"We are to do something by stealth, then, which the diplomats of the
State department are too cautious to undertake?" asked Ned.

"That is it exactly," was the reply. "If the State department
should take cognizance of the situation down there and make any sort
of a demand, war would be certain to follow in case the demand was
denied, which it would be. Therefore, the State department does not
wish to make a demand. Still, the American who is in trouble must
be protected. You are to go and get him out of his dungeon, or
wherever he may be, and the Department of State will wink at what
you do and look innocent."

"Aw, why don't they send a warship to do the job?" demanded Jimmie.

"Because," replied the lieutenant, "Uncle Sam has taken the
republics of South America under his protection, and he does not
care to spank them in the presence of all the nations of the earth!
He wants to get this man Lyman--Horace M. Lyman, to be exact--out of
the clutches of a crooked gang in Paraguay without wasting money and
lives. Hence the arrangement with you boys."

"I have read something about the Lyman case," Ned observed, "but I
have forgotten all the material points, I guess."

"Lyman," Gates went on, "took up his residence in Paraguay some
years ago and opened negotiations with the government for a cattle
concession. The lands known as the 'Chaco' district, lying between
the Paraguay and Pilcomayo rivers, are said to be the best for
grazing purposes in all South America. Years ago they were