t he added the conviction
that it was much larger than it had appeared to be in the night. He
believed, too, that it must have cost a deal of money to build it long
ago. He had only a moment for that calculation, however, for his next
glance went out toward the gulf, and he came near to being astonished.
The path which he had followed in coming up from the shore had been a
steep one, and he was now standing at a place from which he had a pretty
good view of the tossing water between the mainland and the castle of
San Juan de Ulua. The old fortress was there, unharmed by the norther,
but not in any direction, as far as his eyes could reach, was there any
sign of a ship, at anchor or otherwise.

"Senor!" he exclaimed. "What has become of them? They are all gone! Do
you suppose they have been wrecked?"

"Not all of them, by any means," replied the senor, but he also was
searching the sea with a serious face. "As many as could lift their
anchors in time to make a good offing before the norther came were sure
to do so. If there were any that did not succeed, I can't say where they
may have gone to just now."

"The _Goshhawk_--" began Ned, but the senor gripped his arm hard, while
he raised his right hand and pointed up the road.

"Silence!" he commanded, in a sharp whisper. "Look! there he comes.
Don't even call him by his name. Wait and hear what he has to say. He
can tell us what has become of the bark. They are a used-up lot of men."

So they were, the five who now came walking slowly along from somewhere
or other on the coast upon which the disastrous storm had blown.

"Captain Kemp and the crew of his life-boat," thought Ned, but he obeyed
the senor at first, and was silent until the haggard-looking party
arrived and came to a halt in front of him. Then, however, he lost his
prudence for a moment, and anxiously inquired:

"Were any of you drowned?"

"Not any of us that are here," responded the captain, grimly. "No, nor
any other of the _Goshhawk_ men, but there are more wrecks in sight
below, and I don't know how many from them got ashore. Our bark stranded
this side of them, and she's gone all to pieces. We took to the
life-boat in time, but we've had a hard pull of it. We went ashore
through the breakers, about six miles below this, and here we are, but I
don't want to ever pass such another night. I'm going on down to the
consul's now, to report, and Ned had better be there as soon as he can.
Then, the soone