s know of
our peril. The word will go forth that the plague has come to the
island. That is the first step, your highness. But there is one obstacle
they have overlooked," he concluded. She looked up inquiringly.

"My warships," he said, the whimsical smile broadening.

CHAPTER XXI

THE PLAGUE IS ANNOUNCED

The next morning, a steamship flying the English flag came to anchor off
Aratat, delivered and received mail bags, and after an hour's stay
steamed away in the drift of the southeast trade winds, Bombay to Cape
Colony. The men at the chateau gazed longingly, helplessly through their
glasses at this black hulled visitor from the world they loved; they
watched it until nothing was left to be seen except the faint cloud of
smoke that went to a pin point in the horizon. There had been absolutely
no opportunity to communicate with the officers of the ship; they sailed
away hurriedly, as if in alarm. Their haste was significant.

"I guess we'd better not tell the women," said Bobby Browne, heaving a
deep sigh. "It won't add to their cheerfulness if they hear that a ship
has called here."

"It couldn't matter in any event," said Deppingham. "We've got to stick
here two weeks longer, no matter how many ships call. I'm demmed if I'll
funk now, after all these rotten months."

"Perhaps Bowles succeeded in getting a word with the officer who came
ashore," said Browne hopefully. "He knows the danger we are in."

"My dear Browne, Bowles hadn't the ghost of a chance to communicate with
the ship," said Chase. "He can't bully 'em any longer with his Tommy
Atkins coat. They've outgrown it, just as he has. It was splendid while
it lasted, but they're no more afraid of it now than they are of my
warships. I wish there was some way to get him and his English
assistants into the chateau. It's awful to think of what is coming to
them, sooner or later."

"Good God, Chase, is there no way to help them?" groaned Deppingham.

"I'll never forget poor Bowles, the first time I saw him in his dinky
red jacket and that Hooligan cap of his," reflected Chase, as if he had
not heard Deppingham's remark. "He put them on and tried to overawe the
crowd that night when I was threatened in the market-place. He did his
best, poor chap, and I----"

"Look!" exclaimed Britt suddenly, pointing toward one of the big gates
in the upper end of the park. "I believe they're making an attack!"

The next instant the men in the balcony were leavi