nd exterminating the Americans, just as
Toussaint l'Ouverture drove the English, and Dessalines, Christophe and
Petion drove the French, a century before.

Nearly four years of American occupation had passed. That the purpose of
the United States was purely philanthropic was not--and is not--believed
by the vast majority of the Haitians. Though living conditions have
improved vastly, though brigandage on the plains has ceased, and though
terrorism has diminished, at heart only the Haitian merchants and
job-holders like the American occupation. The educated Creoles tolerate
it. The semi-savages of the hills resent it.

On January 16, some of the white men in Port-au-Prince noticed that the
Creoles were excited and nervous. At the Cafe Bordeaux, at the Seaside
Inn, at the Hotel Bellevue, strange groups met and mysterious passwords
were exchanged. Sullen and latent hostility was changing from
smouldering rancor to flaming hate. Port-au-Prince was ripe for revolt.

Stuart remembered his father's return that night.

"Son," he had said, putting a revolver on the little table beside his
bed, "I hope you won't have to use this, but, at least, I've taught you
to shoot straight."

That night, Benoit, gathering up the local detachments of his forces,
moved them in scattered groups through the abandoned plantations and off
the main roads to the outskirts of the city. He had over 1,800 men with
him. Most had modern rifles. All had machetes. All over the island other
bands were in readiness, their orders being to wait until they heard of
the fall of Port-au-Prince, when the massacre of all whites might begin.

Benoit's plan was to take the city at daybreak. At midnight, he started
three columns of 300 men each, from three directions. They wandered
into the city by twos and threes, taking up positions. Their orders
were, that, at the firing of a gun at daybreak, when the stores opened,
they were to rush through the business district, setting fires
everywhere and killing the white men and the gendarmerie. Benoit
believed that, while his men could not withstand a pitched battle with
the Marines, they could sweep the town in guerilla fashion when the
Marines were scattered here and there, putting out fires. Moreover, the
Cacos general was sure that, once a massacre of the whites was begun,
race hatred would put all the black population on his side.

Two o'clock in the morning came. Mr. Elliott, manager of a sugar
refinery at Hasco