"Up to the fourteenth of November, revolution was not even rumored. … Toward evening city and government were genuinely surprised by the news that General Travassos, who was to have commanded a battalion in the review, immediately upon the announcement of its postponement had proceeded to the Military Academy on the outskirts of the city, and, before the student body, had demanded of the officer in charge transfer of his command. Frightened by the attitude of the cadets, the commanding officer made a puerile protest, and surrendered. He and his staff were allowed to withdraw, and carried the news of the revolt to the city. It was soon confirmed: the cadets were advancing on the President’s palace, under the leadership of General Travassos. … "The shortest line of march was along the bay front, and to repulse the attack were sent by land a battalion of the line reinforced by police, and by sea two gunboats under the play of searchlights from an armored cruiser. The cadets marched under the assurance that no soldier of the line would fire on them, as the army was back of the movement. … They were met by an armed force, indistinguishable owing to the destruction of all the lamps by rioters. The force was the advancing battalion, and it is generally believed that it fired on the cadets, mistaking them for the returning body of police which had followed the water front. Brisk fighting ensued, when suddenly the cry arose among the cadets that they had been betrayed, and were attacked by soldiers of the line. They broke and made a disorderly retreat to the Academy. Almost simultaneously the soldiers learned their mistake, and that they had opposed a commanding officer; and they turned in precipitous flight. General Travassos was mortally wounded in the engagement. … {50} "Meanwhile the detachment of police dispatched from the city had advanced along the bay front to the stone quarry, where they awaited the rebels. Drawn up at this spot under close formation, they were mistaken by the gunboats for the cadets, and were made the target of a disastrous hail of bullets from quick-firing guns. Their retreat also was precipitous. "Such was the comedy of errors which will be known as the Revolt of 1904. Its net results were a rude but salutary recall of the government to watchfulness; added prestige abroad for the government, vouched by a rise in its bonds; and, most significant of all, spontaneous and immediate support of the Chief Executive from neighboring states. And yet the credit was not due to the government, which avowedly had been caught napping, but to the Goddess of Chance, the arbiter of every _coup d'état._" _G. A. Chamberlain, The Cause of South American Revolutions (Atlantic Monthly, June, 1905)._ BRAZIL: A. D. 1904. Settlement of boundary between Brazil and British Guiana.