l me." She
threw the bag that held her jewels on the bed, and pushing open the
window stepped out upon the balcony. She was conspicuous in her black
dress against the yellow stucco of the wall, and in an instant the mob
saw her and a mad shout of exultation and anger rose from the mass that
beat and crushed itself against the high iron railings of the garden.
Hope caught the woman by the skirt and dragged her back. "You are
mad," she said. "What good can you do your husband here? Save
yourself and he will come to you when he can. There is nothing you can
do for him now; you cannot give your life for him. You are wasting it,
and you are risking the lives of the men who are waiting for us below.
Come, I tell you."

MacWilliams left Clay waiting beside the diligence and ran from the
stable through the empty house and down the marble stairs to the garden
without meeting any one on his way. He saw Stuart helping and
directing his men to barricade the gates with iron urns and garden
benches and sentry-boxes. Outside the mob were firing at him with
their revolvers, and calling him foul names, but Stuart did not seem to
hear them. He greeted MacWilliams with a cheerful little laugh.
"Well," he asked, "is she ready?"

"No, but we are. Clay and I've been waiting there for five minutes.
We found Miss Hope's groom and sent him back to the Palms with a
message to King. We told him to run the yacht to Los Bocos and lie off
shore until we came. He is to take her on down the coast to Truxillo,
where our man-of-war is lying, and they will give her shelter as a
political refugee."

"Why don't you drive her to the Palms at once?" demanded Stuart,
anxiously, "and take her on board the yacht there? It is ten miles to
Bocos and the roads are very bad."

"Clay says we could never get her through the city," MacWilliams
answered. "We should have to fight all the way. But the city to the
south is deserted, and by going out by the back roads, we can make
Bocos by ten o'clock to-night. The yacht should reach there by seven."

"You are right; go back. I will call off some of my men. The rest
must hold this mob back until you start; then I will follow with the
others. Where is Miss Hope?"

"We don't know. Clay is frantic. Her groom says she is somewhere in
the palace."

"Hurry," Stuart commanded. "If Mendoza gets here before Madame Alvarez
leaves, it will be too late."

MacWilliams sprang up the steps of the palace,