i 'd been keeping watch on it for the past two days , my spyglass trained on the doors and windows of what was a large building and a series of smaller barns and outbuildings , taking note of comings and goings : rebels arriving with supplies and leaving with them , too ; while on the first day a small squad of them-i counted eight-had left the complex on what , when they returned , i realized had been some kind of attack : the corsican rebels , striking out against their genoese masters .