Phil watched Captain Taylor and Lazar move slowly up the steps. The former threw an inquiring glance over his shoulder at the lads standing determinedly in the cellar. The officers disappeared and the midshipmen heard their footsteps enter the minister’s office above. Phil turned a glance full of pity on Craig. The sailorman shook as if with ague. “Are you ill?” asked Phil in sympathy. “Yes, sir. I don’t want to stay here any longer,” the miserable man pleaded. “Can’t you, sir, get me back on board ship?” Phil noticed the unhealthy pallor on the man’s cheeks. “Have you a cough?” he asked. “Only lately, sir, but it seems to get worse,” he answered. Sydney had been rummaging about in the cellar; he now appeared with a piece of bar steel pointed on the end. “Let’s open another box, Phil,” he suggested. After a few minutes the cover of a box was pried open. The lads gave a gasp of surprise. It contained only rocks. Another and another lid was forced, until the last box was opened to the light. Not one contained arms but were piled to the top with rocks; only the one examined by Lazar held arms. Craig was stupefied with terror. “If you wish to save yourself,” Phil whispered, turning upon the frightened sailor, “tell us where the guns have been taken. We know you have been forced to do this work.” The man’s knees shook and his voice failed him. “He’ll kill me if I tell,” he whined pitifully. “No, he won’t,” Phil hastily assured him. “We shall tell him nothing. We promise.” “They were taken through this underground passageway to the next house,” Craig replied in a terrified whisper, showing the cleverly concealed opening to a secret tunnel underneath the cellar floor; “they are now in Mr. Juarez’s house at La Mesa. I overheard the order given to hide them there.” The lads had discovered quite enough. They ascended the steps and walked excitedly to the minister’s office. [Illustration: _“YOU SEIZED ONLY A CARGO OF ROCKS”_] Captain Taylor at once noticed the agitation on their faces. “What’s the matter?” he inquired in alarm. “Please come with us, sir,” Phil begged in as calm a voice as he could muster. The captain and Lazar followed the midshipmen back to the cellar. A cry of surprise escaped from Captain Taylor when he saw the contents of the remaining boxes. Lazar’s face was a study. A cynical smile curled his mouth. His manner was calm. He held himself perfectly under control. “I fear the rebels were too cunning for you, Mr. Perry,” he said casting a look, full of hatred, at the midshipman. “You thought you had arms, but you seized only a cargo of rocks.” “But the one box,” exclaimed Captain Taylor. “Only a clever ruse, I presume,” Lazar explained promptly; “that one was placed on the launch in just such a manner as a card trickster forces on you a card from his pack. It was the logical one to open. The remaining arms are probably by now in the hands of the insurgents.”