the waters the firmament became milk white; an argent line appeared,
thickened:--one moment of the moon, then tumult, shouting, the blast of
a trumpet, the sound of small arms, and the roar of those guns which
must be rushed upon and silenced! Noises of bird and beast had the
tropic night, all the warfare and the wrangling with which life exacts
tribute from life, but now the feud of man with man voiced itself to the
stars. So great and stern was the uproar that it seemed as though John
Nevil might oversweep with his iron determination that too formidable
battery and unaided seize upon the fortress.

No tarrying after the burst of sound and light made Baldry and his men.
Up the steep ground they swept towards that pale, invulnerable castle
borne upon the shoulder of the hill, faintly outlined against the pallid
east. On they came, a long thin line of men of England to that secret
path through the tunal. Devon was there, and Kent and Sussex, and many a
goodly shire beside. Men of land-fights and of sea-fights were they, and
of old adventures to alien countries, strong of heart and frame, and
very fiercely minded towards the fortress of Nueva Cordoba. It withheld
from them the gold they wanted, and now within its grasp was a life they
valued. To-night their will was set to take the one and rescue the
other. They saw the treasure heaped and gleaming, and they saw the face
and waved hand of Mortimer Ferne. They heard him laugh and gayly cry
his thanks.

They entered the defile. To the right and the left rose the impenetrable
wood; before them wound a path thorny and difficult, where not more than
three men might go abreast; beyond, was the mass of the fortress. On
through the impeding growth, where passage was just possible, rushed
Baldry and his men. The way was not long, larger loomed the fortress,
louder grew the noise of attack and defence. At last the edge of the