“The plan must have worked out pretty well,” observed Bob. “Did Pedro tell you whether any of the rescuers had been captured?”
“He came very early this morning,” answered Ysabel, “before the general’s plans had been carried out.”
“Mr. Coleman is with the insurgents?” asked Bob.
“He has been with them for a long time.”
“Is he well treated?”
“As well as he can be. The rebels are half starved, but Mr. Coleman shares their rations with them.”
“Where is he kept?”
“In a tent in the middle of the encampment. He is constantly under guard, but, while I was in the camp, I was able to talk with him. We were the only ones who could speak English, and the soldiers were not able to understand us. I told Mr. Coleman that I was going to run away, and he said it was the best thing I could do. He asked me, before I left, to take a letter from him to the custom officer at Port Livingstone. But he wasn’t able to write the letter before Pedro helped me get away.”
Here was great news, but not wholly satisfactory. The captured consul was alive and well cared for; but he was also well guarded in the heart of the insurgents’ camp.