An instant later snipers on the hotel roof discovered the crawling man, opening fire on him so briskly that the endangered one rose to his feet and came sprinting toward the sailors with both hands uplifted.
"Lower your hands!" shouted Darrin. "They make targets. We won't fire on you!"
That the man understood English was plain from his instant obedience. With Mexican bullets raining about him, the fugitive came on at headlong speed.
"Here! Stop!" Ensign Darrin ordered, catching the man and swinging him into a doorway. "Keep in there, and you're safe from the enemy's fire."
Swiftly Lieutenant Trent crossed the street to hear the escaped one, whom Darrin was already questioning.
"You're an American?" asked Dave.
"Yes!" came the answer.
"How did you come to be here?"
"Escaped from the basement of the hotel. I knew it was up to me to get through to you if I could live through the storm of bullets that I knew would be sent after me. My news is of the utmost importance!"
Then, to the astounded American Navy officers the stranger made this blood-stirring announcement: