Chapter Nine.

Chapter Nine.An urgent appeal for help.The two young men reached the casa Montijo, that afternoon, in just nice time to partake of “afternoon tea”, which function had promptly been adopted by Señora Montijo and her daughter upon the return of Don Hermoso and Carlos from England, as the very latest and most up-to-date institution, and absolutely indispensable in every household having the slightest pretensions to be considered as belonging to polite society. They related,in extenso, the result of their visit to Havana, at which no one was surprised, since everything had happened precisely as had been expected; but all were agreed that, after the very strong representations made by the English Consul, Jack need have very little apprehension of further annoyance from Alvaros. Then Singleton mentioned their impromptu visit to the yacht, and expressed to Milsom his great satisfaction at the state in which he had found both the vessel and her crew; and this, in turn, led to a further discussion of Jack’s proposal that the entire family should indulge in a cruise, instead of allowing the craft to remain idle in harbour, fouling her bottom with weed, and impairing the efficiency of her crew. It now appeared that the original suggestion had very powerfully appealed to the imagination of the ladies, who had kept it pretty persistently before Don Hermoso, until he, worthy man, finding nothing very convincing to advance against it, had been gradually brought into a frame of mind that needed very little further persuasion to induce him to give it his willing assent. Accordingly, before the evening was over, the matter had been gone into in earnest, and arrangements completed for a start in about a week’s time; with the result that Milsom set out for Havana immediately after first breakfast on the following morning, for the purpose of making preparations.The week passed, and the arrangements of the family had so far advanced that their heavy baggage, dispatched in advance, was actually on its way to Havana, for shipment on board the yacht, and was to be followed by the family and Jack on the following day, when toward the end of the afternoon a horseman dashed up to the door of the house, his clothing thick with dust and his horse reeking with sweat, and demanded instant audience with Señor Montijo on business of the utmost importance; and his demand was enforced by the utterance of a password which secured his prompt admission, Don Hermoso being at the moment engaged in his office, where he was completing with his overseer the final arrangements to be observed in his absence.Ten minutes later Don Hermoso sent a servant in search of Jack and Carlos, who, with Doña Isolda, had gone for a stroll up the ravine; and when the two young men, having been found, entered Don Hermoso’s sanctum they discovered him in close conference with the aforesaid dust-stained stranger, who proved to be a Cuban half-breed named Jorge Carnero. This man, Don Hermoso explained, was the bearer of a letter from Señor Marti, the leader of the revolutionary movement in Cuba, calling upon Don Hermoso to assist him in a serious difficulty that had most unexpectedly arisen. It appeared, according to Marti’s letter, that the Junta established in New York had, with the assistance of certain rich and sympathetic Americans, collected an enormous quantity of arms, ammunition, and stores of every description, which they had shipped on board a shallow-draught steamer named theJames B. Potter, with the intention of having them landed in Mulata Bay, some fourteen miles to the westward of Bahia Honda. Everything had gone admirably with the arrangements, up to a certain point: the steamer had succeeded in getting to sea without being stopped; a pilot was on board who was perfectly acquainted with the dangerous coast where the landing was to be effected; and every possible contingency in connection with the landing and prompt conveyance inland of the munitions had been provided for, when, at the very last moment, it had been discovered that the Spanish authorities were perfectly aware of the whole scheme, and had laid their plans for a torpedo boat to pounce upon the ship at the very moment when, two days later, the steamer would appear off the coast and enter the bay at which the landing of the munitions was to be effected. The messenger, Jorge Carnero—whose absolute fidelity to the cause of Free Cuba Marti guaranteed—was the man who had discovered the Spaniards’ knowledge of the expedition and their arrangement for quashing it at the psychological moment; and he had been sent on to Montijo, as bearer of Marti’s letter asking for help, in order that he might personally give Don Hermoso all the information possible. Marti’s only hope was that Señor Montijo might be able to dispatch his yacht to intercept theJames B. Potter, and warn her of the danger that lay ahead, thus saving the ship and cargo from what must otherwise be inevitable capture. “That,” said Don Hermoso, in conclusion, “is the story, Jack. The question now is: Can you devise any plan by which this terrible disaster to our cause may be averted, and the cargo saved to us?”“When, do you say, is this steamer timed to arrive in Mulata Bay?” demanded Jack.Don Hermoso referred to Señor Marti’s letter, and then replied: “At mid-day, on the day after to-morrow.”“Ah!” said Jack. “That does not allow us very much time, does it? Of course, by leaving here this evening, and spending the night in Pinar del Rio—by which means we could catch the first train to Havana to-morrow morning—we should be enabled to get to sea in very good time to intercept theJames B. Pottersomewhere in the Strait of Florida; and it may be advisable for us to arrange our plans accordingly, although I am afraid our proceeding to sea to-morrow will revive and greatly strengthen all the Spaniards’ former suspicions of us, especially if theJames B. Pottershould afterwards fail to turn up at her rendezvous at the appointed time. Still, if necessary, we must risk that, rather than permit the ship and cargo to be captured. Do you happen to know where the torpedo boat is lying that is to effect the capture?” he demanded, turning to Carnero.“Yes, Señor,” answered Carnero; “she is torpedo boat Number 19, and she is lying in Havana harbour, from which she is to sally forth at the proper moment and conceal herself behind one of the cays lying just to the westward of Mulata Bay, where she will await the approach of the American ship.”“A very pretty scheme, and one that is exceedingly likely to succeed—if we do not interfere,” commented Jack. “Are there any other Government vessels in Havana harbour?” he asked, turning again to Carnero.“Yes, Señor, certainly,” answered Carnero. “There are two others: theTiburongunboat, and the cruiserInfanta Isabel.”“Any steam tugs, or craft of any kind, capable of taking a few soldiers on board and running them round to Mulata Bay?” demanded Jack.“Yes, Señor,” answered Carnero, “there is theBallena; but she is at present hauled up on the slips for repairs, and her boiler is out, so she need not be considered.”“And are those which you have named all that the Government has at its disposal?” persisted Jack.“Yes, Señor,” answered Carnero. “There are, of course, trading steamers sailing out of Havana, which the Government might requisition, in case of need; but—now, let me consider—yes, it happens that on the day after to-morrow not a single steamer will be in port; and the first that may be expected is due to arrive at midnight of that day.”“Good!” exclaimed Jack. “Then I think I can see my way. We will do better than go out to intercept the American, Don Hermoso; we will render it impossible for either of those three Government craft to go out of harbour on that day. But when the authorities find their three steamers disabled, they may take it into their heads to throw a few soldiers on board a sailing craft of some sort and send her out to endeavour to capture theJames B. Potter; therefore you had better send word to the people who are to receive the goods that, while they need not fear a warship of any kind, they had better be prepared to fight a few soldiers, if necessary.”“Certainly, that can be managed without difficulty,” answered Don Hermoso. “But let us hear your plan, Jack. Our friend Carnero, here, is absolutely trustworthy, therefore you may speak without reserve before him; and if he knows what we intend to do, he will be able to tell others, who will know just what is to happen, and what they will have to provide for.”“Very well,” said Jack. “This is my plan. You will remember how neatly we doctored the torpedo boat that followed us to sea from Key West? Well, I simply propose to treat the three Government craft in Havana harbour in the same way, only more so. That is to say, I propose, either by fouling their propellers or otherwise, to prevent them from going to sea at all on that day, or until their propellers are cleared; and that, I think, ought to give the American ship time to run in, discharge her cargo, and get to sea again without molestation. But, in order to do this, it will be necessary that we—or at all events I—should go into Pinar del Rio to-night, in order to catch either the last train to-night or the first train to-morrow to Havana. Perhaps it will look less suspicious if I go alone to-night and you follow on at your leisure to-morrow.”“If you are particularly anxious to reach Havana to-night, Señor, it can be done,” exclaimed Carnero. “I know a short cut from here that will take us to Pinar within the hour, if you are a good horseman. But, to do it, we must start almost at once.”“I am ready now,” said Jack, “and as to horsemanship—well, I have hunted over some pretty stiff country in England, which ought to be good enough. Carlos, old man, will you see to bringing along my bag with you to-morrow?”“The Padre will, Jack, of course; but, as for me, I go with you to-night, for I have a notion that I can be useful in the carrying out of this scheme of yours. What say you, Padre?”“I say, go, by all means, my son, if Jack thinks that you will be of the slightest use to him,” answered Don Hermoso. “As for your bags, and so on, I will of course take care that they shall go forward with us to-morrow.”“Very well, then,” said Jack, “in that case let Carlos go with me, for I cannot tell but that we may be glad enough to have him with us during our operations to-morrow. And now I suppose we had better see about making a start. What about horses, Carlos?”“I will go and give instructions to have them saddled forthwith,” answered the latter; and he rose and went out to the patio, Jack meanwhile making a few final arrangements as to the hour and place of meeting on the morrow in Havana.Five minutes later the horses were brought round to the front of the house, and the young men, having meanwhile said a word or two of explanation to the ladies and bidden them temporarily adieu, mounted, and, accompanied by Carnero as guide, cantered off down the long path leading to the main road. But ere they reached this their guide turned off to the right, and, following a path that led through the tobacco fields, took them over the fence that formed one of the boundaries of Don Hermoso’s property, and the party found themselves in the open country, over which Carnero led them in a bee-line, taking brooks, watercourses, and obstructions of various kinds as they came. The pace of the riders was by no means rapid, nothing more than a brisk canter, in fact, but, the route taken being practically the shortest possible distance between Señor Montijo’s hacienda and Pinar del Rio, the journey was accomplished in little over an hour; and when at length they pulled up at the railway station they had a good four minutes in hand.“All right, Señores!” said Carnero, as he received the bridles of the two horses, “I will see that the nags are properly rubbed down and attended to, and that they shall be in readiness to go back with the coach and the servants to-morrow. Adios, Señores; luck go with you!”The clocks in the city were just striking ten when, after a somewhat tedious journey, the train clattered and jolted into the Western Station at Havana; and, jumping out, the lads chartered a volante—the local hansom, which is an open vehicle, mounted upon a pair of enormously high wheels, and fitted with such long shafts that it can only be turned with the utmost difficulty in the narrow streets—and drove down to the wharf, where they hired a shore boat to take them off to the yacht, which was lying moored to a pair of the trunk buoys in the harbour.The ships’ bells were chiming “five”, that is to say, half-past ten, as the boat, after having been challenged by the anchor watch, swept alongside theThetis’sgangway ladder, and the two young men ascended to the deck. Somewhat to their surprise, they found Milsom on board; for, as they were not expected until the following day, they would not have been at all astonished to learn that the skipper was ashore, amusing himself at the theatre, or elsewhere. But Milsom explained that he had had enough of Havana: he had been to the theatre twice, and considered that it was not a patch upon the Alhambra in Leicester Square at home; he had been to the Cathedral, and had been shown the tomb of Christopher Columbus—the genuineness of which he greatly doubted; he had sauntered in the Alameda in the evenings, listening to the military bands, of which he thought nothing, and trying to discover a Spanish girl that could hold a candle to one of our own wholesome, handsome English lasses, and had failed; and he had also tried, and had failed, to determine the precise number of separate and distinct odours—“stinks”, he called them—which go to make up the characteristic smell of Havana. From all of which it will be gathered that the worthy man, with the restlessness characteristic of the sailor, was beginning to weary of his inactivity—although during the past week he had been anything but inactive, it may be mentioned—and was pining for something fresh in the way of excitement. It appeared that, finding himself with spare time on his hands notwithstanding his preparation of the yacht for the projected trip, he had amused himself by designing an elaborate disguise for the craft, under the impression that a time might very possibly arrive when such a disguise would be found exceedingly useful; and he proudly produced a sketch of the said disguise which, when unfolded before the astonished gaze of the two young men, showed theThetistransmogrified into something resembling a two-funnelled torpedo gunboat, with ram stem and round, spoon-shaped stern all complete. It was a contraption most ingeniously built up of wood and canvas by the joint efforts and skill of Milsom, Macintyre, and the carpenter; and was so handily contrived that, according to the statement of its inventor or designer, given fine weather and smooth water for four hours, the vessel’s appearance could be so completely changed that “her own mother wouldn’t know her.”Having duly admired Milsom’s ingenuity, Jack explained in detail the reason why he and Carlos had advanced the time of their arrival, and disclosed his scheme for the temporary disablement of the three men-o’-war in the harbour, into which scheme Milsom entered with the utmost gusto, even going to the length of rousing poor Macintyre out of his berth and ruthlessly breaking in upon his beauty sleep, in order that the parties might have the benefit of the chief engineer’s advice and assistance. And when at length the little band of conspirators broke up at midnight and turned in, the plan of campaign had been arranged, down to the last detail.After all, there was not very much to be done in the way of preparation; a couple of hours’ work next day by Macintyre and his crew at the portable forge down in the stokehold, and everything was ready for the work which was to commence as soon as possible after ten o’clock that night. There was only one difficulty that still remained to be overcome, and that was the evading of the vigilance of the custom-house officers, who still remained on board the yacht. It is true that that vigilance had been very greatly relaxed of late, since it had been borne in upon even their limited intelligence that nothing remotely resembling an attempt to smuggle anything ashore had ever been made; still, it would be awkward in the extreme if one or more of them should happen to be troubled with insomnia on that particular night, and elect to pass the sleepless hours on deck: but Don Hermoso might be trusted to attend to that matter when he should arrive on board about four o’clock, or a little after, as he did, accompanied by Señora Montijo and Doña Isolda. The difficulty was explained to Don Hermoso during the progress of afternoon tea, which refreshment was partaken of on the top of the deck-house that adjoined the navigating bridge of the vessel; and after the meal was over, Carlos went ashore in the steam pinnace and brought off a small phial of liquid that looked and tasted like water. Then, the fact having been elicited from the chief steward that the custom-house officers had evinced a very marked preference for whisky over the aguardiente of their native land, a bottle of the former was opened and, half a wineglassful of the spirit having been poured from the bottle, a like quantity of the liquid from the phial was substituted for it, the cork replaced, and the bottle well shaken. It was then sent forward to theempleados de la aduanafor their especial use, with the compliments of Don Hermoso, that they might drink his health and that of his family, and wish them a pleasant voyage, on this their last night on board, since the yacht would, weather permitting, go to sea some time on the morrow. Half an hour later the steward, with a knowing grin, reported to Milsom that the bottle was already three-parts empty.“That is all right,” commented Don Hermoso, when the statement was passed on to him; “the gentlemen of the customs will not be troubled with sleeplessness to-night!” Nor were they; for four bells in the first watch had scarcely struck when, with many yawns, they retired below and—those who were supposed to be on watch as well as those who were off—in ten minutes were sleeping like logs.“Now is our time, Phil, before the moon rises,” exclaimed Jack, as soon as the report of the custom-house officers’ retirement had been brought aft by the chief steward. “It is important to get the submarine into the water unobserved; but, that done, we can wait until midnight, or even later, before commencing operations. By that time everybody will have turned in; and moreover we shall have the light of the moon to help us.”Accordingly, the canvas cover was removed from the particular boat in which the small submarine was hidden, and the mischievous little toy was carefully hoisted out, lowered into the water, submerged until only the top of her diminutive conning tower showed above water, and then effectually concealed by being moored to the boat boom, between the gig and the steam pinnace. Then advantage was taken of the darkness to pass down into her everything that had been prepared for the success of the forthcoming enterprise; after which everybody turned in, except Carlos, who undertook to keep a watch on deck until everything should seem sufficiently quiet in the harbour to admit of the adventurers beginning their work without incurring undue risk of detection.At length two bells in the middle watch (one o’clock) pealed out from the various ships in the harbour; the moon, just past the full, was riding high in the cloudless sky and affording quite as much light as the adventurers desired; and not a sound was to be heard save the faint moan of the wind in the rigging of the various craft in the harbour and the lap of the water alongside: everybody seemed to have gone to bed, except the anchor watch on board the men-o’-war—and they would probably lie down and endeavour to snatch a cat-nap until the moment should come round to again strike the bell. Carlos therefore thought the time propitious; and, treading noiselessly in his rubber-soled deck shoes, went below and quietly called Jack, Milsom, and Macintyre.Macintyre was the first of the trio to appear on deck, for, his business being in the interior of the boat, he had no special dress to don; the pyjama suit in which he had been sleeping would serve as well as any other, and he accordingly wore it. Walking forward with bare feet, he slung himself over the rail, lay out on the boom, and, sliding down the painter of the steam pinnace, got on board that craft—as a “blind” to anyone who might perchance happen to have noticed his movements—and from thence surreptitiously transferred himself to the interior of the submarine—having already cast the boat adrift—which he immediately sealed by fastening down the hood of the little conning tower. Then he set the electric air-pump going, in order to store up for himself a supply of air sufficient to last until the return of the boat. And while this was doing he quietly dropped the boat astern until she lay in the deep shadow cast by the overhanging counter of the yacht, where the other two could board her without the slightest risk of being seen.Some ten minutes later Jack and Milsom appeared on deck, each attired in an improved Fleuss diving dress, by the use of which the necessity for air-pumps and pipes was done away with. Each man wore a long, stout, double-edged dagger in a sheath attached to his belt, as a protection against possible attacks by sharks, with which the waters of the harbour are known to swarm; while Milsom bore, in addition, a formidable lance for the same purpose, or, rather, for the purpose of protecting Jack while the latter worked. And each man wore, attached to his wrist by a lanyard, a small, light steel bar, about four inches long, to enable him to communicate with his companion—by means of the Morse code—by the simple process of tapping on his helmet. They also carried, attached to their belts, small but very powerful electric lanterns, the light of which they could switch on and off at will, to enable them to see what they were about. They had made all their arrangements during the previous day, and had exchanged a few brief last words just before screwing in the front glasses of their helmets. Each therefore knew exactly what he and his companion had to do, and they now accordingly proceeded straight aft, found the Jacob’s ladder hanging over the yacht’s stern, and by it descended to the submarine, Milsom going first and stationing himself on the boat’s deck just abaft the conning tower, while Jack took the corresponding place on the fore side.The weight of the two men was sufficient to just submerge the boat and bury them to their chins when sitting down, while they could disappear altogether by lying flat on the deck. The degree of submersion, therefore, was just right for the beginning of the adventure, and Jack accordingly signalled Macintyre, by means of an electric button, first to back away from the yacht, and then to go ahead dead slow, guiding him at the same time how to steer by means of another button.The torpedo boat, being the most formidable of the three craft, was selected as the first to be operated upon, and the submarine was accordingly headed for her. The water of Havana harbour is unspeakably foul, the sewers of the town discharging into it, and it is almost opaque with the quantity of matter of various kinds that it holds in suspension; it was therefore necessary for the submarine to approach the torpedo boat pretty closely ere sinking any deeper, or it would have been difficult for the adventurers to find their prey in the muddy water, but they managed excellently, approaching within ten yards without being detected. Then Jack, unwilling to court failure by running any unnecessary risks, gave the order to sink slowly, at the same time turning on his electric lamp. Another moment, and he saw the torpedo boat’s stern and propeller before him, and the submarine, magnificently managed by Macintyre, who had worked her in all her previous trials, drew gently up until she stopped motionless in such a position that Jack could do just what he wanted. He had decided not to attempt to remove the propeller in this case, lest the violent exertion required to start the nut should cause him to overbalance and fall to the bottom of the harbour, in which case he would inevitably be lost in the deep layer of foul mud which formed the harbour bottom. He therefore took a length of stout chain, already prepared for the purpose, and, having first carefully wound it round the three blades of the boat’s propeller, passed the loose ends round the keel bar and rudder where, having drawn them as tight as he and Milsom could draw them, he shackled them together, thus rendering it impossible to move the boat until the chain had been found and taken off. The whole job occupied them a bare quarter of an hour, and could have been done in less had it not been for the hindrance which they experienced from the fish, which—sharks luckily excepted—attracted by their lamps, swarmed round them so persistently that it was almost impossible to do any work for the obstruction of them.The cruiser was the next craft to be dealt with, and, after her, the gunboat; the whole operation of disabling the three vessels being accomplished with almost ludicrous ease in about an hour and a quarter: after which the adventurers returned to the yacht and hoisted in the submarine, stowing her away and concealing her in the quarter boat, without, so far as they were aware, having attracted the attention of a single soul.

