about to be enacted, but they could not
shake off the desire to look.

The soldier moved back into the ranks, there was another sharp command
and the lines wheeled and marched in a single rank of twelve back to the
jail wall. They were now directly under the boys and out of their line
of vision. All they could see was the man with the bound hands and
bandaged eyes standing calmly facing them.

There was another quick command, followed instantly by a rattle of arms.

The boys cast off the spell that had held them, and with a cry of horror
jumped down from the table and throwing themselves on the beds placed
their hands over their ears.

Another command in a low tone, and the discharge of twelve guns as one
ended it.

"I hope she did not see," said Harry, raising his white face.

He had scarcely uttered the words, when the wild shriek of a woman rang
out on the morning air.

A loud, coarse laugh from the jail yard followed the pitiful cry and
Harry clenched his hand in futile anger.

CHAPTER XVI

THE ESCAPE

It was sometime before the boys recovered from the unpleasant effects of
the scene they had witnessed in the jail yard.

"I wonder who he was?" said Bert, after a long silence.

"Probably an insurgent. But whoever he was, he was a brave man."

The door of their cell quietly opened at this moment and a man brought
food and set it on the table. The boys, who had not eaten anything for
many hours, disposed of the porridge and some mysterious sort of meat
stew with relish. They had scarcely finished their meal when the cell
door opened again and the gentleman with the genial smile, who had acted
as interpreter, appeared.

"Good morning," he said, cheerily. "Did you sleep well?"

"Very well, thank you," replied Harry, wondering what the purpose of the
man's visit might be.

"Thought I would drop in and see if there was any message you would like
to send to the general or to Consul Wyman."

"You mean that you were sent to see if we were ready to talk yet, don't
you?"

"Just a different way of putting it."

"Well, you may tell General What-You-May-Call-Him that we have nothing
more to say than we sai