enly by Rayburn's quick grip
upon my shoulder, and by his sharp whisper, "What's that?"

In an instant I was thoroughly awake, and as I bent forward and listened
intently I heard very distinctly a faint cry of alarm, that seemed to
come from a long way off. Tizoc, I perceived--for he had risen to his
feet--also was most eagerly listening; and I heard a slight sound of
movement and of arms clinking as our men roused themselves, showing that
they also had heard that warning cry.

But in a moment there was no need to strain our ears to catch the sounds
which came to us. The cry that a single throat had uttered was taken up
by a thousand; and so grew into a dull, distant roar, that pierced the
black and sullen stillness of the night. And with this came also the
higher notes of savage yells, and then we heard the clash of arms--which
evidence that fighting was going on, no less than the direction whence,
as we now perceived clearly, the sounds came, assured us that while we
had maintained our watchful guard on the promontory the enemy had
surprised our camp.

Rayburn sprang up with a growl like that of a savage beast. "By G----d!"
he cried, "they meant us to do just what we've done, and we've walked
into their trap like so many d----n fools!"

XXX.

THE FALL OF THE CITADEL.

Tizoc, I was glad to see, had his men well under his command, as was
shown by the orderly manner in which they waited, despite their eager
impatience to be off, until he gave the command to march. And hard
marching we found it, as we floundered about that rough, rocky place,
tripping and stumbling, and now and then hearing a crash in the darkness
as one of our men went down. But, somehow or other, we certainly managed
to get over the ground very rapidly; and all the while the sounds of the
fight that was raging hotly struck with a constantly increasing
clearness upon our ears.

The whole width of the town lay between our camp and the foot of the
rugged path that led down from the promontory; but when we were fairly
in the streets, and no longer had rough rocks to stumble over in the
darkness, we went forward at a very slashing pace. And we were further
helped now by the fact that day was breaking, so that we could see
clearly where we were going; and we had also within us that feeling of
cheer and encouragement that ever is given to man by the return of the
sun. In but a few minutes more, in that tropical region, a flood of
daylight woul