The two young men reached the casa Montijo, that afternoon, in just nice time to partake of “afternoon tea”, which function had promptly been adopted by Señora Montijo and her daughter upon the return of Don Hermoso and Carlos from England, as the very latest and most up-to-date institution, and absolutely indispensable in every household having the slightest pretensions to be considered as belonging to polite society. They related,in extenso, the result of their visit to Havana, at which no one was surprised, since everything had happened precisely as had been expected; but all were agreed that, after the very strong representations made by the English Consul, Jack need have very little apprehension of further annoyance from Alvaros. Then Singleton mentioned their impromptu visit to the yacht, and expressed to Milsom his great satisfaction at the state in which he had found both the vessel and her crew; and this, in turn, led to a further discussion of Jack’s proposal that the entire family should indulge in a cruise, instead of allowing the craft to remain idle in harbour, fouling her bottom with weed, and impairing the efficiency of her crew. It now appeared that the original suggestion had very powerfully appealed to the imagination of the ladies, who had kept it pretty persistently before Don Hermoso, until he, worthy man, finding nothing very convincing to advance against it, had been gradually brought into a frame of mind that needed very little further persuasion to induce him to give it his willing assent. Accordingly, before the evening was over, the matter had been gone into in earnest, and arrangements completed for a start in about a week’s time; with the result that Milsom set out for Havana immediately after first breakfast on the following morning, for the purpose of making preparations.

