It was still dangerous to delay. Hal gave the word to start.
It took an hour to cover the next five miles, for the road was now all the way up grade.
It was near the top of a hill that Hal was startled by a sudden sharp command of:
“Halt!”
In the same instant our hero found himself looking into the muzzles of a dozen rifles.
Yet the men behind those rifles were invisible behind a dense tangle of green foliage.
“What do you want here?” came the quick question.
It was Juan Ramirez who answered:
“We seek Major Alvaredo.”
“And if he is not here?”