The lads went reluctantly below to their room, much chagrined at the course affairs had taken. Their enemy and a paid emissary of the vice-consul in charge of the arms they had worked so hard to capture. It was deeply disappointing, but they felt powerless. “I couldn’t have interfered,” Phil argued to himself as he lay in his bunk, “unless I told the captain all, and what proof could I have brought? Both Lazar and the vice-consul would deny it.” Despite their excited experiences, our boys were soon wrapt in profound slumber. They were awake early the next morning and went about their routine duties on board ship as if nothing had happened. The wounded engineer was placed in the sick bay and the doctors announced he would be ready for duty in a few days. A rumor that something extraordinary had happened passed about the ship, but the captain cautioned the strictest secrecy, and gave out that he had landed the guard to be ready in case the expected assault on the city should prove successful. Phil, as he stood on the quarter-deck after breakfast, could see the dozen or more khaki-colored tents on Legation Hill, where Lazar’s men were encamped. “Marshall and Morrison are there, I am thankful to say,” he murmured. “Lazar will have to reckon with two wide-awake men.” “Mr. Perry,” Captain Taylor said a few moments later in his cabin, where Phil had gone in answer to his summons, “I have just received a message in cipher from the Navy Department. It is of grave importance. One which so closely concerns our government that we must needs spare no effort to ascertain the truth. The State Department have reason to believe that affairs here are not as represented by official despatches from the minister. You have already unmasked one villain, and undoubtedly it was he who has misled the minister in his estimates of the strength of the insurgents. I do not think it advisable at this time to report to Washington the perfidy of Juarez. Our minister believes, as I do, that as we have the arms it is better to say nothing at present. Juarez of course has deserted and may be in the insurgent camp. Or, still more likely, he sailed in the American steamer this morning for Panama. We must have, as soon as possible, reliable information as to the strength of the rebellion. It is this intelligence that I wish you to get from the insurgent camp.” Phil listened attentively to the captain’s lengthy explanation and instructions. His pulse beat fast. Here was an opportunity he had longed for, dreamed of. It was now really true. He was going to the camp of an army. He would see war. “The details I shall leave to you,” the captain continued, smiling at the distinct delight in the lad’s face. “Do not be too impetuous. Remember it is hazardous work, and of such a peculiar character that you may be deprived of your right as a neutral. Mr. Monroe, I am sure, will wish to go with you, and I think you should have one other.”