d thick smoke
were visible in the direction of Consolacion del Sur. As the day
progressed the haze with which the air was charged grew thicker, the
taint of fire and smoke more pungent, and an occasional vibration of the
atmosphere suggested to those who became conscious of it the boom of
distant artillery; while with the approach of nightfall the whole of the
eastern sky became suffused with a flickering, ruddy light, the lookout
up the mountain signalling that the entire country to the eastward, as
far as the eye could see, seemed to be in flames.

On the morrow all these signs of destruction became very greatly
accentuated: with the passage of every hour the atmosphere became more
thickly charged with smoke, more pungent with the smell of burning;
clouds of black ash darkened the sky from time to time, as they were
swept along upon the wings of the strong breeze; dense columns of smoke
rising here and there showed where the spoilers were at work upon
properties so near at hand that they could now be identified and named;
while the frequent rattle and crash of rifle fire seemed to indicate
that there were others who, like Don Hermoso, were not prepared to stand
supinely by and see their entire possessions destroyed. Work was still
being carried on by Don Hermoso's _employes_, but they had been turned-
to that morning with the injunction that at the sound of the alarm bell
they were to instantly drop their tools and muster before the shed in
which the arms were stored. As for Singleton and Carlos Montijo, they
had jumped into the saddle at daybreak, and were maintaining a ceaseless
patrol of the boundaries of the estate, riding in opposite directions,
and encountering each other from time to time, when they would exchange
such items of information as they might happen to have gleaned in the
interim.

All through the morning the work of destruction proceeded apace: the
atmosphere became hourly thicker and more suffocating with smoke; great
tongues of flame could occasionally be seen leaping skyward here and
there above the tops of trees; dull boomings from time to time told of
the blowing up of buildings; intermittent crashes of volley firing,
mingled with shouts and yells and shrieks, told that desperate fights
were raging--or that, perchance, some ruthless and summary execution was
taking place; and by and by, shortly after mid-day, a solitary horseman,
mounted upon a steed in a lather of sweat and recognised by C