"Indeed I may as well take this opportunity of explaining to you--and to my other English friends"-- with the interpolated sentence his glance dwelt quietly on Hozier and Coke--"the exact position locally.

You see, Maceio is a small place, and easily approached from the sea.

A hostile fleet could knock it to pieces in half an hour, and it would be a poor reward for my supporters' loyalty if my presence subjected them to a bombardment.

I have no strong defenses or heavy guns to defy attack, and my troops are not more than a thousand men, all told.

It is obvious that I must make for the interior.