Captain Blynn appeared, telegram in hand, which he laid before the general for his signature. “Before I send this,” the latter said turning to Phil, “see Lieutenant Tillotson yourself, and if he is willing to withdraw this report I shall forget the incident.” Phil left the office, knowing that it was but a respite. He had passed Tillotson on the street when on the way to the general’s office and had saluted and spoken, but his greeting had been ignored. It was dark when Phil left the headquarters building and walked toward the docks. As he passed slowly through a narrow street, the forbidding windowless walls towering over him with here and there a dark alleyway, where an assassin might lurk, he instinctively felt for the handle of his navy revolver lying in its holster slung to his left hip. At the end of the street near the river and but a few paces from the gunboat he saw a calesa drawn up, its curtains drawn closely, just beyond the glare of a street lamp, and he was surprised to see a hand wave to him from the gloom inside. Stepping cautiously to the side of the awaiting vehicle, he heard his name called in a familiar woman’s voice. It was the unknown girl of the “Negros.” “Señor Perry, may I speak to you?” she inquired excitedly in Spanish. Phil took her outstretched hand eagerly, forgetting for the moment his own trouble. “What is it, señorita?” he asked eagerly. “Come to-night to the northeast corner of the Plaza, at nine o’clock; bring some of your men with you. Maria Rodriguez will show her gratitude to the brave American officers.” He would have detained her, to learn more, but her sharp command to the alert driver had come before he could recover from the startling summons and the next moment the calesa was racing madly up the street. Full of his news, he boarded the gunboat and confided to Sydney the girl’s message. “Maria Rodriguez,” Sydney exclaimed. “She’s the daughter of Juan Rodriguez, the wealthiest Filipino in Kapay. I wonder what’s up? Her father, you know, refuses to join the insurgents, and yet will not aid the Americans, and the general will not molest him. He lives on his estates just beyond the city on the river.” O’Neil was summoned and told to make up a party of five good men to accompany them and then the midshipmen sat down to dinner; but neither had an appetite for food. Phil told Sydney of the outcome of his visit to the general and the latter was cast down with gloom. “I shan’t stay without you,” he asserted. “Can’t something be done? Is there no way to make this man Tillotson back down?” Phil shook his head. “I shan’t try. I’ll just take my medicine. It’s bitter, but every one who was there knows that he was in the wrong.” Nine o’clock saw the small party at the northeast corner of the Plaza. The city seemed deserted. There was no one on the streets. Suddenly the clanking of a sword was heard and the sailors slunk quietly out of sight into the shadow of a near-by doorway.