the earliest, we were informed that we might take a week to look
about us, a permission of which we most gladly availed ourselves. We
were also informed that the prize-money for the Jean Rabel affair had
been awarded, and the admiral was good enough to advise us to put our
business affairs into the hands of his own agent in Kingston, to whom he
gave us a letter of introduction.

Our first business on leaving the _Mars_ was to take passage to Kingston
in one of the many sailing-boats which, owned by negro boatmen, are
always obtainable at Port Royal, and in her we managed, with the aid of
a fine sea-breeze, to make the passage in an hour, being badly beaten,
however, in a race with a gig belonging to the frigate _Volage_ which
happened to be lying at Port Royal at the time.

Arrived in Kingston we made our way, in the first instance, to the post-
office, where we each found several letters awaiting us. There were
nine for me, of which eight were from my father, and one--heaven only
knows how it had found its way across in so short a time--from Dona
Inez. I _ought_, I suppose, to have first opened those from my father;
but I did not. With the ardour that might have been expected I first
tore open the envelope superscribed by Inez. The letter was dated the
day after our flight from La Guayra; and the poor girl, who had already
learned from the faithful Juan that our plans had somehow been capsized,
had written in an agony of apprehension as to our safety. It appeared
that Juan--whose arrival at the cove had been delayed about half an hour
by the suspicious manoeuvres of a felucca ahead of him, undoubtedly the
_Pinta_--had hung about the spot for something like an hour and a half,
at the expiration of which time two Spaniards had presented themselves
on the beach and had inquired whether he belonged to the _Pinta_. On
his saying that he did not he had been very sharply cross-questioned as
to who he was, and the reasons for his presence there at that hour,
which cross-questioning he was sensible enough to evade and cut short by
retreating to his felucca and returning to La Guayra, from whence he,
the first thing next morning, made his way to the castle to report and
to seek further instructions. Having actually witnessed our departure,
and knowing from the time at which it had occurred that we must have
made our way on board the wrong felucca--which Juan was subsequently
able to say with almost absolute certainty _m