o dissipate her fears, explaining boastfully that the mere
mention of his name was ample protection for her, and, did he wish it,
not even the army of the Republic could take her from him. But still she
would not be convinced.

And then, in the dark of the December moon, the expected came. It was
that season when the rains were at their heaviest, when rust and rot
might be felt by the fingers. A gray mold had crept over all things
indoors; a myriad of insect pests burdened the air.

In the rare intervals between showers every faintest draught deluged the
huts from the dripping palm leaves overhead. From the swamp arose a
noxious vapor whenever the sun exposed itself; tree-toads shrilled
incessantly. Outside, the surf maintained its sullen murmur; through the
gloom of starless nights its phosphorescent outlines rushed across the
reef like phantom serpents in parade.

In the dead of a night like this the visitors arrived.

Even the heavy animal slumber of the blacks was broken by the scream
that issued from the hut of Captain Inocencio. And then the sound of
such fighting! The negroes might have rushed to the assistance of their
leader had it not been for the echo of that awful woman-cry hovering
over the village like a shadow. It filled the air and hung there,
saturating the breathless night with such unnamable terror that the
wakened children began to whimper and the women buried their heads in
the ragged bedding to keep it out. Death was among them and the bravest
cowered while through the quivering silence there came the sounds of a
mighty combat lasting for such an interminable time that the listeners
became hysterical.

At length they discovered that the night was dead again, save for the
sudden patter of raindrops on the thatches when the palm fronds stirred.
One of them called shrilly, another answered, but they did not venture
forth. Afterward they fancied they had heard the thrust of paddles in
the lagoon and strange voices dwindling away to seaward, but they were
not sure. Eventually, however, the stillness got upon them more
fearfully than the former noises, and they stirred. Then, in time, they
heard the voice of Inocencio himself cursing faintly, as if from a great
distance. A light showed through the cracks of a hut, and Nicholas, the
least timid, emerged with a lantern held on high. He summoned the rest
around him, then went toward the black shadow of Inocencio's dwelling
with a score of white-eyed, d