ped until the
tramp was caught, and this time held--in all her unlit wickedness.

"Framtree," said Bedient, "I believe we are about to lose our
convoy----"

"Looks that way," Framtree replied. "Miss Mallory has steered----"

"Miss Mallory has steered--Equatoria off a revolutionary shoal,"
Bedient finished.

"You mean the Senora----?" Miss Mallory intervened.

"No."

"I'm very tired and stupid; please tell me in little words," she
pleaded.

"You changed the ship's course?"

"I didn't. It changed itself. I didn't dare to change back, because of
the reefs," she added hastily. "Didn't the Senor mean to run the convoy
aground if they didn't give up the chase?"

"I hadn't thought of that," Bedient said. "Mr. Framtree, hadn't you
better explain to Miss Mallory?"

"No, that's for you."

"Perhaps you will correct me if I am wrong.... The black tramp yonder
was making for _The Pleiad_ Inlet, with a cargo of guns and ammunition
for the rebellion. The little sailing-trip of Senor Rey was designed to
pull the gunboat afar off in the Southwest, the original course, as you
say, to permit the tramp to make the Inlet unmolested. Jaffier won't
need the guns, but they're a moral force----"

"As a war correspondent," Miss Mallory remarked, "I am rather a
spectacular failure."

"It's a boy's game," said Bedient.

THIRTY-SECOND CHAPTER

IN THE LITTLE ROOM NEXT

They sailed around open water until daybreak, when Bedient brought the
_Savonarola_ into a river-mouth on Carreras land, and forcing her in
out of the current, dropped anchor. The small boat was launched and
pulled ashore. Six, a silent and weary six, they were. The _hacienda_
was five miles inland. Bedient sent natives there for saddle-ponies,
and made the party comfortable until these were brought. The roads
would not permit vehicle of any sort, and though saddling was an ordeal
for the Glow-worm and Madame Sorenson, the distance was not great, and
from every eminence there were flashes of morning glory upon the
endless company of hills.

Falk and Leadley stood upon the great porch as the cavalcade drew up.
They steadied and leaned upon each other in this climacteric moment of
their service.... There was breakfast with Carreras coffee, and the
party separated for rest. The still torrid day became more vivid, and
the native women and children hushed one another under the large open
windows.... Miss Mallory was last in the breakfast room. Bedient saw
tha