he reach of the enemy's rifles; and now too it was seen
plainly enough that Villarayo or his captains were preparing for a rush
to capture the guns, and in the excitement the skipper forgot about all
risks to him and his, and proposed that they should hurry to a spot
higher up one side of the pass and fifty yards nearer to the battery.

This proved to be an admirable point of vantage, and enlightened the
lookers-on to far more than they had been before, for they were startled
to see how much greater was the number of the attacking force than they
had believed.

The enemy were in two bodies, gathered-together and lying down on the
opposite sides of the pass, and the lads had hardly raised their heads
above the shelter of some stones when they saw that the order had been
given for the advance, and the men were springing to their feet.

"I must go and warn him," cried the skipper, beneath his breath, "or he
will lose his guns; and then--"

He said no more, but stood spellbound like his young companions at what
was taking place, for Don Ramon was better supplied with information
than he had believed, and as the attacking forces of the enemy sprang
up, he found that the direction of the battery's fire had been altered
to left and right, and the attacking forces had barely commenced their
crowded charge when the six pieces burst forth almost together with such
a hurricane of grape that a way was torn through each rough column and
the fight was over, the smoke from the discharge as it rose showing the
enemy scattered and in full flight, the steep sides of the little valley
littered with the wounded, and more and more faltering behind and
dropping as their comrades fled.

"_Viva_!" shouted the skipper, with all his might; but it was a feeble
sound as compared with the roar of voices which rose from the battery
and beyond, while it only needed the rifle-shots of those lying in the
shelters higher up the pass, and a shell dropped here and there till the
full range of the field-pieces had been reached, to complete Villarayo's
discomfiture for that day at least.

"Now," said the skipper quietly, "we must leave the succour of the
wounded to Ramon's own people. I am sick of all this. Let's get back
on board the schooner."

It was about an hour afterwards that Poole went to his father on the
deck of the _Teal_.

"Oughtn't we to have stopped a little longer," he said, "and tried to be
of some help?"

"I should have liked t