The week passed, and the arrangements of the family had so far advanced that their heavy baggage, dispatched in advance, was actually on its way to Havana, for shipment on board the yacht, and was to be followed by the family and Jack on the following day, when toward the end of the afternoon a horseman dashed up to the door of the house, his clothing thick with dust and his horse reeking with sweat, and demanded instant audience with Señor Montijo on business of the utmost importance; and his demand was enforced by the utterance of a password which secured his prompt admission, Don Hermoso being at the moment engaged in his office, where he was completing with his overseer the final arrangements to be observed in his absence.

Ten minutes later Don Hermoso sent a servant in search of Jack and Carlos, who, with Doña Isolda, had gone for a stroll up the ravine; and when the two young men, having been found, entered Don Hermoso’s sanctum they discovered him in close conference with the aforesaid dust-stained stranger, who proved to be a Cuban half-breed named Jorge Carnero. This man, Don Hermoso explained, was the bearer of a letter from Señor Marti, the leader of the revolutionary movement in Cuba, calling upon Don Hermoso to assist him in a serious difficulty that had most unexpectedly arisen. It appeared, according to Marti’s letter, that the Junta established in New York had, with the assistance of certain rich and sympathetic Americans, collected an enormous quantity of arms, ammunition, and stores of every description, which they had shipped on board a shallow-draught steamer named theJames B. Potter, with the intention of having them landed in Mulata Bay, some fourteen miles to the westward of Bahia Honda. Everything had gone admirably with the arrangements, up to a certain point: the steamer had succeeded in getting to sea without being stopped; a pilot was on board who was perfectly acquainted with the dangerous coast where the landing was to be effected; and every possible contingency in connection with the landing and prompt conveyance inland of the munitions had been provided for, when, at the very last moment, it had been discovered that the Spanish authorities were perfectly aware of the whole scheme, and had laid their plans for a torpedo boat to pounce upon the ship at the very moment when, two days later, the steamer would appear off the coast and enter the bay at which the landing of the munitions was to be effected. The messenger, Jorge Carnero—whose absolute fidelity to the cause of Free Cuba Marti guaranteed—was the man who had discovered the Spaniards’ knowledge of the expedition and their arrangement for quashing it at the psychological moment; and he had been sent on to Montijo, as bearer of Marti’s letter asking for help, in order that he might personally give Don Hermoso all the information possible. Marti’s only hope was that Señor Montijo might be able to dispatch his yacht to intercept theJames B. Potter, and warn her of the danger that lay ahead, thus saving the ship and cargo from what must otherwise be inevitable capture. “That,” said Don Hermoso, in conclusion, “is the story, Jack. The question now is: Can you devise any plan by which this terrible disaster to our cause may be averted, and the cargo saved to us?”

“When, do you say, is this steamer timed to arrive in Mulata Bay?” demanded Jack.

Don Hermoso referred to Señor Marti’s letter, and then replied: “At mid-day, on the day after to-morrow.”

“Ah!” said Jack. “That does not allow us very much time, does it? Of course, by leaving here this evening, and spending the night in Pinar del Rio—by which means we could catch the first train to Havana to-morrow morning—we should be enabled to get to sea in very good time to intercept theJames B. Pottersomewhere in the Strait of Florida; and it may be advisable for us to arrange our plans accordingly, although I am afraid our proceeding to sea to-morrow will revive and greatly strengthen all the Spaniards’ former suspicions of us, especially if theJames B. Pottershould afterwards fail to turn up at her rendezvous at the appointed time. Still, if necessary, we must risk that, rather than permit the ship and cargo to be captured. Do you happen to know where the torpedo boat is lying that is to effect the capture?” he demanded, turning to Carnero.

“Yes, Señor,” answered Carnero; “she is torpedo boat Number 19, and she is lying in Havana harbour, from which she is to sally forth at the proper moment and conceal herself behind one of the cays lying just to the westward of Mulata Bay, where she will await the approach of the American ship.”

“A very pretty scheme, and one that is exceedingly likely to succeed—if we do not interfere,” commented Jack. “Are there any other Government vessels in Havana harbour?” he asked, turning again to Carnero.

“Yes, Señor, certainly,” answered Carnero. “There are two others: theTiburongunboat, and the cruiserInfanta Isabel.”

“Any steam tugs, or craft of any kind, capable of taking a few soldiers on board and running them round to Mulata Bay?” demanded Jack.

“Yes, Señor,” answered Carnero, “there is theBallena; but she is at present hauled up on the slips for repairs, and her boiler is out, so she need not be considered.”

“And are those which you have named all that the Government has at its disposal?” persisted Jack.

“Yes, Señor,” answered Carnero. “There are, of course, trading steamers sailing out of Havana, which the Government might requisition, in case of need; but—now, let me consider—yes, it happens that on the day after to-morrow not a single steamer will be in port; and the first that may be expected is due to arrive at midnight of that day.”

“Good!” exclaimed Jack. “Then I think I can see my way. We will do better than go out to intercept the American, Don Hermoso; we will render it impossible for either of those three Government craft to go out of harbour on that day. But when the authorities find their three steamers disabled, they may take it into their heads to throw a few soldiers on board a sailing craft of some sort and send her out to endeavour to capture theJames B. Potter; therefore you had better send word to the people who are to receive the goods that, while they need not fear a warship of any kind, they had better be prepared to fight a few soldiers, if necessary.”

“Certainly, that can be managed without difficulty,” answered Don Hermoso. “But let us hear your plan, Jack. Our friend Carnero, here, is absolutely trustworthy, therefore you may speak without reserve before him; and if he knows what we intend to do, he will be able to tell others, who will know just what is to happen, and what they will have to provide for.”

“Very well,” said Jack. “This is my plan. You will remember how neatly we doctored the torpedo boat that followed us to sea from Key West? Well, I simply propose to treat the three Government craft in Havana harbour in the same way, only more so. That is to say, I propose, either by fouling their propellers or otherwise, to prevent them from going to sea at all on that day, or until their propellers are cleared; and that, I think, ought to give the American ship time to run in, discharge her cargo, and get to sea again without molestation. But, in order to do this, it will be necessary that we—or at all events I—should go into Pinar del Rio to-night, in order to catch either the last train to-night or the first train to-morrow to Havana. Perhaps it will look less suspicious if I go alone to-night and you follow on at your leisure to-morrow.”

“If you are particularly anxious to reach Havana to-night, Señor, it can be done,” exclaimed Carnero. “I know a short cut from here that will take us to Pinar within the hour, if you are a good horseman. But, to do it, we must start almost at once.”

“I am ready now,” said Jack, “and as to horsemanship—well, I have hunted over some pretty stiff country in England, which ought to be good enough. Carlos, old man, will you see to bringing along my bag with you to-morrow?”

“The Padre will, Jack, of course; but, as for me, I go with you to-night, for I have a notion that I can be useful in the carrying out of this scheme of yours. What say you, Padre?”

“I say, go, by all means, my son, if Jack thinks that you will be of the slightest use to him,” answered Don Hermoso. “As for your bags, and so on, I will of course take care that they shall go forward with us to-morrow.”

“Very well, then,” said Jack, “in that case let Carlos go with me, for I cannot tell but that we may be glad enough to have him with us during our operations to-morrow. And now I suppose we had better see about making a start. What about horses, Carlos?”

“I will go and give instructions to have them saddled forthwith,” answered the latter; and he rose and went out to the patio, Jack meanwhile making a few final arrangements as to the hour and place of meeting on the morrow in Havana.

Five minutes later the horses were brought round to the front of the house, and the young men, having meanwhile said a word or two of explanation to the ladies and bidden them temporarily adieu, mounted, and, accompanied by Carnero as guide, cantered off down the long path leading to the main road. But ere they reached this their guide turned off to the right, and, following a path that led through the tobacco fields, took them over the fence that formed one of the boundaries of Don Hermoso’s property, and the party found themselves in the open country, over which Carnero led them in a bee-line, taking brooks, watercourses, and obstructions of various kinds as they came. The pace of the riders was by no means rapid, nothing more than a brisk canter, in fact, but, the route taken being practically the shortest possible distance between Señor Montijo’s hacienda and Pinar del Rio, the journey was accomplished in little over an hour; and when at length they pulled up at the railway station they had a good four minutes in hand.

“All right, Señores!” said Carnero, as he received the bridles of the two horses, “I will see that the nags are properly rubbed down and attended to, and that they shall be in readiness to go back with the coach and the servants to-morrow. Adios, Señores; luck go with you!”

The clocks in the city were just striking ten when, after a somewhat tedious journey, the train clattered and jolted into the Western Station at Havana; and, jumping out, the lads chartered a volante—the local hansom, which is an open vehicle, mounted upon a pair of enormously high wheels, and fitted with such long shafts that it can only be turned with the utmost difficulty in the narrow streets—and drove down to the wharf, where they hired a shore boat to take them off to the yacht, which was lying moored to a pair of the trunk buoys in the harbour.

