uguese
trembled like a leaf, then he turned and bolted through the residency
door, shoving Colonel Gordon roughly aside in his mad haste.

"Stop him! Stop him!" roared the stranger. "A thousand pounds to the man
who takes him alive. He's the ringleader of the insurrection!"

Colonel Gordon hurried down the steps in bewildered amazement.

"What does this mean?" he demanded. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" shouted he of the sandy whiskers. "Why, blast your
impudence, I'm Sir Arthur Ashby, the governor of Zaila. Who the deuce
are you?"

The scene that followed baffles all description. The air rang with
frenzied shouts and cheers, soldiers, natives, and visitors surged madly
round the little band, and the musicians, quick to grasp the situation,
struck up the inspiring strains of "Lo, the Conquering Hero Comes!"

Sir Arthur shook himself loose from the embrace of his enthusiastic
friends.

"The Portuguese!" he roared. "The rascal will escape. Pursue him!
Capture him!"

Now the people comprehended for the first time. A furious rush was made
for the residency, the door was jammed in an instant with a struggling
crowd of troops and civilians, and then they swept on through the broad
hallway in pursuit of the wretched fugitive.

In five minutes the town was in an indescribable uproar. The vessels in
the harbor fired showers of rockets, and the alarm guns boomed hoarsely
from the fortifications.

Manuel Torres, however, overthrown at the very moment of his greatest
triumph, made good his escape. He bolted through the back door of the
residency, evaded the sentries at the town wall, and fled to the desert.

That same night, after a sumptuous repast, Guy Chutney, at Sir Arthur's
request, modestly related the story of their adventures to the most
interested audience that ever graced the walls of the residency. A
breathless silence greeted the speaker as he showed the damnable proofs
of Manuel Torres' guilt and treachery, and described with thrilling
effect the awful journey through the bowels of the earth. When he
concluded the tale that made him a hero in spite of himself, a burst of
applause fairly made the residency tremble.

Then Sir Arthur rose to his feet.

"Gentlemen," he said, in a voice which quivered with emotion, "I deem
this to be a fitting time to express my--to express _our_--admiration of
my young countryman. All my comrades. I am glad to say, displayed a
heroism, during our days of trial and suffering, w