The guards and extra soldiers who had been detailed for this special service, sprang aboard; the engineer pulled open the throttle and the train began to move.
"Aren't you going, too?" asked Adrian.
"Yes," whispered Billie to Donald, "hurry aboard with your prisoner."
The captain was evidently of the same mind, for he started to board the already moving train.
"No you don't," exclaimed Donald, pulling him back. "You're going to stay here with us!"
"Do you mean it, Don?" asked Billie in surprise.
"Sure! What do you think he'd do to us as soon as it was light?"
By this time the train was under headway; a second later the last coach passed them and in another minute the tail lights were disappearing in the darkness.
"It looks to me," remarked Adrian with a long breath, "as though we were in the consommé."
"Perhaps," was Donald's laconic reply, "but those women and children will be safe in Vera Cruz under the guns of Admiral Fletcher's fleet by daylight, or I'm greatly mistaken."