“Mr. Carr is at the door and particularly wants to see your Excellency. An urgent matter, he says.”
“Tell him I’ll come round and speak to him from the veranda,” replied the President.
He turned to the window, and threw it open to step out.
Let me tell what followed in the signorina’s words.
“Just then we heard a sound of a number of horses galloping up. The President stopped and said:
“‘Hallo! what’s up?’
“Then there was a shout and a volley of shots, and I heard the colonel’s voice cry:
“‘Down with your arms; down, I say, or you’re dead men.’
“The President stepped quickly across the room to his escritoire, took up his revolver, went back to the window, passed through it, and without a word disappeared. I could not hear even the sound of his foot on the veranda.
“I heard one more shot—then a rush of men to the door, and the colonel burst in, with sword and revolver in his hands, and followed by ten or a dozen men.