deliver a letter from the Director-in-chief to the
commandant of the fort, and then row back again. No
answer was required.

When the commandant read the brief note, he made no
remark. In fact, he could think of no appropriate
remark to make. The missive simply informed him that
at ten o'clock and eighteen minutes A. M., of that day,
the first bomb from the marine forces of the Syndicate
had been discharged into the waters of the harbour.
At, or about, two o'clock P.M., the second bomb would
be discharged at Fort Pilcher. That was all.

What this extraordinary message meant could not be
imagined by any officer of the garrison. If the people
on board the ships were taking advantage of the
earthquake, and supposed that they could induce British
soldiers to believe that it had been caused by one of
their bombs, then were they idiots indeed. They would
fire their second shot at Fort Pilcher! This was
impossible, for they had not yet fired their first
shot. These Syndicate people were evidently very
tricky, and the defenders of the port must therefore be
very cautious.

Fort Pilcher was a very large and unfinished
fortification, on a bluff on the opposite side of the
harbour. Work had been discontinued on it as soon as
the Syndicate's vessels had appeared off the port, for
it was not desired to expose the builders and workmen