The ships’ bells were chiming “five”, that is to say, half-past ten, as the boat, after having been challenged by the anchor watch, swept alongside theThetis’sgangway ladder, and the two young men ascended to the deck. Somewhat to their surprise, they found Milsom on board; for, as they were not expected until the following day, they would not have been at all astonished to learn that the skipper was ashore, amusing himself at the theatre, or elsewhere. But Milsom explained that he had had enough of Havana: he had been to the theatre twice, and considered that it was not a patch upon the Alhambra in Leicester Square at home; he had been to the Cathedral, and had been shown the tomb of Christopher Columbus—the genuineness of which he greatly doubted; he had sauntered in the Alameda in the evenings, listening to the military bands, of which he thought nothing, and trying to discover a Spanish girl that could hold a candle to one of our own wholesome, handsome English lasses, and had failed; and he had also tried, and had failed, to determine the precise number of separate and distinct odours—“stinks”, he called them—which go to make up the characteristic smell of Havana. From all of which it will be gathered that the worthy man, with the restlessness characteristic of the sailor, was beginning to weary of his inactivity—although during the past week he had been anything but inactive, it may be mentioned—and was pining for something fresh in the way of excitement. It appeared that, finding himself with spare time on his hands notwithstanding his preparation of the yacht for the projected trip, he had amused himself by designing an elaborate disguise for the craft, under the impression that a time might very possibly arrive when such a disguise would be found exceedingly useful; and he proudly produced a sketch of the said disguise which, when unfolded before the astonished gaze of the two young men, showed theThetistransmogrified into something resembling a two-funnelled torpedo gunboat, with ram stem and round, spoon-shaped stern all complete. It was a contraption most ingeniously built up of wood and canvas by the joint efforts and skill of Milsom, Macintyre, and the carpenter; and was so handily contrived that, according to the statement of its inventor or designer, given fine weather and smooth water for four hours, the vessel’s appearance could be so completely changed that “her own mother wouldn’t know her.”

Having duly admired Milsom’s ingenuity, Jack explained in detail the reason why he and Carlos had advanced the time of their arrival, and disclosed his scheme for the temporary disablement of the three men-o’-war in the harbour, into which scheme Milsom entered with the utmost gusto, even going to the length of rousing poor Macintyre out of his berth and ruthlessly breaking in upon his beauty sleep, in order that the parties might have the benefit of the chief engineer’s advice and assistance. And when at length the little band of conspirators broke up at midnight and turned in, the plan of campaign had been arranged, down to the last detail.

After all, there was not very much to be done in the way of preparation; a couple of hours’ work next day by Macintyre and his crew at the portable forge down in the stokehold, and everything was ready for the work which was to commence as soon as possible after ten o’clock that night. There was only one difficulty that still remained to be overcome, and that was the evading of the vigilance of the custom-house officers, who still remained on board the yacht. It is true that that vigilance had been very greatly relaxed of late, since it had been borne in upon even their limited intelligence that nothing remotely resembling an attempt to smuggle anything ashore had ever been made; still, it would be awkward in the extreme if one or more of them should happen to be troubled with insomnia on that particular night, and elect to pass the sleepless hours on deck: but Don Hermoso might be trusted to attend to that matter when he should arrive on board about four o’clock, or a little after, as he did, accompanied by Señora Montijo and Doña Isolda. The difficulty was explained to Don Hermoso during the progress of afternoon tea, which refreshment was partaken of on the top of the deck-house that adjoined the navigating bridge of the vessel; and after the meal was over, Carlos went ashore in the steam pinnace and brought off a small phial of liquid that looked and tasted like water. Then, the fact having been elicited from the chief steward that the custom-house officers had evinced a very marked preference for whisky over the aguardiente of their native land, a bottle of the former was opened and, half a wineglassful of the spirit having been poured from the bottle, a like quantity of the liquid from the phial was substituted for it, the cork replaced, and the bottle well shaken. It was then sent forward to theempleados de la aduanafor their especial use, with the compliments of Don Hermoso, that they might drink his health and that of his family, and wish them a pleasant voyage, on this their last night on board, since the yacht would, weather permitting, go to sea some time on the morrow. Half an hour later the steward, with a knowing grin, reported to Milsom that the bottle was already three-parts empty.

“That is all right,” commented Don Hermoso, when the statement was passed on to him; “the gentlemen of the customs will not be troubled with sleeplessness to-night!” Nor were they; for four bells in the first watch had scarcely struck when, with many yawns, they retired below and—those who were supposed to be on watch as well as those who were off—in ten minutes were sleeping like logs.

“Now is our time, Phil, before the moon rises,” exclaimed Jack, as soon as the report of the custom-house officers’ retirement had been brought aft by the chief steward. “It is important to get the submarine into the water unobserved; but, that done, we can wait until midnight, or even later, before commencing operations. By that time everybody will have turned in; and moreover we shall have the light of the moon to help us.”

Accordingly, the canvas cover was removed from the particular boat in which the small submarine was hidden, and the mischievous little toy was carefully hoisted out, lowered into the water, submerged until only the top of her diminutive conning tower showed above water, and then effectually concealed by being moored to the boat boom, between the gig and the steam pinnace. Then advantage was taken of the darkness to pass down into her everything that had been prepared for the success of the forthcoming enterprise; after which everybody turned in, except Carlos, who undertook to keep a watch on deck until everything should seem sufficiently quiet in the harbour to admit of the adventurers beginning their work without incurring undue risk of detection.

At length two bells in the middle watch (one o’clock) pealed out from the various ships in the harbour; the moon, just past the full, was riding high in the cloudless sky and affording quite as much light as the adventurers desired; and not a sound was to be heard save the faint moan of the wind in the rigging of the various craft in the harbour and the lap of the water alongside: everybody seemed to have gone to bed, except the anchor watch on board the men-o’-war—and they would probably lie down and endeavour to snatch a cat-nap until the moment should come round to again strike the bell. Carlos therefore thought the time propitious; and, treading noiselessly in his rubber-soled deck shoes, went below and quietly called Jack, Milsom, and Macintyre.

Macintyre was the first of the trio to appear on deck, for, his business being in the interior of the boat, he had no special dress to don; the pyjama suit in which he had been sleeping would serve as well as any other, and he accordingly wore it. Walking forward with bare feet, he slung himself over the rail, lay out on the boom, and, sliding down the painter of the steam pinnace, got on board that craft—as a “blind” to anyone who might perchance happen to have noticed his movements—and from thence surreptitiously transferred himself to the interior of the submarine—having already cast the boat adrift—which he immediately sealed by fastening down the hood of the little conning tower. Then he set the electric air-pump going, in order to store up for himself a supply of air sufficient to last until the return of the boat. And while this was doing he quietly dropped the boat astern until she lay in the deep shadow cast by the overhanging counter of the yacht, where the other two could board her without the slightest risk of being seen.

Some ten minutes later Jack and Milsom appeared on deck, each attired in an improved Fleuss diving dress, by the use of which the necessity for air-pumps and pipes was done away with. Each man wore a long, stout, double-edged dagger in a sheath attached to his belt, as a protection against possible attacks by sharks, with which the waters of the harbour are known to swarm; while Milsom bore, in addition, a formidable lance for the same purpose, or, rather, for the purpose of protecting Jack while the latter worked. And each man wore, attached to his wrist by a lanyard, a small, light steel bar, about four inches long, to enable him to communicate with his companion—by means of the Morse code—by the simple process of tapping on his helmet. They also carried, attached to their belts, small but very powerful electric lanterns, the light of which they could switch on and off at will, to enable them to see what they were about. They had made all their arrangements during the previous day, and had exchanged a few brief last words just before screwing in the front glasses of their helmets. Each therefore knew exactly what he and his companion had to do, and they now accordingly proceeded straight aft, found the Jacob’s ladder hanging over the yacht’s stern, and by it descended to the submarine, Milsom going first and stationing himself on the boat’s deck just abaft the conning tower, while Jack took the corresponding place on the fore side.

The weight of the two men was sufficient to just submerge the boat and bury them to their chins when sitting down, while they could disappear altogether by lying flat on the deck. The degree of submersion, therefore, was just right for the beginning of the adventure, and Jack accordingly signalled Macintyre, by means of an electric button, first to back away from the yacht, and then to go ahead dead slow, guiding him at the same time how to steer by means of another button.

The torpedo boat, being the most formidable of the three craft, was selected as the first to be operated upon, and the submarine was accordingly headed for her. The water of Havana harbour is unspeakably foul, the sewers of the town discharging into it, and it is almost opaque with the quantity of matter of various kinds that it holds in suspension; it was therefore necessary for the submarine to approach the torpedo boat pretty closely ere sinking any deeper, or it would have been difficult for the adventurers to find their prey in the muddy water, but they managed excellently, approaching within ten yards without being detected. Then Jack, unwilling to court failure by running any unnecessary risks, gave the order to sink slowly, at the same time turning on his electric lamp. Another moment, and he saw the torpedo boat’s stern and propeller before him, and the submarine, magnificently managed by Macintyre, who had worked her in all her previous trials, drew gently up until she stopped motionless in such a position that Jack could do just what he wanted. He had decided not to attempt to remove the propeller in this case, lest the violent exertion required to start the nut should cause him to overbalance and fall to the bottom of the harbour, in which case he would inevitably be lost in the deep layer of foul mud which formed the harbour bottom. He therefore took a length of stout chain, already prepared for the purpose, and, having first carefully wound it round the three blades of the boat’s propeller, passed the loose ends round the keel bar and rudder where, having drawn them as tight as he and Milsom could draw them, he shackled them together, thus rendering it impossible to move the boat until the chain had been found and taken off. The whole job occupied them a bare quarter of an hour, and could have been done in less had it not been for the hindrance which they experienced from the fish, which—sharks luckily excepted—attracted by their lamps, swarmed round them so persistently that it was almost impossible to do any work for the obstruction of them.

The cruiser was the next craft to be dealt with, and, after her, the gunboat; the whole operation of disabling the three vessels being accomplished with almost ludicrous ease in about an hour and a quarter: after which the adventurers returned to the yacht and hoisted in the submarine, stowing her away and concealing her in the quarter boat, without, so far as they were aware, having attracted the attention of a single soul.

