i heard jones making some noise, incoherently suggestive of gratification, for he was as bad as any of us about the signorina, and then i was left to my reflections. these were less somber than the reader would, perhaps, anticipate. true, i was putting my head into a noose; and if the presidents hands ever found their way to the end of the rope, i fancied he would pull it pretty tight. but, again, i was immensely in love, and equally in debt; and the scheme seemed to open the best chance of satisfying my love, and the only chance of filling my pocket. to a young man life without love isnt worth much; to a man of any age, in my opinion, life without money isnt worth much; it becomes worth still less when he is held to account for money he ought to have. so i cheerfully entered upon my biggest gamble, holding the stake of life well risked. my pleasure in the affair was only marred by the enforced partnership of mcgregor. there was no help for this, but i knew he wasnt much fonder of me than i of him, and i found myself gently meditating on the friction likely to arise between the new president and his minister of finance, in case our plans succeeded. still the signorina hated him, and by all signs she loved me. so i lay back in my chair, and recalled my charmers presence by whistling the hymn of liberty until it was time to go to lunch, an observance not to be omitted even by conspirators. chapter vii. the mine is laid. the morning meeting had been devoted to principles and to the awakening of enthusiasm; in the evening the conspirators condescended upon details, and we held a prolonged and anxious conference at the signorinas. mrs. carrington was commanded to have a headache after dinner, and retired with it to bed; and from ten till one we sat and conspired. the result of our deliberations was a very pretty plan, of which the main outlines were as follows: this was tuesday. on friday night the colonel, with twenty determined ruffians (or resolute patriots) previously bound to him, body and soul, by a donation of no less than fifty dollars a man, was to surprise the golden house, seize the person of the president and all cash and securities on the premises; no killing, if it could be avoided, but on the other hand no shilly-shally. mcgregor wanted to put the president out of the way at once, as a precautionary measure, but i strongly opposed this proposal, and, finding the signorina was absolutely inflexible on the same side, he yielded. i had a strong desire to be present at this midnight surprise, but another duty called for my presence. there was a gala supper at the barracks that evening, to commemorate some incident or other in the national history, and i was to be present and to reply to the toast of the commerce of aureataland. my task was, _at all hazards_, to keep this party going till the colonels job was done, when he would appear at the soldiers quarters, bribe in hand, and demand their allegiance. our knowledge of the character of the troops made us regard the result as a certainty, if once the president was a prisoner and the dollars before their eyes. the colonel and the troops were to surround the officers messroom, and offer them life and largesse, or death and destruction. here again we anticipated their choice with composure. the army was then to be paraded in the piazza, the town overawed or converted, and, behold, the revolution was accomplished! the success of this design entirely depended on its existence remaining a dead secret from the one man we feared, and on that one man being found alone and unguarded at twelve oclock on friday night. if he discovered the plot, we were lost. if he took it into his head to attend the supper, our difficulties would be greatly increased. at this point we turned to the signorina, and i said briefly: this appears to be where you come in, signorina. permit me to invite you to dine with his excellency on friday evening, at eight precisely. you mean, she said slowly, that i am to keep him at home, and, but for myself, alone, on friday? yes, said i. is there any difficulty? i do not think there is great difficulty, she said, but i dont like it; it looks so treacherous. of course it did. i didnt like her doing it myself, but how else was the president to be secured? rather late to think of that, isnt it? asked mcgregor, with a sneer. a revolution wont run on high moral wheels. think how he jockeyed you about the money, said i, assuming the part of the tempter. by the way, said mcgregor, its understood the signorina enters into possession of the presidents country villa, isnt it? now, my poor signorina had a longing for that choice little retreat; and between resentment for her lost money and a desire for the pretty house on the one hand, and, on the other, her dislike of the delilah-like part she was to play, she was sore beset. left to herself, i believe she would have yielded to her better feelings, and spoiled the plot. as it was, the colonel and i, alarmed at this recrudescence of conscience, managed to stifle its promptings, and bent her to our wicked will. after all, he deserves it, she said, and ill do it! it is always sad to see anybody suffering from a loss of self-respect, so i tried to restore the signorinas confidence in her own motives, by references to jael the wife of heber the kenite, charlotte corday, and such other relentless heroines as occurred to me. mcgregor looked upon this striving after self-justification with undisguised contempt. its only making a fool of him again, he said; youve done it before, you know! ill do it, if youll swear not toto hurt him, she said. ive promised already, he replied sullenly. i wont touch him, unless he brings it on himself. if he tries to kill me, i suppose i neednt bare my breast to the blow? no, no, i interposed; i have a regard for his excellency, but we must not let our feelings betray us into weakness. he must be takenalive and well, if possiblebut in the last resort, dead or alive. come, thats more like sense, said the colonel approvingly. the signorina sighed, but opposed us no longer. returning to ways and means, we arranged for communication in case of need during the next three days without the necessity of meeting. my position, as the center of financial business in whittingham, made this easy; the passage of bank messengers to and fro would excite little remark, and the messages could easily be so expressed as to reveal nothing to an uninstructed eye. it was further agreed that on the smallest hint of danger reaching any one of us, the word should at once be passed to the others, and we should _rendezvous_ at the colonels ranch, which lay some seven miles from the town