“What is it, señorita?” he demanded sympathetically. “If you will tell me what has happened----” “Oh!” gasped Virginia, stumbling out of the boat and into his arms, according to schedule. “Oh, it was terrible. I----” Her eyes closed, and she would have fallen if he had not held her. According to the rules and regulations, it was his duty to summon the guard, but he was too busy just then to give thought to rules and regulations. He was struggling with the dead weight of the girl, who had become as limp and inanimate as a rag, when a tall, dark-faced young man, who wore the fatigue uniform of a captain, ran out of the fortress and approached the pair. “What have we here?” he demanded sternly. Then, as his gaze rested on the girl’s face: “Good heavens! It’s Miss Throgmorton! What is the matter with her, Sanchez?” “I think she has fainted, captain,” the sentry replied, allowing his fair burden to drop gently to the sand in order that he might salute his superior officer. He pointed to the motor boat. “She came ashore in that, a minute ago.” “Alone?” The sentry nodded. “She was screaming as though in great terror.” “It is strange--very strange,” muttered Captain Ernesto Reyes. “I wonder if----” He was interrupted by a dull report and a vivid flash of light which came from the beach, about four hundred feet from where they stood. The sentry and his superior officer exchanged glances of mingled mystification and dismay. Leaving the girl, both of them started to run frantically toward the spot from which this startling interruption had come. Through the gloom they saw dimly a man step to the edge of the beach, and hurl himself into the water. With an exclamation of joy, Virginia opened her eyes and rose to a sitting position. “Victory!” she murmured. “He has done it.” But a second later her exultation gave place to horror and dismay, as she heard the bark of a revolver. By the spurt of flame which accompanied the report, she saw Captain Reyes standing at the water’s edge, shooting savagely at the fugitive. CHAPTER XXV. CAPTAIN CORTRELL’S ORDERS. A short row of high bushes in front of the fortress had supplied the Camera Chap with a clew as to which was the window of President Felix’s cell. Early in his investigation, he had learned from one of the natives of Puerto Cabero that this foliage was of recent planting. It had been put there two years previously, when Portiforo had first taken over the presidency, after the sensational disappearance of Felix.