For an appreciable time his seething brain refused to comprehend the curiously black letters that grouped themselves into words on the limp sheet.

And, indeed, he was not to be blamed if he was dull of understanding, for this is what he read: "REVOLUTION IN BRAZIL.
"SERIOUS POSITION.
"STARTLING ESCAPADE OF A BRITISH SHIP.
"RIO DE JANEIRO, September 5th.

A situation of exceptional gravity has evidently arisen on the island of Fernando do Noronha, whence, it is said, ex-President De Sylva recently attempted to escape.

A battleship and two cruisers have been despatched thither under forced draught.

No public telegrams have been received from the island during the past week, and the authorities absolutely refuse any information as to earlier events, though the local press hints at some extraordinary developments not unconnected with the appearance off the island of a British steamship known as the _Andromeda_.
"_Later_--De Sylva landed last night at the small port of Maceio in the province of Alagoas, a hundred miles south of Pernambuco.