he family,"
said Jack, his eye brightening as the thought of his great adventure
came into his mind. "I have already decided what to do, so far as they
are concerned. I shall follow that convict ship, and take the Montijos
out of her."

"But, my dear boy," remonstrated Bergera, "you cannot possibly do that,
you know. It would be an act of piracy on the high seas!"

"I don't care the value of a brass button what it is," declared Jack, "I
am going to do it; and I will take my chance of being hanged for it
afterwards. But it will not be piracy, for I shall do the trick under
the Cuban flag--the flag of Cuba Libre, and I shall therefore be a
belligerent, not a pirate. And, as to shooting Alvaros dead--I
certainly will not do that if I can possibly help it, for such a
punishment as that would be altogether too light for the atrocious crime
of which he has been guilty, upon his own confession."

"Very well," said Don Ramon; "you must do as you please, both in that
and the other matter, for I see that you have already made up your mind
in both cases. I am glad that you came straight to me with your news,
although it is of such a dreadful character: for, now that we have
Alvaros' statements that our poor, unhappy friends are in La Jacoba, and
that they are to leave for Fernando Po on Sunday, I shall know how and
where to prosecute my enquiries; and it is very essential that we should
assure ourselves of the truth of both statements, otherwise your attempt
at rescue may miss fire, after all. Now, I suppose you will fight that
villain to-morrow morning at daybreak. If so, do me the favour of
coming here to early breakfast with me at eight o'clock; you can then
tell me what has happened, and I, for my part, shall by that time be in
a position to tell you definitely how much of Alvaros' story is true."

"Certainly," answered Jack; "I will come with pleasure. And meanwhile I
suppose I ought to be getting back to the yacht, to be ready to receive
de Albareda. So, good-bye! See you to-morrow."

It was nearly three o'clock when Singleton reached the _Thetis_; but in
answer to his enquiries he was informed that no stranger had visited the
ship. He therefore spent the entire afternoon in posting Milsom on the
position of affairs generally, and discussing with him Jack's plan for
the rescue of the Montijos from the convict steamer; which plan, by the
way, Milsom pronounced to be quite feasible, stating that, like Jack, he