in that barbarous company, and arrayed in that most barbarous garb!

[Illustration: THE LAST RALLY]

It was a little before sunset when we reached the place that Tizoc had
selected for our ambush upon the promontory; and an hour later, just as
the shadows of evening were beginning to fall, one of our lookout men
reported that a large boat--of which the oars must be muffled, for no
sound came from it--was pulling around a point just beyond where we lay.
There was a little stir among our men when this news was received, and a
shifting and arranging of weapons, so that all might be in readiness
when the moment for opening the ambush came; but we had a picked force
with us, each man of which fully understood how necessary was silence
to the success of our plans, and the quick thrill of movement was so
guarded that it scarcely ruffled the deep stillness of the night.

But the moments lengthened out into minutes, and the minutes slowly
slipped by until a full hour had passed, and the thick darkness of
tropical night was upon us, and still there was no sign of a foe. Tizoc
grew uneasy, for it was evident that we were in error in our conception
of the enemy's plan. Had he intend-to mount his own men as sentinels in
place of our men whom he had slain, and then get save possession of the
promontory by killing the relief as it came on, we should have been long
since engaged with him; but here the night was wearing on, and,
excepting only the boat that our scouts had seen, there had been nothing
to show that the attack which we had expected so confidently was
anything more than a creation of our own fears. Yet our only course was
to remain where we were until morning; for some accident might have
delayed the attack, and the necessity of holding the promontory was so
urgent that we could not take the risk of withdrawing our force.

It was weary work sitting there in the darkness, after all the weariness
of so exciting a day, and as the hours dragged on I found myself now and
then sinking into a doze, for which I reproached myself; yet also
excused myself by the reflection that I did not at all profess to have
either the training or the instincts of a soldier, but had been brought
up, as a man of peace and as a scholar, in accordance with the sound
principle that night rationally is the time set apart for sleep. It was
from a most agreeable nap--in which I was dreaming pleasantly of my old
life in Ann Arbor--that I was roused sudd