ntelligence.

His words showed the futility of further argument. Without a word, but
throwing back her head with a scornful gesture, the Senorita nodded to
her friend to accompany her back into the gloomy building. Silently
and slowly the two went up the sloping stone steps and re-entered the
room which they had left a few minutes before. The Senorita locked the
door and the two faced each other.

"What do you make of it, Manuela?"

"Only one thing can be made of it; it is as I said; General Yozarro is
determined you shall remain here for some time to come and he gives no
more thought to the foolhardiness of his action than if he were a
child too young to walk."

"What of the story of a war between the republics?"

"I do not believe a word of it."

"Meantime, what are we to do?"

"Sit down, fold our hands and be good; but," she added with a flash of
her eyes, "that is the last thing to do; I long to meet my uncle face
to face. It is the first time he ever offered such an insult to the
daughter of his dead sister and to her friend. I hope he will not
delay his coming."

"I wish to be present when you meet; I, too, shall have something to
say, which I do not think he will soon forget."

But the hours wore slowly away and General Yozarro came not. Was he
not shrinking from her whose fiery temper he well knew? Which of the
two did he fear the most? The northerner may have been of cooler
blood, but her anger, when once set aflame, was all the more profound.
She abominated the man with his sleek smile, his oily manner and his
tempestuous profanity when he thought himself beyond her hearing. She
could not think that the other Dictator, with all his stupidity and
grossness, was one-half as wicked as he. Were she free to do so, she
would not hesitate to throw herself upon his protection.

"Where can Jack be?" she asked after the mid-day repast, and when the
two had talked over every phase of the situation for the twentieth
time. "Surely he must soon learn of this and he will be quick to call
General Yozarro to account."

"I place little hope on that; do not forget, my dear Warrenia, that
the Major is only one man against hundreds."

"But what of the yacht?"

"It is many miles away; no one can say when it will return; remember,
too, General Yozarro's gunboat."

The lip of the American curled with contempt.

"Let them meet and it will be Manila Bay over again on a small scale.
I only wish Captain Winton knew of