As Dick ran from the telegraph office and looked about him in search of the two foreigners, he saw them disappearing around a street corner a few hundred yards away, but when he arrived at the same spot they were nowhere in sight. He dashed up the long street scouring each crossing for a sight of them, but in vain. The town was practically deserted. Most of the smaller houses were open and vacant. The stores and larger dwellings were closed and locked. The inhabitants had vacated when the Federal forces occupied the town some weeks before. La Paz was in too great a danger of changing hands again to make it comfortable as a place of habitation. Small patrols of Federal soldiers sauntered about, but the majority had returned to the entrenchments which surrounded the town on all sides. Even women and children were noticeable by their absence, for the families of the Latin-American soldiers as a rule accompany their fighting men into the field, living with them on the firing line. Often the women themselves join in the fray, armed with machetes, and are most savage and blood-thirsty opponents. Failing to discover the whereabouts of the German and the Englishman, Dick was at first at a loss as to his next step. Then he recalled having met at the station a few days before Colonel Solorzano Diaz, nephew to the president of Nicaragua,, and second officer in command at La Paz. Undoubtedly this officer could give him information of the two he sought, as it was improbable they could be inside the Federal lines and not be known to him. "Is Colonel Diaz in La Paz?" asked Dick of a group of soldiers standing on a corner. "Yes, Señor, he is at his headquarters." "Take me to him at once! I have important news for him!" demanded Dick. The young soldier who had answered his query now volunteered to act as guide, and after a ten minutes’ walk they came to the Colonel’s tent, erected near a battery of field guns. The smart, military-looking orderly on duty there halted them and after inquiring their business, he ushered them into the Colonel’s presence. "You say you are an American and have important news for me?" asked the handsome young Colonel, immaculately attired in a splendidly fitting uniform. "I have, Colonel, and will be glad to tell you what I know if I may see you alone." "First, explain how you come to be within our lines. Your arrival has never been reported to me, señor." "I met the Colonel three days ago when I delivered a letter from the Commanding Officer at Camp Pendleton. I am a marine, Señor." "Why are you dressed as you are, if such is the case?" and the officer looked Dick over with suspicion in his eyes. Briefly Dick gave his explanation, but before Diaz would consent to hear the rest of his disclosures the orderly was directed to telephone Frederico at the station to verify the statements.