Of course, in this present clash of emotions, Iris little understood
what her advice really meant. She was appealing to heaven rather than
to the force of arms. To one of her temperament, it seemed incredible
that a number of inoffensive strangers should be slaughtered because a
South American republic could not agree in choosing a president. Such
a thing was unheard of in her previous experience, built on no more
solid foundation than the humdrum existence of Brussels and Bootle.
And the inhabitants of neither Brussels nor Bootle settle their
political differences by shooting casual visitors at sight.
Oddly enough, the only professional soldier present condemned her
project roundly when it was mooted.
"In leaving the island to-night you are acting on an assumption,"
protested Captain San Benavides to his chief. "You cannot be sure that
the _Andros-y-Mela_ will not appear. The arrangement is that she is to
send a boat here soon after midnight, yet, if this mad scheme of an
attack on armed troops by unarmed men is persisted in, we must begin to
ferry to the island long before that hour. In all probability, we
shall be discovered at once. At the very moment that our friends are
eagerly awaiting us on board the ship we may be lying dead on the
island.
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