n as I can, that's all I can say. Follow me! hark!"

A shot rang out; another, and another. A hubbub of voices rose within
and without the house; and at the same instant a bright light sprang up,
and they saw each other's faces.

Delmonte ground his teeth. "Wait!" he said; and going a little way along
the passage, he peered from a window. The verandah swarmed with armed
men. The door was locked and barred, but they were smashing the
window-shutters with the butts of their carbines. He glanced along the
passage. Inside the door stood Don Annunzio, in his vast white pajamas,
firing composedly through a wicket; beside him his wife, as quietly
loading and handing him the weapons. Behind them huddled the few house
and farm servants, negroes for the most part, but among them was one
intelligent-looking young Creole. Singling him out, Delmonte led him
apart, and pointed to Manuela. "Your sister!" he said. "Your life for
hers."

The youth nodded, and beckoned the frightened girl to stand beside him.
Rita saw no more, for Delmonte, grasping her hand firmly, led her
through the winding passage and into the inner courtyard. Pausing a
moment on the verandah, they looked through the archway at one side,
through which streamed a red glare. The cane patch was on fire, and
blazing fiercely. The flames tossed and leaped, and in front of them men
were running with torches, setting fire to sheds and out-houses. Their
shouts, the crackling and hissing of the flames, the shots and cries
from the front of the house, turned the quiet night wild with horror. A
crash behind them told that the front door had yielded.

"It's run for it, now!" said Delmonte, quietly. "Now, then,
child,--quick!"

A few steps, and they were beside the brown horse, standing saddled and
bridled, and already quivering and straining to be off. Delmonte lifted
Rita in his arms,--no time now for courtly mounting,--then sprang to the
saddle before her. He spoke to the horse, who stood trembling, but made
no motion to advance.

"Aquila, softly past the gate--then for life! good boy! Miss Montfort,
put your arms around me, and hold fast. Don't let go unless I drop; then
try to catch the reins, and give him his head. He knows the way."

Softly, slowly, Aquila crept to the archway. He might have been shod
with velvet for any sound he made. Could they get away unseen? The men
with the torches were busy at their horrid work; they could not be seen
yet from the front of t