Chapter Ten.The act of “Certain very clever conspirators.”When, on the following morning, the saloon party on board theThetismustered for breakfast beneath the awning which sheltered the top of the deck-house from the too-ardent rays of the sun, they found that their alfresco breakfast-room commanded an uninterrupted and most charming view of the whole of Havana harbour, with the picturesque old town stretching along the waterside on their port hand. It was at that moment a dead calm, for the sea breeze had not yet set in, and the mirrorlike surface of the water reflected a perfect picture of the various craft dotted about the harbour, and of the buildings ashore, already blazing in the dazzling light of the unclouded sun. The business of the day had hardly begun; the ferryboats to Regla were loaded with passengers; boats conveying meat, vegetables, fruit, and fish to the shipping were lazily rippling through the scum that coated the surface of the water; belated fishermen were sweeping their crazy-looking craft out to sea; and a thin column of brown smoke was rising vertically into the motionless air from the funnel of torpedo boat Number 19, which was evidently getting up steam in good time to go in search of theJames B. Potter. But for the awning over their heads the party would also have seen that a thin, feathery film of smoke was curling upward from the cream-coloured funnel of their own craft; for although it had been decided not to go to sea until the afternoon, Jack had given instructions to have steam for ten o’clock, so as to be prepared for any emergency.The party dawdled over breakfast, the ladies in particular finding so much pleasure in their unwonted surroundings that they could scarcely find time to eat because of the many novel incidents that were continually demanding their attention. Moreover, they were in the enviable condition of people who were in no hurry: their preparations were all complete; nothing remained to be done or to worry about; they were embarked upon a pleasure excursion, and part of the pleasure was to sit still and gaze upon the increasing animation of the charming picture that unfolded itself around them. When they were tired of gazing, a word was all that would be necessary to provide them with a change of scene; and meanwhile Jack was entertaining them all with a humorous account of the adventures of himself and Milsom during the small hours of the morning. Milsom, having already broken his fast, had taken the steam pinnace and gone ashore to the custom-house (which had once been a church) in order to procure his clearance papers. By the time that he had finished his business and come off again, breakfast was over, the stewards were clearing away the table and its equipage, and the movements of the torpedo boat’s crew were becoming interesting. A dense cloud of black smoke was by this time pouring from the craft’s funnel and driving over the town with the rapidly increasing sea breeze, and presently a small flicker of steam appeared at the top of her waste pipe, and a minute or two later it was seen that the craft was getting her anchor.“Ah,” remarked Jack to Señorita Isolda, “the fun is just about to begin!”And so it was. The anchor, thickly coated with foul, evil-smelling, black mud, rose slowly out of the water; and as the cleansing hose was turned upon it the officer on the bridge was seen to lay his hand upon the engine-room telegraph and push the handle a little way forward.Don Hermoso, who, despite all Jack’s assurances, felt terribly anxious lest, after all, something should at the last moment go wrong, looked fearfully at the little craft’s stern, expecting every instant to see the foaming whirl of water there which would proclaim that the boat’s propeller was working; but, save for a very slight momentary disturbance of the scummy surface, there was no result, and presently a very excited individual was seen to emerge from the boat’s engine-room hatch and rush up on to the bridge, where he instantly plunged into a violently gesticulatory conversation with the other occupant of the structure. Then the pair left the bridge, hurried aft, and disappeared below. Meanwhile the boat was adrift, and presently, under the influence of the fast-freshening breeze, she drove athwart-hawse of a slashing American schooner, the stout bowsprit of which neatly brought the boat’s funnel down on deck, to the accompaniment of a storm of abuse and imprecations from the American skipper and mate. Then, swinging round and gathering sternway, the boat drifted clear, losing her mast also in the process, after which, somebody on board having recovered his presence of mind, her anchor was let go again, and she swung to the wind.That this interesting little incident had not passed unnoticed was presently made manifest by the excited flourishings and gesticulations of the semaphore upon the bridge of the cruiser, to which the torpedo boat’s semaphore duly made reply. Then a boat was lowered from the latter craft, and two officers—presumably her commander and her chief engineer—jumped into her stern-sheets and were pulled toward the cruiser. Some ten minutes later the same boat pushed off again and returned to her parent craft, while the semaphore on board the cruiser once more awakened into frenzied activity, its message being this time addressed to the gunboat, as could be deduced from the answering nourishes of that vessel’s instrument. The conversation lasted for quite a considerable time; and long ere it was at an end dense clouds of black smoke were pouring out of the funnel of Jack’s old friend, theTiburon.Now, although all these happenings were being watched with the most absorbing interest from the top of theThetis’sdeck-house, it must not be supposed that the watching was conducted in an obtrusive or ostentatious manner; very far from it. The occupants of that “coign of vantage”, to whom Milsom was now added, were, so far as the ordinary observer was concerned, lounging indolently in their several basket chairs, reading, smoking, and chatting together, and apparently giving not a thought to anything that was happening outside the bulwarks of their own ship, save when, now and then, one of them would lift a pair of binoculars and bring them to bear upon some object ashore, ultimately sweeping the entire horizon with them, and pausing for a moment to watch this or that before laying them down again. Nobody, even if watching the party continuously, would, from their actions, have suspected them of taking the smallest interest in the doings of the Spanish Government vessels.Yet there was not a movement on board either the cruiser or the gunboat—the torpedo boat washors de combatand of no further interest to them—that was not being intensely watched by Milsom and Jack; and presently the latter turned to Carlos and enquired:“Got a pencil and paper about you, old chap?”“Yes,” answered Carlos; “I have my pocket-book. Why?”“Then just stand by to jot down such letters as I may call out to you. That gunboat’s semaphore is at work again, and I feel curious to know what it is that she wants to say. Ah! just so; it is the cruiser she wants to talk to. Now, stand by.”The cruiser having acknowledged the “call”, theTiburon’ssemaphore began spelling out a message, each letter of which Jack read off and called out as it was signalled. When the message came to an end Carlos read it out and translated it into English. It ran as follows:—“Fear there is something wrong with my engines also. Have tried to turn them by hand, aided by forty-five pounds of steam, and cannot move them more than an inch or so either way.”The cruiser had no reply to make to this disquieting piece of information; but a minute or two later four sailors ran out upon her boat boom and climbed down the Jacob’s ladder hanging therefrom into one of the boats, which they cast off and paddled to the gangway ladder, where two officers were by this time waiting. These two individuals at once stepped into the boat, which thereupon was shoved off and pulled alongside the gunboat.“A lieutenant and one of the engineers from the cruiser gone aboard to investigate,” commented Milsom. “Now, keep your eye on the gunboat’s semaphore, Jack; we shall probably get a little further interesting information presently.”They did not, however, for the gunboat’s semaphore remained dumb. But the two visitors from the cruiser presently re-appeared, tumbled down over the side into their boat, and were rapidly rowed back to their own ship. Ten minutes later a stream of smoke began to issue first from one and then from the other funnel of the cruiser. It was evident that they had started to get steam on board her in a hurry. And indeed the time had arrived for hurry; for it was now five bells in the forenoon watch, and theJames B. Potterwas timed to arrive in Mulata Bay at eight bells—an hour and a half thence! She was probably off the harbour’s mouth at that moment—or, if not off the harbour’s mouth, at least in sight. The Morro Castle, with its signal staff, was not visible from the spot where theThetislay moored, being shut off from view by the eastern portion of the Old Town, but it could probably be seen from the cruiser, which was lying considerably farther down the harbour and farther over on the Regla side of it; and while the men folk on the top of the yacht’s deck-house were still discussing the matter, Milsom’s quick eye caught the cruiser’s answering pennant being hoisted in acknowledgment of a signal made to her from some unseen spot.“Aha!” he exclaimed; “do you see that? I wouldn’t mind betting my next allowance of grog that that is the acknowledgment of a signal from the Morro that thePotteris in sight! How can we find out, I wonder, without doing anything to arouse the suspicions of the Spanish Johnnies, that we are interested in the matter? If it were not for the suspicion that it would arouse, the simplest way, of course, would be to take the steamboat and run down as far as the harbour’s mouth, when we could see for ourselves whether there is a steamer in sight. But it would never do; it would be rather too palpable.”“Cannot you tell by reading the cruiser’s signals?” demanded Don Hermoso. “See, there are several flags being hoisted on board her now? What do they mean?”“Quite impossible to tell, my dear sir, without possessing a copy of the Spanish Naval signal-book,” answered Milsom. “Each navy has its own private code of signals, which no man can read unless he has access to the official signal-book. No; that is no good. Is there no spot ashore from which one can get a good view of the offing?”“Nothing nearer, I am afraid, than Punta Brava; and that is quite two miles from the landing-place by the shortest possible cut,” answered Don Hermoso. “One could not walk there and back in much less than an hour and a half, in this heat; and to drive there would, I am afraid, be almost as imprudent as running down to the harbour’s mouth in the steam pinnace.”“Quite,” answered Milsom. “But”—as he leaned out over the rail and glanced up at the yacht’s funnel, which he could thus just see clear of the awning—“we might slip our moorings and go out in the yacht, if you like, Señor. I see that we have steam enough to move; and we are free to go to sea at any moment, now, you know.”“So I understand,” answered Don Hermoso. “Yet I think we had better remain where we are a little longer; for I am anxious to assure myself, before starting on our trip, that thePotterhas succeeded in landing her cargo and getting away safely. And if we were to go to sea just now we should be obliged to proceed on our voyage, I think; we could advance no good reason for hanging about outside and watching the movements of strange craft.”“No, no, of course not; I quite see your point,” agreed Milsom. “It would undoubtedly be better to remain where we are for an hour or two longer, and see how the affair eventually develops. But I wouldn’t mind betting that that signal had some reference to the American boat, for see how furiously they are firing up aboard the cruiser.”They were indeed firing up “furiously”, as Milsom had said; for dense clouds of black smoke were now continuously pouring and billowing out of both funnels of the cruiser, to the outspoken scorn and derision of Macintyre, who had his own ideas upon the subject of “firing”, his theory being that to make steam quickly, and keep it when made, one should “fire” lightly and continuously.Meanwhile the preparations for going to sea were progressing apace aboard the cruiser, the boats being all hoisted in except one, which, with a couple of hands in her, was hanging on to the buoy to which the cruiser was moored, in readiness to unshackle the cable from the mooring ring so soon as the vessel had steam enough to enable her to move. The bells of the shipping in the harbour were chiming eight—which in this case meant noon—when the first white feather of steam began to play about the tops of the cruiser’s steam pipes; and at the sight the watchers on board the yacht stirred in their chairs and assumed a more alert attitude, for further developments might now be looked for.They came—within the next five minutes—the first of them being the sudden lowering of the captain’s gig aboard the cruiser, the hurried descent of her crew into her by way of the davit tackles, and the hauling of her alongside the hastily lowered gangway. A moment later an officer stepped into the stern-sheets; and, with the naval ensign of Spain snapping in the breeze at her stern, and her boat pennant trailing from the staff in her bows, she shoved off and dashed away toward the landing steps, with her eight oarsmen bending their backs and making their good ash blades spring almost to breaking-point, as though their very lives depended upon their speed. She swept past theThetiswithin a biscuit’s toss, and the party on the top of that vessel’s deck-house were not only able to distinguish, by the gold braid on his coat cuffs, that the solitary occupant of the stern-sheets held the rank of captain, but also that the poor man looked worried and scared almost out of his senses. Just before coming abreast of the yacht, which of course had her club ensign and burgee flying, the boat swerved slightly from her course, and for a moment it looked almost as though she intended to run alongside; but the next moment she straightened up again and went on her way toward the landing steps, the “brass bounder” in her stern just touching the peak of his uniform cap with his finger tips in acknowledgment of Jack’s and Milsom’s courtesy salute. Two minutes later her crew tossed oars and she swept up alongside the landing steps and hooked on; the skipper next moment springing up the steps and disappearing in the crowd of idlers who had gathered at the head of the steps.Two bells came, and with it the stewards to lay the table for second breakfast, or luncheon, on the yacht’s deck-house; and as three bells struck, the little party drew in round the “hospitable board” and sat down to their mid-day meal. They had just about finished when Milsom, who was sitting facing the town and wharf, put down his glass somewhat emphatically on the table, and, rising to his feet, exclaimed: “Now, what does this mean?”“What does what mean?” demanded Jack, also rising to his feet and facing in the direction toward which the skipper was looking. “Phew!” he whistled; “the plot thickens! Surely it is not possible that we were seen last night, Phil, eh?”“I could have sworn that we were not,” answered Milsom. “Yet, if we were not, I repeat: What does this mean?”He might well ask. For there, halfway between the wharf and the yacht, was the cruiser’s boat, with the captain and an elderly gentleman in plain clothes in the stern-sheets; and it was unquestionable that they were making for the yacht. Jack snatched up a pair of binoculars that lay in one of the basket chairs and brought it to bear upon the boat. “Why,” he exclaimed, “I’ll be shot if it isn’t the Capitan-General who is coming off to us!”