detain you, colonel?'

"The colonel did not answer him, but turned to me and said:

"'Signorina Nugent, we wait only for you, and time is precious.'

"'I will follow you in a moment,' I said, with my head still among the
cushions.

"'No, come now,' he commanded.

"Looking up, I saw a smile on the President's face. As I rose
reluctantly, he also got up from the chair into which he had flung
himself, and stopped me with a gesture. I was terribly afraid that he
was going to say something hard to me, but his voice only expressed a
sort of amused pity.

"'The money, was it, signorina?' he said. 'Young people and beautiful
people should not be mercenary. Poor child! you had better have stood
by me.'

"I answered him nothing, but went out with the colonel, leaving him
seated again in his chair, surveying with some apparent amusement the
two threatening sentries who stood at the door. The colonel hurried me
out of the house, saying:

"'We must ride to the barracks. If the news gets there before us, they
may cut up rough. You go home. Your work is done.'

"So they mounted and rode away, leaving me in the road. There were no
signs of any struggle, except the door hanging loose on its hinges,
and a drop or two of blood on the steps where they had shot poor
Johnny Carr. I went straight home, and what happened in the next few
hours at the Golden House I don't know, and, knowing how I left the
President, I cannot explain. I went home, and cried till I thought my
heart would break."

Thus far the signorina. I must beg to call special attention to the
closing lines of her narrative. But before I relate the very startling
occurrence to which she refers, we must return to the barracks, where,
it will be remembered, matters were in a rather critical condition.
When the officers saw their messroom suddenly filled with armed men,
and heard the alarming order issued by the colonel, their attention
was effectually diverted from me. They crowded together on one side of
the table, facing the colonel and his men on the other. Assisted by
the two men sent to my aid, I seized the opportunity to push my way
through them and range myself by the side of my leader. After a
moment's pause the colonel began:

"The last thing we should desire, gentlemen," he said, "is to resort
to force. But the time for explanation is short. The people of
Aureataland have at last risen against the tyranny they have so long
endured. General Whittingham has