had heard so much and who had
played in his own life of late so important a part. The man was
standing stock still, smiling slightly. Then with some dignity he
moved away never even looking back, as confident of the result as
though he were an instrument of Fate. If he had seen the man he had
struck down in the house of Sorez, he gave no evidence of it. And once
again Wilson found himself moving on steadily towards the old palace.

The men from the hills swept everything from before them; the
superstitious enemy being driven as much by their fear as by the force
of the attack. Behind them came the mercenaries to the very gates of
the palace. Here they were checked by a large oaken door. From the
windows either side of this puffs of smoke, fire-pierced, darted
viciously. The men behind Wilson answered, but their bullets only
flattened against the granite surface of the structure. He realized
that this was to be the centre of the struggle. They must carry this
at any cost. He heard oaths in the rear and turned to see Stubbs
whipping on three men who were dragging the small Gatling gun brought
from the ship. It looked like a toy. As Stubbs stooped to adjust it,
Wilson saw one of the men dart from the line and disappear into the
open doorway of a house to the right. Stubbs saw it, too, and now,
suddenly turning, put two shots at the fellow's heels. Then he turned
to the gun, with a warning to the others. But he never finished it. He
sank to the street. Danbury rushed up from somewhere and bent over
him, but Stubbs was already getting to his feet.

"Damned thing only glanced," he growled, putting his hand to his head,
"but--it came from behind!"

As he faced the men for a second, one man slunk back into the rear.
Wilson raised his revolver, but Stubbs pushed it to one side.

"Later," he said.

The gun was wheeled into place and it became the center for all the
firing from the palace. In a few seconds it was pouring a steady
stream of lead into the oaken door and splintering the lock into a
hundred pieces. With a howl the men saw the barrier fall and pressed
on. Danbury led them, but halfway he fell. Forty men swarmed over
him.

Once within the palace walls, Wilson and Stubbs found their hands
full. They realized as they charged through the outer guardroom and
down the dark, oak-furnished hall that this gang at their heels would
be difficult to control within the intricate mazes of this old
building. But their attenti