The sharp point of that knife pressed so insistently against Hal's neck that the Army boy realized he could not move before the weapon would be driven into his throat. "This is where it's wiser to keep still," muttered the young lieutenant to himself. "My sentries will hear, anyway. They'll soon have this maniac subdued." Instead of the sentries four other Mexicans came hurrying up. Nor did they seem afraid to come running down the open road. And one of these brown-skinned men was Pedro Guarez himself. "Aha! You have the dashing young _Gringo_!" laughed Pedro harshly. "Bueno!" (Good.) "Take him from me," begged the one who held the knife. "Bind him. We want no more trouble to-night." Pedro and the three other new-comers threw themselves upon the young Army officer, rolling him over on his face and wrenching his arms behind him for tying. [Illustration: "His Arms Pinioned To His Sides."] Yet as he was flopped over Hal had the use of his mouth for an instant. Regardless of what the consequences might be to him he yelled lustily: "Sentry! Lieutenant Overton--_trouble_!" Instead of being angry Pedro Guarez laughed harshly. "_Gringo_, if you are not more careful we shall have to gag you!" In record time the young lieutenant's arms were bound at elbow and wrist. Hal put up a sturdy fight. Had he been on his feet, and confronting only the fists of his assailants, he might have won. But on the ground, face downward, with his assailants piling over him, he had little chance to make trouble. "He's all right, now," chuckled Guarez. "If he tries to make any more noise throw him to the ground and gag him. If he shows fight give him the steel." Two of the Mexicans seized Lieutenant Hal by the arm on either side, while Guarez led the way into a stretch of forest. They were soon at the end of their walk. Lieutenant Overton gave a gasp of dismay as his gaze fell upon the recumbent forms of six of his men, every one of them bound. Twenty feet beyond them lay a heap of six rifles and as many ammunition belts. Hal's eyes roved from face to face, his men grinning back sheepishly at him. "All of our sentries for a thousand feet on either side of the pier!" gasped the young lieutenant, in deep humiliation. Pedro Guarez, laughing harshly, said to Hal: "Bah! You _Gringos_ are no men to compete with the sons of Mexico! You are like children to us, who roam always by night, in preference to the light of day. And there is much Indian blood in Mexican veins. Now, if you are wise, no harm will come to you. But if you make a noise or show fight--_so_!" Guarez made a significant gesture across his throat. "How did you men come to be taken, Simms?" asked Hal, of the nearest soldier, after his captors had forced him to lie on the ground with his men. "A Greaser crept up behind me, sir, and threw a noose that got tangled around my windpipe," replied Private Simms. "He did it so swiftly and quietly, too, that not even Bolton on the next post heard him."