Bedient was entirely unexpected at the hacienda, but a small caravan had come down to meet the steamer and carry back supplies.  Coral City was feverish with excitement, although the revolutionists had not yet taken to gunning.  Bedient dispatched a letter to Jaffier with greeting, a congratulation on his escape from death (regarded in the letter as a good omen), and among other matters, an inquiry in regard to the American Jim Framtree, whom he had met in Coral City, just before he embarked for New York.  This done, Bedient procured a saddle-pony, and started alone up the trails to the hacienda.

He reached the great house in the early dusk.  Such was the welcome Bedient met, that for a moment, he was unable to speak.  It was spontaneous, too, for he was an hour ahead of the caravan.  All was as he had left.  Dozens of natives trooped in with flowers and fruits, and when he was alone upstairs, their singing came to him from the cabins....  Bedient did not realize how worn and near to breaking he was, until the outer door of his apartment was shut; and standing in the centre of the room, with a laugh on his lips, he had to wait two or three minutes, for the upheaval to subside in his breast....  A little later, he crossed to the Captain’s quarters, opened the door, and stood in the dark for several moments, his head bowed.  And a breath of that faint sweet perfume, which never wearied nor obtruded, came to his nostrils, as if one of the old silk handkerchiefs were softly waved in the darkness.

* * * * *

A convoy, in the charge of Dictator Jaffier’s oldest and most trusted servant, reached the hacienda at noon the next day.  Thus the reply to his letter was borne to Bedient.  The cumbersome efficiency clothed an imperative need for money first of all.  Bedient expected this and was prepared to assist....  A revolution was inevitable, the communication further divulged.  The point in Dictator Jaffier’s mind was just the hour to strike.  He recognized the importance of striking first; but, he observed sententiously, there was an exact moment between preparedness and precipitation.  Jaffier believed that Celestino Rey was looking for a shipload of rifles and ammunition; but the entire coast was guarded by the Defenders, especially The Pleiad inlet, where the Spaniard’s rare yacht lay.  A seizure of the contraband, it was naively stated, would be a most desirable stroke by the government....  The letter closed with the information Bedient had especially requested.  The young American Jim Framtree, whose movements in part had been followed by Jaffier’s agents, was at The Pleiad with his chief, Celestino Rey, and was doubtless an important member of the rebel staff....

Bedient read the letter carefully and glanced through it again.  Jaffier’s reliable held out his hand for it.

“If the Senor has carefully digested the contents——­” he began.