Behind the Ensign ran Major Dodley, swearing, and also shouting:

"Corporal of the guard! Turn out the guard! Quick! This way!"

Then all other sounds were drowned in the roar of the passing train.
When it subsided a confused struggle between a dark mass and a number
of dimly seen white forms was going on in the shallow water. Several
sailors were lifting Señorita bodily into a little flat-bottomed boat,
and two young men in soaked uniforms were aiding them. Then, as two
boats, one in tow of the other, began to move away, a squad of soldiers
with muskets in their hands came running down to the beach.

"Fire!" commanded Herman Dodley, beside himself with rage. "Fire at
that boat. A deserter is escaping in it."

"Don't you dare fire!" came back in a stern tone from the darkness.
"This is a boat from a United States man-of-war, commanded by an
officer in the discharge of his duty."

The bewildered soldiers hesitated, and then, in compliance with
repeated orders, coupled with threats, from their Major, fired a few
harmless shots in the air, after which they returned to camp. There
Herman Dodley prepared another telegraphic report for General Shafter,
that aroused that irascible warrior to profanity, and resulted in the
speedy transference of his offending aide to New Orleans on recruiting
service.

So our hero was at length fairly started on his momentous mission, with
its secret yet undivulged. As the _Speedy_, with the bewildered
Señorita and her young master safely on board, slipped swiftly past the