levolent fury. Hers was a nature that could not
endure unfairness. It was unfair of David Verity to seek to mend his
shattered fortunes by forcing her into a hateful marriage; unfair of
both Verity and Coke to found their new venture on a great fraud; and
monstrously unfair of these island factionaries to vent their spite on
an innocent ship. So, for the hour, she was inspired. It is the
high-souled enthusiast who devotes life itself to a cause; those who
practice oppression have ever most to beware of in the man or woman
whose conscience will not condone a wrong.

Of course, in this present clash of emotions, Iris little understood
what her advice really meant. She was appealing to heaven rather than
to the force of arms. To one of her temperament, it seemed incredible
that a number of inoffensive strangers should be slaughtered because a
South American republic could not agree in choosing a president. Such
a thing was unheard of in her previous experience, built on no more
solid foundation than the humdrum existence of Brussels and Bootle.
And the inhabitants of neither Brussels nor Bootle settle their
political differences by shooting casual visitors at sight.

Oddly enough, the only professional soldier present condemned her
project roundly when it was mooted.

"In leaving the island to-night you are acting on an assumption,"
protested Captain San Benavides to his chief. "You cannot be sure that
the _Andros-y-Mela_ will not appear. The arrangement is that she is to
send a boat here soon after midnight, yet, if this mad scheme of an
attack on armed troops by unarmed men is persisted in, we must begin to
ferry to the island long before that hour. In all probability, we
shall be discovered at once. At the very moment that our friends are
eagerly awaiting us on board the ship we may be lying dead on the
island. The notion is preposterous. Be guided by me, Dom Corria, and
decline to have anything to do with it. Better still, let these
English boors promise to forget that we are alive; then Marcel can
guide them to the landing-place, where they will be shot speedily and
comfortably. There is no sense in sacrificing the girl. She must be
kept here on some pretext."

The ex-President took thought before he answered. He did not deny
himself that the confident air of these hard-bitten sailors made strong
appeal to his judgment. He had his own reasons for distrusting some
among his professed supporters, a