e city the confused murmur of a mob
and the sharp bark of pistols. They looked at each other
significantly.

"The surface indications seem to show," said McKildrick, "that things
are loosening up. I guess it's going to be one of those nights!"

As they rounded the point and the whole of the harbor front came into
view, they saw that the doors of the bonded warehouses had been broken
open, and that the boxes and bales they contained had been tumbled out
upon the wharf and piled into barricades. From behind these, and from
the windows of the custom-house, men not in uniform, and evidently of
the Rojas faction, were firing upon the tiny gun-boat in the harbor,
and from it their rifle-fire was being answered by an automatic gun.
With full speed ahead, Roddy ran the gauntlet of this cross-fire, and
in safety tied up to his own wharf.

"Go inside," he commanded, "and find out what has happened. And tell
Peter we'll take his cargo on board now. Until we're ready to start
I'll stay by the launch and see no one tries to borrow her."

Peter and McKildrick returned at once, and with gasoline, tins of
biscuit and meat, and a cask of drinking water, stocked the boat for
her possible run to Curacao. The Rojas party, so Peter informed them,
had taken the barracks in the suburbs and, preliminary to an attack on
the fortress, had seized the custom-house which faced it; but the
artillery barracks, which were inside the city, were still in the
hands of the government troops. Until they were taken, with the guns
in them, the Rojas faction were without artillery, and against the
fortress could do nothing. It was already dusk, and, in half an hour,
would be night. It was for this the Rojas crowd were waiting. As yet,
of Vega and his followers no news had reached the city. But the
government troops were pursuing him closely, and it was probable that
an engagement had already taken place.

"By this time," said Roddy, "Vicenti has told Rojas, and in an hour
Pedro will arrive, and then we start. Go get something to eat, and
send my dinner out here. I've some tinkering to do on the engine."

Before separating, McKildrick suggested that Peter and Roddy should
set their watches by his, which was already set to agree with
Vicenti's.

"For, should anything happen to me," he explained, "you boys must blow
up the wall, and you must know just when you are to do it. Roddy knows
_how_ to do it, and," he added to Peter, "I'll explain it to you whil