friend knew it."

The Spaniard passed a file to Morgan. "I have had one or two of these
dropped on several occasions before, but have always thrown them into
the water before morning, being afraid to trust my fellows and use
them. I signalled for them to-day. Shall we make the venture?"

"The chance is desperate," whispered Johnnie.

"So must any chance be. The guard aboard will be small and sleepy; our
limbs are free; we lie a fair distance from the shore. We are never so
loosely guarded as when in Panama itself."

The two Englishmen remained silent for perhaps three or four minutes,
thinking the matter out. "Let's try, and God be with us!" said
Jeffreys. "If we fail, then death is preferable to life in this foetid
pit, chained up and treated like dogs."

"I agree!" answered Johnnie.

He and Hernando sat themselves astride the bench, so as to get at the
ring that attached the waist chain to the one that was fixed into the
seat. This ring necessarily underwent a lot of friction as the men
moved about at the oars, and the three had given the ring as much
chafing as possible for some two or three weeks. Moreover, the steam
from the panting bodies, the mists and spray from the sea, rusted and
ate into the iron. There was no chain factory nearer than Europe, and
fetters were not easily renewable in Spanish America. In fact, the
bonds of the slaves were by no means secure; but they were quite
sufficient for their purpose, seeing that the men were keenly watched
by day, and when in harbour shackled and manacled at night.

There was a buzz of talking, and plenty of weary shuffling and moaning
down on the slaves' deck. Chains clanked and rattled incessantly, and
would never be silent for long all through the night, for restless
sleepers would toss and turn on their hard couches to relieve pressure
on limbs only too often covered with festering and verminous sores.
Still, the noise of a file might be detected as an unusual sound; but
Hernando and Johnnie took the ring tightly in the palm of the hand, and
filed so carefully that Jeffreys, by droning a doleful tune, was able
to cover all the noise they made.

The worn ring was soon filed through, and ten minutes later Jeffreys
had detached himself, and the bench chain was swinging free under the
seat. The files were passed along to the sailors from the _Golden
Boar_, and after a while they were free. No man moved so as to betray
the fact. The files came ac