“The Capitan—General!” gasped Don Hermoso. “Then, depend on it, gentlemen, your movements were observed last night, and you have been informed upon. What will you do?”“Why,” answered Jack, “we will wait until we have heard what these people have to say; and then—be guided by circumstances. But—pooh! I believe we are scaring ourselves unnecessarily. If they suspected us of tampering with their ships it is not in a boat manned by six unarmed sailors that they would come off to us. Come along, Phil, you as skipper and I as owner of this vessel will go down to receive these gentlemen and learn what their business is with us.”And, so saying, and followed by Milsom, he descended to the main deck and stationed himself at the head of the gangway ladder, by which time the boat was alongside. Another moment and the Capitan-General, hat in hand, and bowing courteously to the two Englishmen, passed in through the gangway, followed by the captain of the cruiser.“Good-day, Señor Singleton!” exclaimed the old gentleman genially, offering his hand. “Do you happen to remember me, or must I introduce myself?”“I remember you perfectly well, of course, General,” answered Jack, accepting the proffered hand with—it must be confessed—a feeling of very considerable relief, “and I am very glad indeed to have the honour of receiving you on board my yacht, although you have deferred your visit until the moment when we are about to proceed to sea.”“Ah, yes,” answered the General, “so I guessed, from the steam which I see issuing from your vessel’s funnel! It is about that that I have come off to see you. But, before we go any further, permit me to have the honour of introducing to you Captain Morillo, of His Spanish Majesty’s cruiser theInfanta Isabel, which lies yonder.”The introduction having been made and acknowledged with all due formality, the old gentleman resumed:“Now, a most extraordinary thing has happened here to-day—an occurrence so singular and unique that one is driven to the conviction that certain very clever conspirators have been at work.” The old gentleman, whether by accident or designedly, looked Jack square in the eye as he said this; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the latter was able to keep his countenance and retain that nonchalance of demeanour and expression of polite interest which he felt was so necessary to avert any suspicion of his own complicity with the “very clever conspirators”. To cover any indication of confusion which he might have inadvertently betrayed, he shouted to the quartermaster, who was busy about nothing in particular near the stern grating:“Quartermaster, bring along four basket chairs.” Then to the General:“You interest me immensely, General. I have just sent for some chairs, and when they arrive we will sit and discuss the matter in comfort. Meanwhile, may I offer you and Captain Morillo a glass of wine? We have some very passable champagne down in our cold chamber.”The Capitan-General and his friend expressed themselves as perfectly willing to partake of Señor Singleton’s gracious hospitality; and presently, seated at ease, and with a foaming glass of ice-cold Mumm before him, the Governor resumed his story.“I need not ask you, Señor, whether you are aware that the present condition of Cuba is somewhat abnormal, for I feel convinced that a caballero of your intelligence must have long ere this discovered that the island is literally seething with rebellion—to such an extent, indeed, that a rising against Spanish rule may be anticipated at any moment. Nor need I point out to you how ruinously disastrous to the rebels and all who might be suspected of sympathising with them such a rising must necessarily be; for it would of course be my painful duty to suppress it by force of arms. It is therefore in the interest of the Cubans themselves that we are adopting certain measures for the prevention of everything of a nature calculated to encourage hope on the part of the native population that a rising against Spanish authority could by any possibility be successful; and one of these measures is the suppression of all importation of weapons and war material of every description.”“Quite so,” concurred Jack with a smile. “We had an illustration of the vigour and thoroughness of your efforts in that direction upon our arrival on the coast, in the action taken by the Commander of the gunboat yonder, who was only convinced with the utmost difficulty that we were not engaged in the business of smuggling war material into the country. Indeed, I believe he never would have been convinced, had I not insisted upon his making a thoroughly exhaustive search of my vessel, with the result, of course, that nothing of the kind was to be found on board her.”The old gentleman flushed, fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair, and fortified himself by emptying his glass. He would rather not have been reminded of that circumstance, especially at that moment.“Ah!” he said, shaking his head sorrowfully as he put down his empty glass and feigned to be oblivious of the fact that Jack promptly refilled it; “yes, that was a most regrettable occurrence—the result of a very unfortunate mistake on the part of certain friends of ours on the other side. I understand, however, that Commander Albuquerque made theamende honourablein a manner that was absolutely satisfactory to yourself, Señor; and, with the expression of my own personal profound regret, I trust that you will have the extreme generosity to allow the deplorable affair to be forgotten.”“Of course I will,” said Jack heartily; “I am not one to bear malice. We are all liable to make mistakes at some time or other of our lives.”“Señor,” exclaimed the General with enthusiasm, “I am indeed delighted to find you so generously disposed—the more so that my visit to you to-day is connected with a similar incident; the only difference being that, in this case, there is unfortunately no room for the belief that we are making a second mistake. We have received the most positive information that certain American sympathisers with the revolutionary movement in Cuba have loaded a steamer with munitions of war for the use of the insurgents; and these munitions are to be landed to-day at a spot known as Mulata Bay, a few miles to the westward of this port. The information, most unfortunately, did not reach us in time to allow of our taking measures for the seizure of the cargo upon being landed; but that appeared, at the time, to be a matter of no moment, for I had planned to send a torpedo boat to seize the vessel and her cargo upon her arrival in Mulata Bay. The vessel, I may mention, was to have arrived at her destination at mid-day to-day; and, as a matter of fact, she has arrived, for she was sighted in the offing this morning, and has since been seen heading in toward the bay. And now we come to the explanation of my remark in reference to certain very clever conspirators; for when the torpedo boat attempted to leave the harbour this morning for the purpose of intercepting the smuggling ship, it was found that her machinery had been tampered with, so that it became impossible to send her. It was then decided to send the gunboat; but when she in turn attempted to move it was discovered that she also had been disabled. And finally, to cut my story short, it was discovered that the engines of Captain Morillo’s ship had also been so effectually tampered with that she cannot move. Thus, you see, at a very critical moment, we find ourselves absolutely helpless; and unless something can be done, and that instantly, the cargo will be landed, with the deplorable result that an armed rebellion will break out in the island, and incalculable mischief will ensue.”“Yes,” assented Jack thoughtfully; “I must confess that such a result seems not improbable.”“Not improbable!” ejaculated the General; “my dear sir, it is absolutely certain! We have the very best of reasons for knowing that, once the insurgents find themselves possessed of arms, they will lose not a moment in making a determined effort to throw off the yoke of Spanish rule, and the island will be at once plunged into all the horrors of war. Now, my dear Señor Singleton, it is in your power to avert those horrors, if you will!” (“Precisely!” thought Jack; “I could have bet that the old boy was leading up to this.”) “You see exactly how we are situated. That American ship and her cargo must be seized; yet we have no ship available with which to effect the seizure. You, on the other hand, have a ship that is in every way admirably adapted for the service, and you have steam up; you can leave the harbour at a moment’s notice, if you choose—”“Pardon me, General,” interrupted Jack; “I understand exactly what you are driving at: you want me to lend you this yacht for the purpose of conveying a party of soldiers or sailors to—to—”“Mulata Bay,” interpolated the General.“Yes,” continued Jack, “to Mulata Bay, to seize an American ship which, you say, is smuggling a cargo of contraband-of-war into the island! But, my dear sir, has the very extraordinary nature of your request yet dawned upon you? Do you recognise that you are asking me, a private English gentleman, to mix myself up in a quarrel with which I have absolutely nothing to do, and the rights and wrongs of which I do not in the least understand? Why should I interfere with an American ship, even though she be engaged, as you suggest, in affording aid and encouragement to the revolutionaries?”“Surely, Señor, the reasons that I have already advanced ought to be sufficient,” answered the General. “But if they are not, let me give you another. Your friend Don Hermoso Montijo, whom I see with his wife and family on the upper deck yonder, are not altogether free from the taint of suspicion of being in sympathy with the revolutionaries; indeed, it has been whispered to me that—but it would perhaps be unfair to them to repeat suggestions which have not as yet been absolutely proved: let it suffice for me to say that I wish the present predicament of my Government to be laid before them, together with the request which I have ventured to make to you; and let me know how they advise you in the matter.”“But, General, this is absolutely preposterous!” protested Jack. “Why should Don Hermoso Montijo and his family be dragged into the affair? And why should I be supposed to be governed by their advice? I must positively refuse to submit the matter to them in any shape or form; and I must also refuse to permit myself to be influenced by any advice which they might see fit to give. They are my guests on board this vessel, and, I may tell you, have embarked in her for the purpose of taking a cruise in her for the benefit of the health of the ladies of the family—indeed, we were on the point of getting under way when you boarded us.”“Señor,” retorted the General, “I will not pretend to dispute any one of your statements; but I will simply say that if you persist in refusing your assistance to the Spanish Government in this strait, your refusal will have the effect of very greatly strengthening the suspicions that already exist as to the loyalty of the Montijo family!”“General,” exclaimed Jack, “if you did but know it you could scarcely have said anything better calculated to defeat your own wishes and make me declare that under no circumstances will I permit myself to be dragged into this business. To be perfectly frank with you, I do not believe that you have the slightest shadow of foundation or excuse for your suspicions of Señor Montijo and his family. But, in order to show you how little grounds there are for them—should such actually exist—I will do violence to my own feelings by acceding to your request, without consulting Señor Montijo in any way, to the extent of conveying a party of your men, not exceeding fifty, to Mulata Bay; upon condition that I am allowed to fly the Spanish man-o’-war ensign while engaged upon the service.”“Why do you attach that condition to your assent, Señor?” demanded the General.“Because,” snapped Jack, who was now perilously near losing his temper, “I neither can nor will do the work under the British flag!”“I think, Excellency, Señor Singleton is justified in his demand,” remarked the skipper of the cruiser, now speaking for the first time. “The work that he has kindly undertaken to do is essentially Spanish Government work, and can only be properly done under the Spanish flag. I will bring you a Spanish ensign and pennant to hoist, Señor, when I bring my men alongside,” he added, turning to Jack.“I shall be obliged, Señor, if you will,” answered Jack; “for I will do nothing without them.”“Then that is settled,” exclaimed the General, rising to his feet. “When will you be ready to leave the harbour, Señor Singleton?”“As soon as Captain Morillo brings his men alongside,” answered Jack.“Then, to expedite matters, let us be going at once, Morillo,” exclaimed the General. Then, turning to Jack, he said: “Señor, permit me to express to you the gratitude not only of myself, personally, but also of the Spanish Government, for your courtesy in consenting to render us this important service at an exceedingly critical moment, I fear that, in my anxiety, I may have brought rather an unfair amount of pressure to bear upon you in order to overcome your scruples; but I trust that you will ultimately forgive me for that. And I am quite sure that if, as I have understood, you intend to prolong your stay in Cuba, the time will come when you will be glad to have placed us all under an obligation. I offer you a thousand thanks, Señor, and have the honour to bid you good-day!”And thereupon, with many bows, his Excellency the Capitan-General of Cuba followed the skipper of the cruiser to the gangway and thence down into their boat.“Well,” exclaimed Milsom, who had contrived to follow the conversation sufficiently to get a fairly accurate impression of what had transpired, “you have managed to get us all fairly into the centre of a hobble by consenting to run those men down to Mulata Bay! How the mischief do you propose to get out of it again without putting all the fat in the fire?”“Quite easily, my dear Phil, or you may bet your bottom dollar that I would never have consented,” answered Jack. “You see, the Spanish ships have had their engines tampered with. Very well: ours have been tampered with too—Macintyre will have to see to that. While the old chap was talking, the idea occurred to me that if I should persist in my refusal, Captain Morillo might, in desperation, take it into his head to send away a boat expedition to Mulata Bay; and, the people there being of opinion that everything is all right, they may take matters prettily easily, with the result that the boat expedition might possibly have arrived in time to effect a seizure. Therefore while, for the sake of effect, I pretended to be very unwilling to fall in with his Excellency’s views, I had decided that I would do so, almost as soon as I saw what was coming. Now, my plan is this. We will take the Spanish crowd aboard and run them down toward Mulata Bay, which will put an effectual stopper upon any attempt to dispatch another expedition. But, when we get down abreast of our destination, our engines will break down, and instead of going into Mulata Bay, we shall go driving helplessly away down to leeward before this fine, roaring trade wind; and before we can get the ship again under commandthe James B. Potterwill have discharged her cargo and got away again. And I reckon upon our appearance off the place under the Spanish ensign and pennant to give all concerned a hint as to the importance of ‘hustling’ over their job. Twiggez?”“Je twig—I tumble!” answered Milsom. “And a very pretty scheme it is, too, Jack—does you proud, old man; it ought to work like a charm. Now, before the Spanish Johnnies come aboard, I’ll just hunt up Macintyre, and post him upon his share of the work, while you go and explain matters to the Don and his family. Who-oop! It will be interesting to observe the expression on the countenances of our Spanish friends when our engines—tampered with by those pestilent revolutionaries—break down!”

