The boatswain’s mate told his experiences, quite ashamed of his conduct.
“I certainly acted like a landlubber,” he complained mournfully. “I walked right into the spider’s web with both eyes wide open, but seeing nothing. Think of my deserting you and letting you do all this work alone.”
Then it was O’Neil’s turn to ask questions, and the lads told him of their nerve-racking ordeal in the tunnel and of their difficulty in getting the soldiers to help them.
“I was on the right track then, after all,” cried O’Neil. “It was Juarez’s house, and he was at home. It wasn’t a very hospitable reception he gave me,” he added, putting his hand to his swollen head. “I fired at one of them in the darkness and that’s the last I remember until the little dago doctor tried to make me swallow some ill-tasting medicine. Then I broke away from him and ran up the hill just in time to see Mr. Lazar point his gun at you; his face was not encouraging, so I thought the gun was safer in its holster.”
“He wouldn’t have dared shoot you, Phil,” Sydney exclaimed, “would he?”
“He might have,” answered the lad thoughtfully; “he saw that we must defeat his plans if we remained, and in the excitement after the assault had commenced, it could not have been laid at his door.”
The Americans were now in the city. They walked rapidly through the crowded streets; excited groups of natives had gathered and were discussing in loud tones the battle which they had just witnessed from afar. They had seen the assault and had expected to see their homes given over to pillage.
“Where are we going?” asked Sydney, as they pressed their way through the joyful natives.
“To the legation,” Phil explained. “I am going to put the minister on his guard against the villain who gave him the information which nearly lost the day for the government. Once the president of the republic, General Barras, hears of his treachery, his firm will cease to do business in La Boca.”
“The firm can be no other than La Fitte and Company,” declared Sydney, “the one that is striving to get the concessions away from the American syndicate; but this man surely cannot hope to succeed now; the rebels have lost. With the Colt guns, properly handled, in addition to artillery and infantry, the city will now be impregnable.”