suggest
that we take only those in charge of the war material."

"Very good;" and, turning to those behind, he said: "For today,
all those save the officers in charge of the magazines can be
relieved from this duty. Their turn will come tomorrow, or next
day."

With the exception of five or six, all moved away.

"We have three magazines in the town," the colonel went on, "so as
to lessen the chance of our resources being destroyed by a single
blow. There is the Central magazine, another that is known as the
San Juan magazine, and the Western magazine."

"We may as well visit the Central one first, as, no doubt, that is
the most important one."

As they went on, a party of twenty soldiers, who had been drawn up
there, fell in behind, while Mike and two troopers of his escort
also, at his orders, accompanied them. The magazine was formed in
what had formerly been an old castle, but which was now used for
another purpose, that of a store, its thick walls affording
protection against any but very heavy missiles. On entering what
had been the courtyard, Desmond saw that the greater portion of it
was occupied by storehouses, massively built, and covered by some
five or six feet of earth.

"The first of these on the right contains musketry ammunition,"
Colonel Mendez said, "the next two contain cannonballs; powder is
stored in the three houses at the farther end, and the three on
the left side contain hand grenades, fuses for mines, signal
rockets, and other miscellanies, such as brimstone."

"We will examine number one first," Desmond said. "Which is the
officer in charge?"

One of the officials stepped forward, with a key. Desmond saw that
his face was pale, and that he had a sullen look.

"I will ask you, before we enter," he said, "how often do you take
stock of your stores? I suppose when the governor sends in his
half-yearly report?"

"We do not do it that way at all," the man said. "I have a book.
It was given to me by the officer I succeeded. Here it is. You
will see that he handed over so many barrels of cartridges. On one
side of the page I put down the number of barrels issued, and on
the other the number I receive, and thus, at any time, without
disturbing the contents of the store, I can state the number of
barrels it contains."

"Then how long have you held this position, sir?"

"I have been in charge of this store, and of those used for powder
in the cellars underneath the castle, for ten year