ts, but, after a very cursory inspection, was allowed to pass. His
route took him past the back of the governor's palace, an impressive
stone affair surrounded by beautiful grounds. Here he stopped, as if to
fasten a tug. Out of the hay tumbled fifteen men armed with rifles and
revolvers, all of them being careful to leave the wagon on the side
farthest from the palace.

"Now, me lads, we're all heroes by our talk. It's up to us to make
good. I can promise one thing: by this time to-morrow we'll all be live
patriots or dead traitors. Which shall it be?"

O'Halloran's concluding question was a merely rhetorical one, for
without waiting for an answer he started at the double toward the
palace, taking advantage of the dense shrubbery that offered cover up to
the last twenty yards. This last was covered with a rush so rapid that
the guard was surprised into a surrender without a protest.

Double guard was on duty on account of the strained situation, but the
officer in charge, having been won over to the Valdez side, had taken
care to pick them with much pains. As a consequence, the insurgents met
friends in place of enemies, and within three minutes controlled fully
the palace. Every entrance was at once closed and guarded, so that no
news of the reversal could reach the military barracks.

So silently had the palace been taken that, except the guards and one
or two servants held as prisoners, not even those living within it were
aware of anything unusual.

"Senor Valdez, you are appointed to notify the senorita that she need
not be alarmed at what has occurred. Senor Garcia will act as captain
of the day, and allow nobody to leave the building under any pretext
whatever. I shall personally put the tyrant under arrest. Rodrigo and
Jose will accompany me."

O'Halloran left his subordinates at the door when he entered the
apartments of the governor. The outer room was empty, and the Irishman
passed through it to the inner one, where Megales was accustomed to take
his after-dinner siesta.

To-night, however, that gentleman was in no mood for peaceful reflection
followed by slumber. He was on the edge of a volcano, and he knew it.
The question was whether he could hold the lid on without an eruption.
General Valdez he dared not openly kill, on account of his fame and his
popularity, but that pestilent Irishman O'Halloran could be assassinated
and so could several of his allies--if they only gave him time. That was
the