When, on the following morning, the saloon party on board theThetismustered for breakfast beneath the awning which sheltered the top of the deck-house from the too-ardent rays of the sun, they found that their alfresco breakfast-room commanded an uninterrupted and most charming view of the whole of Havana harbour, with the picturesque old town stretching along the waterside on their port hand. It was at that moment a dead calm, for the sea breeze had not yet set in, and the mirrorlike surface of the water reflected a perfect picture of the various craft dotted about the harbour, and of the buildings ashore, already blazing in the dazzling light of the unclouded sun. The business of the day had hardly begun; the ferryboats to Regla were loaded with passengers; boats conveying meat, vegetables, fruit, and fish to the shipping were lazily rippling through the scum that coated the surface of the water; belated fishermen were sweeping their crazy-looking craft out to sea; and a thin column of brown smoke was rising vertically into the motionless air from the funnel of torpedo boat Number 19, which was evidently getting up steam in good time to go in search of theJames B. Potter. But for the awning over their heads the party would also have seen that a thin, feathery film of smoke was curling upward from the cream-coloured funnel of their own craft; for although it had been decided not to go to sea until the afternoon, Jack had given instructions to have steam for ten o’clock, so as to be prepared for any emergency.

The party dawdled over breakfast, the ladies in particular finding so much pleasure in their unwonted surroundings that they could scarcely find time to eat because of the many novel incidents that were continually demanding their attention. Moreover, they were in the enviable condition of people who were in no hurry: their preparations were all complete; nothing remained to be done or to worry about; they were embarked upon a pleasure excursion, and part of the pleasure was to sit still and gaze upon the increasing animation of the charming picture that unfolded itself around them. When they were tired of gazing, a word was all that would be necessary to provide them with a change of scene; and meanwhile Jack was entertaining them all with a humorous account of the adventures of himself and Milsom during the small hours of the morning. Milsom, having already broken his fast, had taken the steam pinnace and gone ashore to the custom-house (which had once been a church) in order to procure his clearance papers. By the time that he had finished his business and come off again, breakfast was over, the stewards were clearing away the table and its equipage, and the movements of the torpedo boat’s crew were becoming interesting. A dense cloud of black smoke was by this time pouring from the craft’s funnel and driving over the town with the rapidly increasing sea breeze, and presently a small flicker of steam appeared at the top of her waste pipe, and a minute or two later it was seen that the craft was getting her anchor.

“Ah,” remarked Jack to Señorita Isolda, “the fun is just about to begin!”

And so it was. The anchor, thickly coated with foul, evil-smelling, black mud, rose slowly out of the water; and as the cleansing hose was turned upon it the officer on the bridge was seen to lay his hand upon the engine-room telegraph and push the handle a little way forward.

Don Hermoso, who, despite all Jack’s assurances, felt terribly anxious lest, after all, something should at the last moment go wrong, looked fearfully at the little craft’s stern, expecting every instant to see the foaming whirl of water there which would proclaim that the boat’s propeller was working; but, save for a very slight momentary disturbance of the scummy surface, there was no result, and presently a very excited individual was seen to emerge from the boat’s engine-room hatch and rush up on to the bridge, where he instantly plunged into a violently gesticulatory conversation with the other occupant of the structure. Then the pair left the bridge, hurried aft, and disappeared below. Meanwhile the boat was adrift, and presently, under the influence of the fast-freshening breeze, she drove athwart-hawse of a slashing American schooner, the stout bowsprit of which neatly brought the boat’s funnel down on deck, to the accompaniment of a storm of abuse and imprecations from the American skipper and mate. Then, swinging round and gathering sternway, the boat drifted clear, losing her mast also in the process, after which, somebody on board having recovered his presence of mind, her anchor was let go again, and she swung to the wind.

That this interesting little incident had not passed unnoticed was presently made manifest by the excited flourishings and gesticulations of the semaphore upon the bridge of the cruiser, to which the torpedo boat’s semaphore duly made reply. Then a boat was lowered from the latter craft, and two officers—presumably her commander and her chief engineer—jumped into her stern-sheets and were pulled toward the cruiser. Some ten minutes later the same boat pushed off again and returned to her parent craft, while the semaphore on board the cruiser once more awakened into frenzied activity, its message being this time addressed to the gunboat, as could be deduced from the answering nourishes of that vessel’s instrument. The conversation lasted for quite a considerable time; and long ere it was at an end dense clouds of black smoke were pouring out of the funnel of Jack’s old friend, theTiburon.

Now, although all these happenings were being watched with the most absorbing interest from the top of theThetis’sdeck-house, it must not be supposed that the watching was conducted in an obtrusive or ostentatious manner; very far from it. The occupants of that “coign of vantage”, to whom Milsom was now added, were, so far as the ordinary observer was concerned, lounging indolently in their several basket chairs, reading, smoking, and chatting together, and apparently giving not a thought to anything that was happening outside the bulwarks of their own ship, save when, now and then, one of them would lift a pair of binoculars and bring them to bear upon some object ashore, ultimately sweeping the entire horizon with them, and pausing for a moment to watch this or that before laying them down again. Nobody, even if watching the party continuously, would, from their actions, have suspected them of taking the smallest interest in the doings of the Spanish Government vessels.

Yet there was not a movement on board either the cruiser or the gunboat—the torpedo boat washors de combatand of no further interest to them—that was not being intensely watched by Milsom and Jack; and presently the latter turned to Carlos and enquired:

“Got a pencil and paper about you, old chap?”

“Yes,” answered Carlos; “I have my pocket-book. Why?”

“Then just stand by to jot down such letters as I may call out to you. That gunboat’s semaphore is at work again, and I feel curious to know what it is that she wants to say. Ah! just so; it is the cruiser she wants to talk to. Now, stand by.”

The cruiser having acknowledged the “call”, theTiburon’ssemaphore began spelling out a message, each letter of which Jack read off and called out as it was signalled. When the message came to an end Carlos read it out and translated it into English. It ran as follows:—

“Fear there is something wrong with my engines also. Have tried to turn them by hand, aided by forty-five pounds of steam, and cannot move them more than an inch or so either way.”

