been abundantly brought
on board by the women of the place were in a most welcome form for the
half-starved, weary crew, and about midnight there was something as
nearly like a banquet as could be expected under the circumstances, and
to the delight of all.

There had been no form; the only ceremony had been for officers and men
to sit down sailor or tailor fashion, cross-legged upon the deck, and
eat as much as such men would.

"Hah!" said the boatswain, turning towards the two lads, after being
very silent for quite half-an-hour. "I call this something like; but I
do hope as the Camel's had time to pick a bit."

So busy had the party on board been, that they had thought little about
the proceedings on shore, the less so that the excitement and noise of
shouting orders, trampling feet, and the buzz of chattering women and
children had drifted farther and farther away to the opposite side of
the town, where beyond the low houses and hovels of the poorer part of
the population the long low valley commenced which rapidly became a
pass, the key, so to speak, of the little city.

Here Don Ramon had mustered his force, and here during the rest of the
night his men worked by the light of the stars, making a wall of stones
with openings for the field-pieces, and clearing the road behind between
them and the earthwork nearer to the fort, to which in case of emergency
they could be withdrawn ready for another stand.

He was no novice in such matters, having passed his life as he had
amidst a volcanic people where revolutions came and went as if
indigenous to the countries bordering upon the Mexican Gulf.

In his way he was no bad soldier, and in fact a better man than his
rival the tyrant and oppressor, whom he had been urged by the superior
part of his fellow-countrymen to supplant.

Hence it was that before morning, and without interruption, he made the
most of the rough but enthusiastic and willing materials to his hand, so
that at last he could breathe more freely and accept the congratulations
of his friends over the knowledge they shared that Villarayo would find
when he came up that not only had he a formidable nut to crack, but the
probability before him that the nutcrackers would give way first.

All this was plain enough in the coming daylight, when the skipper and
the two lads made their way ashore in one of the boats from the spot
where the _Teal_ was moored, floating more lightly now, and almost as
gracef