The cathedral bells were clanging joyously when we marched into the square, I in front, Navarro on his litter beside me, Zorilla’s charger behind us, then the two hundred regulars walking in front of the leading gun. You can guess how jolly important I felt, for the whole population had turned out, huzzahing and throwing their hats in the air, and on the steps and verandah of the Club were a lot of the _Hector_ chaps and the Skipper himself. As I took off my panama hat to salute him, he sang out, ’Good lad! Good lad!’ and Navarro, seeing them, called out, ’_El Medico!_’ Clegg, our Surgeon, was leaning over the verandah, so I stopped and had him taken in there. ’Look after him, will you?’ I called out to Clegg; ’his leg’s badly broken,’ and on we went again. The regulars, in their hated uniforms, were a bit of a puzzle to the crowd, but they thought they had deserted to the insurgents, and soon swarmed round them, shouting, ’_Viva los cazedores!_’ tearing off their own green and black rosettes and pinning them on the soldiers’ sleeves. Many of them had already got rid of their green and yellow badges, and you may bet your life they didn’t object to the black and green ones, so long as their skins were safe. Ever since I had been stabbed by that wretched little ex-policeman, and whenever I got in among a crowd of natives, I found myself looking round to see if I could recognise him. I was doing so now without knowing it, looking from face to face all round me. Perhaps it was because of what Navarro had said, ’He will never cease revenge,’ but I had the most extraordinary feeling that he was there, somewhere, and had his cunning little eyes fixed on me. I couldn’t see him anywhere, and thought the strange fancy was probably due to my being so sleepy. I pulled myself together, because we were now abreast the cathedral, the front of which had been hung with black and green flags, and, on the steps, the whole of the Provisional Government was waiting for me, bowing and taking off their top-hats. It was all I could do to keep from laughing, although I was so tired and sleepy and hungry that I could hardly sit in my saddle. They made me dismount, and would have kept me there for ages, but I seized hold of Mr. Don Pedro, pushed him forward, took my hat off, bowed, and led my plucky little stallion back to the Club. I knew that he would explain everything, and I always hate being fussed over. The crowd made way for me as if I’d been a blooming emperor; but I felt a touch on my shoulder and jumped, for I was still thinking of the little brute. ’Beg parding, sir,’ I heard some one say, and there was O’Leary, his funny old face simply as excited as a child’s. ’We’d just like you to see that ’ere bit of ’ydraulic machinery what we brought along with us, sir.’