l flat upon his face, whilst a sec

Cortes; "we

llowed by the two boys. The man held himself in a crouching position until h

eady out of breath as much fr

. They are o

e of that?"

a German bullet. In this part of the world only thos

could not cross the valley, they would have to make a detour; which meant that they could not possibly rejoin Fernando before night

be thinking, standing at his full heig

ert your brother

can pass through the bush in silence; we can travel amid the rocks like snakes. I could cross that valley crawling on my face, and the eye of an eag

s European clothes--that was fully in keeping with the aspect of their surroundings, whi

ill-side like a mantle. I will guide you. It will take us about two hours to get there. Then I will leave you. You will be quite safe; for man

About four o'clock in the afternoon they sighted the forest of which the man had spoken. It o

he daylight dwindled a great moon arose. Cortes led them to a place, on the verge of a deep ravine

e I cannot be back until midnight. If I do not return by then, you will know that I am dead; then--if you a

his way, gliding down the face of the

he semi-darkness like great, ghostly giants. Somewhere near at hand a mountain stream roared and thundered over the rocks. The breeze brought to their nostrils the sm

ey possessed their souls in patience. It wa

It was midnight. There wa

e somewhere in the forest to go rolling down into

omething,"

I," sa

ing through the bush. If this were an enemy they would have small chance of e

gnarled roots of the very tree by which they were st

most a miracle that the animal had lived as long as

d for the first time the extreme danger of their mission, that they were alone in the heart of a country which was almost une

e was husky, "I wonder if we sh

ut I'm sure of this: if we have to die

to hold their breath. It was a loud word of command in the

with whom were two or three European officers and several German noncommissioned officers. The men marched well in step, keeping their dressing and acting promptly and

to the fact that in the centre of the company was a European whose hand

his man at once. It wa