him, and leave his reckless friend to his fate, yielded to the force
of circumstances, and did what was required of him. Then Owen lifted
the ladies, one after the other, over the railing of the balcony, and
they swiftly descended. First came Juana, who, scarcely touching the
Major's offered hand, lit on the pavement like gossamer; then Carlota
descended, and making, in her trepidation, a false step near the
bottom, came so heavily on the Major, that they rolled together on the
stones. By the time they were on their feet again, Owen had slipped
down the ladder, and, taking Juana under his arm, set off rapidly
towards the bay.

If anything could have added to the Major's discomfiture and
embarrassment, it would have been the pressure of Carlota's arm on
his, as she hung confidingly on him--a pressure not proceeding from
her weight only, but active, and with a meaning in it; but he was
in that state of mental numbness from the successive shocks of
astonishment, that, as with a soldier after the first two dozen, any
additional laceration passed unheeded. He was embarked in an adventure
of which he could by no means see the end; all was strange and dark in
the foreground of his future; and if he had been at that moment tried,
cast, and condemned for an imaginary crime, he would have been too
apathetic to say anything in arrest of judgment.

With the silence and swiftness of a forlorn hope, they passed through
the town and along the sandy causeway. The succession of white rolling
waves on their left, where extended the full breadth of the Straits,
while the bay on their right was almost smooth, showed the wind to be
still against them; but it was now so moderate that they might safely
beat up for the Rock. Arrived at the head of the stairs leading to the
water, they paused in the angle of the wall to reconnoitre. Francisco
was lying coiled up in the head of the boat, his hand on the rope,
ready to cast her loose, and the boat-hook projecting over the bow.
Above them, and behind the wall, at a little distance, they could hear
the measured tread of the sentry, and catch the gleam of his bayonet
as he turned upon his walk: a few vigorous shoves would carry them
outside the sea-wall and beyond his ken. All depended on their
silence; and like two stealthy cats did Owen and Juana descend to the
boat--the Major and Carlota watching the success of their attempt with
protruded necks. Cautiously did Owen stride from the last stair t