I was, therefore, very guarded in my answers to his questions, letting
out all he wished to learn only little by little, as he drew it from me
by his interrogations.

He expressed the most fervent gratitude on my narrating how we had
boarded his water-logged vessel and the difficulty Mr Jellaby had in
releasing him from his dangerous position; and, he bowed his thanks to
Doctor Nettleby, addressing him as "Senor Medico--Mr Doctor," for his
kind care of him.

But, when I came to describe what the lieutenant and I had seen in the
cabin, his manner changed at once; his eyes rolling with fury and his
thin, nervous hands clenching in impotent rage and despair, and he tried
to stand up, raising himself out of the chair.

"Ay la povera senora--oh, the poor lady!" he cried out, his eyes now
filling and his mouth working with emotion, which he vainly tried to
suppress as I told him of the poor dead lady and the little baby
floating about on the floor, both of them murdered--"E la pequina nina--
and the little child, too!"

On my telling him next, in answer to another question, about the
fine-looking fellow with the revolver in his hand, his feelings could no
longer be suppressed.

"Mi hermano! Oh, my brother!" he exclaimed, bursting into tears.
"Muerto! muerto! dead, dead!"

Doctor Nettleby and I turned away, it being painful in the extreme to
see a grown man such as he crying like a child; for his breast was
heaving and his shoulders shaking with the sobs he endeavoured to
conceal, and he hid his face in his hands as he leant back again in the
chair.

After a bit, on his becoming more composed again, the doctor gave him a
stimulant, which quieted his nerves.

Just then the captain came in, followed by Lieutenant Jellaby, to make
inquiries, the doctor having reported his patient convalescent.

"El capitano--this is the Captain," said I, to attract his attention to
the new arrivals as they advanced up to his chair. "El capitano del
nostro buque--the captain of our ship!"

I also pointed out in like fashion Mr Jellaby, saying that he was the
officer who had effected his rescue; and the Spaniard bowed silently to
both.

Captain Farmer, however, did not need any introduction from me, for he
spoke the other's language fluently, being a most accomplished linguist;
so, he and the poor fellow were soon on the best of terms, the survivor
from the wreck proceeding presently to tell the succinct history of the
ill-fated ve