“Do you suspect foul play?” Phil questioned. “Would the enemy have the daring to make way with him inside the town? Why should he alone be molested? And, besides, he carried his revolver, and could not be struck down without being able to fire a warning shot.” “One sentry,” the captain replied quickly, “reported having heard a shot from the part of town near the sea, but he said it was very indistinct, and after all he was not sure.” Phil and Sydney exchanged glances and the captain looked up sharply, a faint suspicion entering his thoughts. “What I’d like to know,” he added coldly, “is who was in that closed carriage; the sentry says there were four people.” Phil flushed as he read the insinuation in the captain’s voice. “Juan Rodriguez, his daughter and a Filipino overseer by the name of Lopez,” he answered promptly, but he lowered his eyes before the direct, searching gaze of the judge-advocate general. The presence of Colonel Martinez need not be told. It would but complicate the case and not aid in the search for Tillotson; but the army officer knew human nature too accurately, and Phil was too poor a hand at telling less than the truth. “There was besides a Filipino with the driver?” he questioned pointedly. Phil shook his head in the negative. “Was this Lopez within the carriage with Señor Rodriguez and his daughter?” the captain asked curtly, and Phil felt as if he were on the witness stand having the whole truth dragged from him. He might just as well make a clean breast of it. Before those piercing black eyes, he found that he was not good at dissembling. “Lopez was driving,” Phil said blushing furiously in mortification at being so easily tripped in his testimony. “The other occupant of the carriage was Colonel Martinez!” If a bombshell had exploded at Captain Blynn’s feet he could not have appeared more astounded. “And you passed this insurgent officer out of our lines?” he asked incredulously. Phil nodded, his throat dry and his mind stunned with a sudden fear. “This is certainly a queer proceeding!” the army man exclaimed. “I cannot fathom it. Do you realize what you have done? Can you not see that Lieutenant Tillotson’s disappearance will be laid at your door? But surely,” he added, “there is some explanation which you can make? You could hardly be so foolish as to plot against the life or even the liberty of a brother officer.” Phil gave a sudden exclamation of surprised indignation, and with flashing eyes he turned angrily on his accuser. “I didn’t see your meaning at first,” he said in a low, intense voice but one that carried distinctly over the ship. “How dare you to insinuate this to my face and on board my ship?--Captain Blynn, there’s the gangway!” he cried sternly, his face now deathly pale but his jaw set firmly.