Ramage’s Mutiny

 Down below there was a thudding interspersed with the sound of cutlass blades, then shouts in Spanish. Re

 "Secure him! " Re

 He ran down the steps followed by several of his men and found that the corporal was already begi

 As Re

 "Corporal, " he called, "the lanterns! "

 "They're here ready, sir."

 "Light them, then put them up on the west wall! "

 Three lanterns each set three feet apart on the west wall would tell the Jocasta - and the sergeant over at El Pilar - that San Antonio had been captured. Half the task was completed, and he looked round carefully before setting off to complete the other half.

 He saw it in a few moments, and realized that he must have passed within a few feet of it in the rush to the steps. It was in the centre of the courtyard, and in the moonlight it looked as if it could be a well. He reached it to find a horizontal trapdoor which reminded him of a hatch in a ship. There was a padlock on it and he called for an axeman, one of the men who would, if necessary, have battered down the castle door.

 A dozen well-placed strokes cut out the section of plank on which the hasp was bolted. Willing hands grabbed the door and swung it back, and Re

 He called for the corporal and, after being assured that the three lanterns were in position on the west wall, helped unwind a length of slow match which the man had coiled round his waist.

 Then Re

 He sent the corporal up the steps first and then followed himself, patting his clothes to make sure that no loose grains of powder clung to the material.

 "Now, are the prisoners ready?"

 "They're under guard by the door, sir, all ready to march."

 Re

 As the corporal gave the orders which would start the prisoners down the path, Re

 As soon as Re

 As they moved on to the next gun Re

 The second Marine was now busy hammering home spikes, starting with the guns overlooking the cha

 Re

 "Lumley, " he said, "give me a hand here, and you others go and wait by the gate, though you won't be far enough away if I make a mistake! "

 The slow match came up the steps from the magazine like a thin snake. Re

 "Fetch the lantern, Lumley, but don't drop it! "

 As soon as the Marine came back Re

 "Come on! " Re

 They caught up with the Marine party and prisoners halfway down the path, the Spaniards so stu