my hands."

Colonel Lionel hardly knows whether he has made such a huge advance over
his rival after all.

The afternoon sun is waning.

"We must go down," declares Aunt Gwen.

"One more look around and I am ready," says Lady Ruth.

Already she is sorry for her cruel words. Like the best of women, she
can wound at one moment and be contrite the next. She finds an
opportunity a minute later, when the colonel lingers to get the shawl
she--perhaps purposely--left behind, to say in a low tone:

"I was cruel--forgive me--forget that foolish word," and while what she
utters gives him a pleasurable feeling, and brings the color into his
set face, he only smiles, as he answers:

"Willingly, Lady Ruth. I did not believe you could mean it."

Then, as the colonel bustles up, the subject is tabooed, and the party
of tourists proceed down the steep street leading to the Hotel Imperial.

CHAPTER II.

A DEADLY ENCOUNTER.

The scene, so peaceful, so picturesque, is rudely broken in upon by a
clamor so strange and awful that the blood is chilled in the listeners'
veins. Cries are heard down the steep street; cries that indicate alarm,
even terror; cries that proceed from children, women, ay, and strong
men, too.

Our party comes to a halt midway between the brow of the hill and the
base. On either side tall houses, the declivity ending only at the
water. It is a bustling street at all hours, with loungers, business
men, women going to and returning from market, and children playing as
children do the world over, in the dirt.

"What can it mean?" says Lady Ruth, as she looks breathlessly down the
street.

No one in their party can explain the cause of the excitement. They see
people running madly this way and that, as if panic-stricken.

"By Jove! it must be a fire!" suggests the colonel, twirling his
whiskers.

"Nonsense! we should see the smoke," declares sensible Aunt Gwen.

"You are right; it is something more than a fire. Those people are
almost crazed. I've seen such a sight in Chicago, when a wild Texan
steer got loose and tossed things right and left," asserts the medical
student.

"That's what's the matter. See! they point at something as they run!
Look out for the bull!" cries Philander.

Thus, in watching for a bulky frame to appear, they fail to notice the
actual cause of the disturbance.

The street is almost deserted, save where people begin to reappear
below, as though the danger were pas