ted
from the sea to the northward by a spit so attenuated that he could see
the Caribbean across it less than three miles away. This narrow
northern spit was also quite low, fringed with coconut palms, and
covered with low, dense scrub, as was the southern spit for a distance
of some two miles, while the land to the east and west of the gulf rose
up in a series of lofty peaks, tree-crowned to their summits, the
vegetation seeming to consist mostly of ceibas, palms, bois immortelles,
bamboo, tree ferns, calabash trees, crimson-hued hibiscus, and other
tropical trees, gorgeous now with multi-coloured blossoms, the whole
presenting a most beautiful and delectable picture as it shimmered under
the rays of the mid-day sun.

But there was one part of the scene which was not quite so delectable,
and that was a spot some three miles up the gulf, where rode at anchor a
race-ship quite as large as, if not something larger than, the
_Nonsuch_. She was surrounded by boats, to the number of twenty or
more, into which she was discharging cargo which the boats were
conveying to the shore for disposal in certain sheds forming part of a
settlement at least four times as large as that on Coche Island. It was
a busy scene, some ninety or a hundred men being engaged upon the wharf
and about the warehouses, in addition to those in the boats and aboard
the ship. Moreover, the _Nonsuch_ was scarcely clear of the channel
through the reef, when the red and gold banner of Spain was hoisted upon
the flagstaff aboard the other ship, and on a flagstaff ashore, which
was of course a polite hint to the new arrival to display her colours in
turn. There was therefore very little prospect of the English being
able to effect anything in the nature of a surprise, unless they chose
to cloak their real character under a display of false colours, and this
young Saint Leger positively refused to do. Instead he ordered the
white flag bearing the crimson Cross of Saint George--which was at that
time the ensign of England--to be bent on to the ensign halliards, but
not to be hoisted until he gave the word, since there was no sense in
prematurely alarming the enemy if it could be avoided.

The enemy, however, in this case, promised to be less easily hoodwinked
than their compatriots over on Coche Island; at all events their
suspicions were more readily awakened, for when, after an interval of
about five minutes, the _Nonsuch_ still delayed to show her colo