bout our ears, and drag us out from among the ruins to die a death of
unimaginable horror!"

"My dear Don Esteban," I retorted, "do you really believe that those
fellows will fight any the more courageously if their leader happens to
be slain? Because I do not; on the contrary, I am firmly convinced that
if the head is destroyed the body will also lose vitality, and very
speedily collapse. Therefore I, for one, shall make it a point of
honour to do my best to kill Petion, if he will only afford me the
chance, and I very strongly recommend that the rest should do the same.
If Petion falls, his followers will very soon be discouraged."

"Yes, yes, I quite agree with you, Don Ricardo," exclaimed Don Luis.
"Nothing is so likely to discourage those fellows as to see their leader
fall, therefore let us kill Petion, if we can--although he is popularly
believed to bear a charmed life."

"It will need a very much more potent charm than any that he is at all
likely to possess to stop a bullet, if I can only get a fair shot at
him," I exclaimed. "But, come, gentlemen, let us get back to our posts.
We must watch their every move now, or they may take us unawares and
play us some very ugly trick."

Our dialogue had lasted less than five minutes; but, brief as it was, it
had outlasted the consultation between Petion and his lieutenants, who,
I was annoyed to find upon returning to my point of observation, had
retired and were now out of sight.

A period of suspense lasting nearly ten minutes now ensued, at the end
of which a whistle sounded shrilly from somewhere, and at the sound of
it the whole band of outlaws, numbering somewhere about four hundred,
suddenly broke cover and, with a yell, came charging down upon all sides
of the house, firing as they ran. Their aim was not bad, considering
that none of them paused to bring their pieces up to the shoulder, but
just pointed the weapon in the direction of the house and pulled the
trigger while still on the run. But although we heard several of the
bullets strike the walls and roof, not one came through our loopholes,
or penetrated to the interior of the house, and none of us were hit.
The next second an irregular, straggling sort of volley rattled out from
the house by way of reply; but I could not see that anybody was a penny
the worse for it, at least on that side of the house where I was
stationed. So far as I was concerned, I had not attempted to fire,
having made up my