o the dense gloom. I heard the
opening noose strike something which rattled sharply in the intense
silence. Then the line slipped, hung limp, and finally fell dangling
down over the edge of the roof. It had failed to catch, and I crouched
low, making no effort to draw the loose end back. With the first sound
of the blow against the spar the steady tramping across the deck
ceased. A moment, and a gruff voice hailed in vigorous Spanish from
out the darkness:

"Aloft there! Who is on the foreyard?"

For a brief space there came no answer, although we were made aware of
other movements more directly below us. Then some one answered:

"The watch are all here on the forecastle, Senor. It must have been a
loose block that rattled."

"Two of you jump into the foretop, and make all fast."

The steady tramping was resumed, while a moment later we became aware
of the approach of men climbing through the darkness toward us. We
were unable to perceive their shadows, yet their muttered conversation,
as they lay out upon the yard, served to fix its actual position more
clearly in my mind. I believed I knew where I had so grievously
overshot the mark.

"_Boca del Dragon_!" grumbled one of the fellows hoarsely, seemingly in
our very ears. "The Captain is as nervous over those cursed
frog-eaters down between decks as if we were anchored off Paree."

"Think you that is the trouble, Jose?" returned the other in the
sprightly voice of a younger man. "I tell thee, comrade, 'tis only
that bloody demon of an O'Reilly he is fearful of. I have sailed with
the 'old man' in many seas since first I left Sargon, and never expect
to see him affrighted of any Johnny Frenchman. But I heard the Admiral
say two days agone, as I hung over his boat in the main chains, that if
the Captain lost so much as a single prisoner it should cost him his
ship. That, I make it, comrade, is why he has n't taken so much as a
glass of wine since first they were put aboard of us. _Bastante_! but
he must have acquired a thirst by this time to make his temper red-hot."

The other laughed sourly.

"Poh! I know even a better reason for his going dry than that, Juan.
He does n't have chance for a drink alongside of that gray-bellied
French priest below. _Caramba_! it takes him to polish off the red
liquor."

"How know you that?"

"Saint Christopher! how know I? Did I not just meet him at the main
hatch so drunk he fell over the coamings. The s