Let Dom Corria fall, and his most enthusiastic supporters would pay Dom Miguel's taxes without further parley.

A scheme of concerted action was hastily arranged.

Simultaneously, five detachments swarmed against the chosen points of assault.

One crossed the _pateo_ to the porch, another made for the stable entrance, a third attacked the garden door, a fourth assailed the servants' quarters, and the fifth, strongest of all, and inspired by Dom Miguel's presence, battered in the shutters and tore away the piled up furniture of the ballroom.
The Nationalist leader's final order was terse.
"Spare the women; shoot every rebel; do not touch the foreigners unless they resist!" With yells of "Abajo De Sylva!" "Morto por revoltados!" the assailants closed in.

Neither side owned magazine rifles, so the fight was with machetes, swords, and bayonets when the first furious hail of lead had spent itself.