ed the Spaniard with:

"_Hola_! there. How dare you, senor, quit your anchorage without
orders, and attempt to leave the harbour? Return at once, or I swear to
you that I will sink you forthwith. If you are not round and heading
for the anchorage by the time that I am again alongside you, I will give
you another broadside. And--arrest the man, whoever he is, who issued
the order to you to open fire upon us, for somebody will have to be
punished for that outrage."

Whether or not the Spaniards were able to assimilate the whole of his
instructions, George could not tell, for the two ships were fast driving
apart; but when at length the _Nonsuch_ was hove about and once more
approached the Spaniard's weather quarter, with guns run out, a figure
leaped up on the plate ship's taffrail, frantically waving a lighted
lantern, and as he did so, he hailed:

"Do not fire upon us again, senor, for the love of God! We are busily
engaged in clearing away the wreck of our foremast, and as soon as that
is done and the ship is once more under command, I give you my word,
upon the honour of a Spaniard, that we will return to the anchorage."

"The honour of a Spaniard!" retorted George, contemptuously. "How much
is that worth, after the specimen of it which you have given me this
night? However, you cannot possibly escape, so I will spare you for the
present. Have you arrested the man who ordered your musketeers to fire
upon us?"

"No, senor," was the answer. "Do you wish him to be put under arrest?"

"That was part of my order when I just now hailed you," retorted George.
"But," he continued, "possibly you did not hear me; wherefore I repeat
the order now."

"It shall be done," replied the stranger. "And, senor," he continued,
"although the evidence against us be strong, I beg you not to think that
all Spaniards are liars and faithless. There are some--of whom I am
one--who know how to keep faith as well as an Englishman; and I will
keep faith with you."

"See that you do so, senor," retorted George, as the ships again drew
apart. "It will be better for you and those with you."

It was at this moment that the weather suddenly cleared, the clouds
drove away to leeward, and the stars shone forth with that mellow lustre
and brilliancy which renders a starlit night in the tropics so
inexpressibly beautiful; in an instant the intense darkness which had
hitherto enveloped the scene was rolled away like a curtain, and obje