"_Mil gracias, senora!_" exclaimed Adrian, with much gratitude. "Yes, more than a thousand thanks. You will never regret it." "The wife of Leocadio is not learned," was the reply, "but she knows an honest youth when she sees one. Come, Peppita, let the young man go to sleep. We will make our bed out here." She drew the curtains together and Adrian was left alone to his own reflections. "By George!" he exclaimed under his breath, "if I ever get out of this measly country, I'll be glad. I wonder what has become of Billie? Of course he'll look for me, and old Don, too; but it looks as though it might be weeks before I could walk. Well, I don't care. If Mr. Black and Josie got away, that's glory enough for one day." He settled himself down and tried to go to sleep, but his leg hurt him so that he could not. In fact, the pain was so great that every once in a while he groaned. After a few of these groans the woman appeared in the door with an earthen vessel filled with hot water. "If the senor will bind this on his ankle, it will do it much good," she said. "I'll do anything to get rid of this pain," said Adrian. He took the jar and, dipping his handkerchief in it, bathed his ankle freely and finally bound the cloth around the swollen part. "There," he muttered as he at last succeeded in finding a comfortable position, "now I think I can get a little sleep." How long thereafter it was before he came to himself he did not know, but when he opened his eyes the first streak of daylight was creeping in through a little window. A minute later there was the rattle of musketry, followed by a hearty American cheer. He raised up to look out of the window, when the side of the room came in with a crash. CHAPTER XXII. A RESCUE AND A SURPRISE. It would be hard to describe Adrian's surprise at the unexpected event which closed the preceding chapter. His first thought was that a cannon ball had struck the house, but a second thought convinced him that such was not the case. Before he had time to think further he heard a big voice call out: "Here he is!" A moment later Mr. Black burst in through the opening in the wall and, picking Adrian up in his arms as though he had been a baby, started on a run with him for the nearest horse. "There you are!" he exclaimed as he set the boy on the horse. "Now to run for it!" Adrian needed no second bidding, but digging his heels into the horse's side he dashed away toward the cocoanut grove, his flight being protected by the Americans with Billie at their head. A couple of minutes after, the entire band had rallied in the shelter of the trees, where they stopped to plan for the next move. "How did you ever find me?" asked Adrian as he and Billie peered out toward the town. "Mr. Black knew about where he lost you and we tracked you by your trail. Whoever dragged you into the house, left a trail as wide as your body."