“The words of General Yozarro are just; comply with what he demands, and he will be glad to restore you to your friends; am I not correct, General?”
“I suppose so,” was the sour response.
“Then my answer is that I’ll see the whole gang of you hanged first! You don’t get Martella without the biggest fight of your lives, and you don’t keep me on this old tub without a bigger fight; I’m not afraid of the whole pack of jail birds of you!”
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Arrest him!” commanded General Yozarro, speaking directly to Colonel Carlos Del Valle, his chief of staff, standing next to the American; “put him in irons.”
The officer addressed reached out his hand to lay on the shoulder of Jack Starland, who, at that instant, recalled the knockout blow he had given Cadet Hillman of the First Class, one memorable spring morning at old Fort Putnam, West Point. It was the same lightning-like stroke which crashed into the face of the colonel and sent him staggering and toppling back to the opposite side of the cabin. Then, whipping out his revolver, Starland backed from the cabin, ran down the steps to the bow of the boat, and before any one suspected his purpose, shouted to his own executive officer:
“Captain Winton, I am betrayed! Open fire, and sink this tug!”