ys certainly saw
this, for they ran as fast as they could, and kept on running. The ball
caught the cannon under its mouth, and tossed it in the air, knocking
the flag-pole into a dozen pieces, and passing on through two of the
palm-covered huts.

"Great Heavens, Gordon!" cried Stedman; "they are firing on us."

But Gordon's face was radiant and wild.

"Firing on _us_!" he cried. "On _us_! Don't you see? Don't you
understand? What do _we_ amount to? They have fired on the American
flag. Don't you see what that means? It means war. A great international
war. And I am a war correspondent at last!" He ran up to Stedman and
seized him by the arm so tightly that it hurt.

"By three o'clock," he said, "they will know in the office what has
happened. The country will know it to-morrow when the paper is on the
street; people will read it all over the world. The Emperor will hear of
it at breakfast; the President will cable for further particulars. He
will get them. It is the chance of a lifetime, and we are on the spot!"

Stedman did not hear this; he was watching the broadside of the ship to
see another puff of white smoke, but there came no such sign. The two
row-boats were raised, there was a cloud of black smoke from the funnel,
a creaking of chains sounding faintly across the water, and the ship
started at half speed and moved out of the harbor. The Opekians and the
Hillmen fell on their knees, or to dancing, as best suited their sense
of relief, but Gordon shook his head.

"They are only going to land the marines," he said; "perhaps they are
going to the spot they stopped at before, or to take up another position
further out at sea. They will land men and then shell the town, and the
land forces will march here and cooperate with the vessel, and everybody
will be taken prisoner or killed. We have the centre of the stage, and
we are making history."

"I'd rather read it than make it," said Stedman. "You've got us in a
senseless, silly position, Gordon, and a mighty unpleasant one. And for
no reason that I can see, except to make copy for your paper."

"Tell those people to get their things together," said Gordon, "and
march back out of danger into the woods. Tell Ollypybus I am going to
fix things all right; I don't know just how yet, but I will, and now
come after me as quickly as you can to the cable office. I've got to
tell the paper all about it."

It was three o'clock before the "chap at Octavia" answered St