"Then you can count me in right now if it can be arranged so I can get a leave of absence from the _News_." CHAPTER TEN "Mr. Seven's" Secret Under the flickering firelight in the camp in the valley of the Cedar, Grenville Ford unfolded for Tim the story of the revolt in Guato, the looting of the gold mines and the flight from Martee in the old tramp steamer. "I was covering the revolution in Guato at the time for the old _New York Globe_," said Ford, as he traced the events which had finally brought him into contact with the flying reporter of the _News_. "The revolution was headed by Manuel Crespes, who was a professional trouble maker. He got together a band of desperadoes, all of the riff-raff in Central America, armed them with modern weapons, and promised them all of the loot they could get. In less than a month he had 3,000 of the toughest soldiers you ever saw with him." Ford puffed slowly on his pipe. "Three thousand men is quite an army for Central America," he went on, "and Crespes knew how to handle them. He kept them well fed and paid them promptly. We never knew where the money came from but we had a hunch Russia was supplying him with funds. "The revolt started at Martee, the main seaport, and the rebels swept everything before them and started inland for the capital, Blanco. They looted every village they went through and it looked like they were going to win in a walkaway. But Crespes didn't know that the foxy old president of Guato had purchased a fleet of American bombing planes and had secured a bunch of former war pilots to fly them. When the rebels got up in the narrow passes of the mountains just east of the capital the bombers dropped down out of the sky. "I was there that day. Those big eagles just came out of the blue, unloaded their 'eggs' and then soared away for another load. The rebels were trapped. In ten minutes the backbone of the revolt was broken and they were fleeing for the seaport and safety at Martee. I had a hard time keeping up with them. "On the way to Martee, Crespes and the other ringleaders cleaned out the gold mines in the foothills. I don't know exactly how much, but it was at least a million. They managed to get the bullion to Martee and load it on the only ship in the harbor, the old Southern Queen. "They got away just before sunset and were well out to sea when the bombing planes swept down in search of them. The Southern Queen was never reported in any port and no member of its crew was ever heard from. There were all kinds of stories. Some said the old steamer had been caught in a tropical gale and gone down with all hands, others said that Crespes had managed to blow it up after getting away with a large share of the gold while some stories said the Southern Queen was beached on the coast of Yucatan, the crew fleeing after dividing the gold.