dent, and, as became his dignity, was supplied
with a military escort."

"He needn't permit himself any vaunting pride about that," Steele
assured her. "It's just difference of method. In our country, a
similar honor would have been accorded with a patrol wagon and a
couple of policemen."

After dinner, Duska insisted on dispatching a cablegram which should
intercept the _City of Rio_ at some point below the Isthmus. It was
not an original telegram, but, had Saxon received it, it would have
delighted him immoderately. She said:

"I told you so. Sail by _Orinoco_."

The following morning, there were tours of discovery, personally
conducted by the young Mr. Partridge. Duska had wanted to leave the
carriage at the old cathedral, and stand flat against the blank wall,
but she refrained, and satisfied herself with marching up very close
and regarding it with hostility. As the carriage turned into the main
plaza, a regiment of infantry went by, the band marching ahead
playing, with the usual blare, the national anthem. Then, as the
coachman drew up his horses at the legation door, there was sudden
confusion, followed by the noise of popping guns. It was the hour just
preceding the noon _siesta_. The plaza was indolent with lounging
figures, and droning in the sleeping sing-song chorus of lazy voices.
At the sound, which for the moment impressed the girl like the
exploding of a pack of giant crackers, a sudden stillness fell on the
place, closely followed by a startled outcry of voices as the figures
in the plaza broke wildly for cover, futilely attempting to shield
their faces with their arms against possible bullets. Then, there came
a deeper detonation, and somewhere the crumbling of an adobe wall. The
first sound came just as Mrs. Horton was stepping to the sidewalk.
Duska had already leaped lightly out, and stood looking on in
surprise. But Mr. Partridge knew his Puerto Frio. He led them hastily
through the huge street-doors, and they had no sooner passed than the
porter, with many mumbled prayers to the Holy Mother, slammed the
great barriers against the outside world. The final assault for _Vegas
y Libertad_ had at last begun.

Mr. Pendleton had insisted that the ladies remain at the rear of the
house, but Duska, with her adventurous passion for seeing all there
was to see, threatened insubordination. To her, the idea of leaving
several perfectly good balconies vacant, and staying at the back of a
house, when the