ir speed.

It was exactly half-past one o'clock when, after an uneventful voyage,
having previously hove-to beyond the Point, lowered their sails, and
snugly stored them and the masts away, the six boats from the _Nonsuch_
entered Nombre de Dios harbour and, keeping well within the shadow of
the land, crept cautiously along the shore toward the battery, which was
to be their first point of attack. There were several ships in the
harbour, as could be seen by the number of riding lights dotted about
here and there, casting shimmering reflections upon the surface of the
placid water; but everything was perfectly quiet, no craft of any
description were moving, and if a watch was anywhere set the watchmen
were probably fast asleep at that hour, since there was no sound or sign
of movement. Yet it struck George as somewhat strange that an air of
such absolute security should seem to pervade the port; for things had
been said during his visit to San Juan de Ulua which must have caused
the authorities there to more than suspect the intention of the
Englishmen to descend upon Nombre; and there had been time enough for a
fast dispatch boat to make the voyage from the one city to the other,
warning Nombre to be on the alert. As young Saint Leger pondered upon
these things he grew suspicious that he might quite possibly be
blundering into some ingeniously prepared trap, and, calling the boats
about him, he gave instructions for the observance of certain additional
precautions. But, had he but known, he need not have entertained the
slightest anxiety or misgiving; for it afterward transpired that
although, as he had all along suspected, the authorities at San Juan had
actually dispatched a message to Nombre, recounting in detail all that
had happened at the Mexican port, and warning the authorities at Nombre
to be on the look out for the English, and to adopt every possible
measure to ensure their capture, the vessel bearing the dispatch never
reached her destination, and it was shrewdly conjectured that she must
have foundered with all hands in the hurricane which the _Nonsuch_ had
encountered.

The great bell of the Cathedral was booming out the hour of two a.m. as
the six boats swerved toward the shore and advanced in line abreast; and
some six minutes later they gently grounded upon the beach, the oars
were noiselessly laid in, and each man, grasping his weapons, and
stepping quietly over the side, waded ashore, while those