He knew what it meant.

The crowd turned to learn the cause of this sudden disturbance.

Across the square, coming from the town, raced the women and children, gesticulating wildly and screaming with excitement.
Chase pointed his finger at Von Blitz and shouted: "I can't, eh?
There's a British warship standing off the harbour now, and her guns are trained--" But he did not complete the astounding, stupefying sentence.

The women were screaming: "The warship! The warship! Fly! Fly!" In a second, the entire assemblage was racing furiously, doubtingly, yet fearfully toward the pier.

Von Blitz and Rasula shouted in vain.