The cruiser had no reply to make to this disquieting piece of information; but a minute or two later four sailors ran out upon her boat boom and climbed down the Jacob’s ladder hanging therefrom into one of the boats, which they cast off and paddled to the gangway ladder, where two officers were by this time waiting. These two individuals at once stepped into the boat, which thereupon was shoved off and pulled alongside the gunboat.

“A lieutenant and one of the engineers from the cruiser gone aboard to investigate,” commented Milsom. “Now, keep your eye on the gunboat’s semaphore, Jack; we shall probably get a little further interesting information presently.”

They did not, however, for the gunboat’s semaphore remained dumb. But the two visitors from the cruiser presently re-appeared, tumbled down over the side into their boat, and were rapidly rowed back to their own ship. Ten minutes later a stream of smoke began to issue first from one and then from the other funnel of the cruiser. It was evident that they had started to get steam on board her in a hurry. And indeed the time had arrived for hurry; for it was now five bells in the forenoon watch, and theJames B. Potterwas timed to arrive in Mulata Bay at eight bells—an hour and a half thence! She was probably off the harbour’s mouth at that moment—or, if not off the harbour’s mouth, at least in sight. The Morro Castle, with its signal staff, was not visible from the spot where theThetislay moored, being shut off from view by the eastern portion of the Old Town, but it could probably be seen from the cruiser, which was lying considerably farther down the harbour and farther over on the Regla side of it; and while the men folk on the top of the yacht’s deck-house were still discussing the matter, Milsom’s quick eye caught the cruiser’s answering pennant being hoisted in acknowledgment of a signal made to her from some unseen spot.

“Aha!” he exclaimed; “do you see that? I wouldn’t mind betting my next allowance of grog that that is the acknowledgment of a signal from the Morro that thePotteris in sight! How can we find out, I wonder, without doing anything to arouse the suspicions of the Spanish Johnnies, that we are interested in the matter? If it were not for the suspicion that it would arouse, the simplest way, of course, would be to take the steamboat and run down as far as the harbour’s mouth, when we could see for ourselves whether there is a steamer in sight. But it would never do; it would be rather too palpable.”

“Cannot you tell by reading the cruiser’s signals?” demanded Don Hermoso. “See, there are several flags being hoisted on board her now? What do they mean?”

“Quite impossible to tell, my dear sir, without possessing a copy of the Spanish Naval signal-book,” answered Milsom. “Each navy has its own private code of signals, which no man can read unless he has access to the official signal-book. No; that is no good. Is there no spot ashore from which one can get a good view of the offing?”

“Nothing nearer, I am afraid, than Punta Brava; and that is quite two miles from the landing-place by the shortest possible cut,” answered Don Hermoso. “One could not walk there and back in much less than an hour and a half, in this heat; and to drive there would, I am afraid, be almost as imprudent as running down to the harbour’s mouth in the steam pinnace.”

“Quite,” answered Milsom. “But”—as he leaned out over the rail and glanced up at the yacht’s funnel, which he could thus just see clear of the awning—“we might slip our moorings and go out in the yacht, if you like, Señor. I see that we have steam enough to move; and we are free to go to sea at any moment, now, you know.”

“So I understand,” answered Don Hermoso. “Yet I think we had better remain where we are a little longer; for I am anxious to assure myself, before starting on our trip, that thePotterhas succeeded in landing her cargo and getting away safely. And if we were to go to sea just now we should be obliged to proceed on our voyage, I think; we could advance no good reason for hanging about outside and watching the movements of strange craft.”

“No, no, of course not; I quite see your point,” agreed Milsom. “It would undoubtedly be better to remain where we are for an hour or two longer, and see how the affair eventually develops. But I wouldn’t mind betting that that signal had some reference to the American boat, for see how furiously they are firing up aboard the cruiser.”

They were indeed firing up “furiously”, as Milsom had said; for dense clouds of black smoke were now continuously pouring and billowing out of both funnels of the cruiser, to the outspoken scorn and derision of Macintyre, who had his own ideas upon the subject of “firing”, his theory being that to make steam quickly, and keep it when made, one should “fire” lightly and continuously.

Meanwhile the preparations for going to sea were progressing apace aboard the cruiser, the boats being all hoisted in except one, which, with a couple of hands in her, was hanging on to the buoy to which the cruiser was moored, in readiness to unshackle the cable from the mooring ring so soon as the vessel had steam enough to enable her to move. The bells of the shipping in the harbour were chiming eight—which in this case meant noon—when the first white feather of steam began to play about the tops of the cruiser’s steam pipes; and at the sight the watchers on board the yacht stirred in their chairs and assumed a more alert attitude, for further developments might now be looked for.

They came—within the next five minutes—the first of them being the sudden lowering of the captain’s gig aboard the cruiser, the hurried descent of her crew into her by way of the davit tackles, and the hauling of her alongside the hastily lowered gangway. A moment later an officer stepped into the stern-sheets; and, with the naval ensign of Spain snapping in the breeze at her stern, and her boat pennant trailing from the staff in her bows, she shoved off and dashed away toward the landing steps, with her eight oarsmen bending their backs and making their good ash blades spring almost to breaking-point, as though their very lives depended upon their speed. She swept past theThetiswithin a biscuit’s toss, and the party on the top of that vessel’s deck-house were not only able to distinguish, by the gold braid on his coat cuffs, that the solitary occupant of the stern-sheets held the rank of captain, but also that the poor man looked worried and scared almost out of his senses. Just before coming abreast of the yacht, which of course had her club ensign and burgee flying, the boat swerved slightly from her course, and for a moment it looked almost as though she intended to run alongside; but the next moment she straightened up again and went on her way toward the landing steps, the “brass bounder” in her stern just touching the peak of his uniform cap with his finger tips in acknowledgment of Jack’s and Milsom’s courtesy salute. Two minutes later her crew tossed oars and she swept up alongside the landing steps and hooked on; the skipper next moment springing up the steps and disappearing in the crowd of idlers who had gathered at the head of the steps.

Two bells came, and with it the stewards to lay the table for second breakfast, or luncheon, on the yacht’s deck-house; and as three bells struck, the little party drew in round the “hospitable board” and sat down to their mid-day meal. They had just about finished when Milsom, who was sitting facing the town and wharf, put down his glass somewhat emphatically on the table, and, rising to his feet, exclaimed: “Now, what does this mean?”

“What does what mean?” demanded Jack, also rising to his feet and facing in the direction toward which the skipper was looking. “Phew!” he whistled; “the plot thickens! Surely it is not possible that we were seen last night, Phil, eh?”

“I could have sworn that we were not,” answered Milsom. “Yet, if we were not, I repeat: What does this mean?”

He might well ask. For there, halfway between the wharf and the yacht, was the cruiser’s boat, with the captain and an elderly gentleman in plain clothes in the stern-sheets; and it was unquestionable that they were making for the yacht. Jack snatched up a pair of binoculars that lay in one of the basket chairs and brought it to bear upon the boat. “Why,” he exclaimed, “I’ll be shot if it isn’t the Capitan-General who is coming off to us!”

“The Capitan—General!” gasped Don Hermoso. “Then, depend on it, gentlemen, your movements were observed last night, and you have been informed upon. What will you do?”

“Why,” answered Jack, “we will wait until we have heard what these people have to say; and then—be guided by circumstances. But—pooh! I believe we are scaring ourselves unnecessarily. If they suspected us of tampering with their ships it is not in a boat manned by six unarmed sailors that they would come off to us. Come along, Phil, you as skipper and I as owner of this vessel will go down to receive these gentlemen and learn what their business is with us.”

And, so saying, and followed by Milsom, he descended to the main deck and stationed himself at the head of the gangway ladder, by which time the boat was alongside. Another moment and the Capitan-General, hat in hand, and bowing courteously to the two Englishmen, passed in through the gangway, followed by the captain of the cruiser.

“Good-day, Señor Singleton!” exclaimed the old gentleman genially, offering his hand. “Do you happen to remember me, or must I introduce myself?”

“I remember you perfectly well, of course, General,” answered Jack, accepting the proffered hand with—it must be confessed—a feeling of very considerable relief, “and I am very glad indeed to have the honour of receiving you on board my yacht, although you have deferred your visit until the moment when we are about to proceed to sea.”

“Ah, yes,” answered the General, “so I guessed, from the steam which I see issuing from your vessel’s funnel! It is about that that I have come off to see you. But, before we go any further, permit me to have the honour of introducing to you Captain Morillo, of His Spanish Majesty’s cruiser theInfanta Isabel, which lies yonder.”

The introduction having been made and acknowledged with all due formality, the old gentleman resumed:

“Now, a most extraordinary thing has happened here to-day—an occurrence so singular and unique that one is driven to the conviction that certain very clever conspirators have been at work.” The old gentleman, whether by accident or designedly, looked Jack square in the eye as he said this; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the latter was able to keep his countenance and retain that nonchalance of demeanour and expression of polite interest which he felt was so necessary to avert any suspicion of his own complicity with the “very clever conspirators”. To cover any indication of confusion which he might have inadvertently betrayed, he shouted to the quartermaster, who was busy about nothing in particular near the stern grating:

“Quartermaster, bring along four basket chairs.” Then to the General:

“You interest me immensely, General. I have just sent for some chairs, and when they arrive we will sit and discuss the matter in comfort. Meanwhile, may I offer you and Captain Morillo a glass of wine? We have some very passable champagne down in our cold chamber.”

The Capitan-General and his friend expressed themselves as perfectly willing to partake of Señor Singleton’s gracious hospitality; and presently, seated at ease, and with a foaming glass of ice-cold Mumm before him, the Governor resumed his story.

“I need not ask you, Señor, whether you are aware that the present condition of Cuba is somewhat abnormal, for I feel convinced that a caballero of your intelligence must have long ere this discovered that the island is literally seething with rebellion—to such an extent, indeed, that a rising against Spanish rule may be anticipated at any moment. Nor need I point out to you how ruinously disastrous to the rebels and all who might be suspected of sympathising with them such a rising must necessarily be; for it would of course be my painful duty to suppress it by force of arms. It is therefore in the interest of the Cubans themselves that we are adopting certain measures for the prevention of everything of a nature calculated to encourage hope on the part of the native population that a rising against Spanish authority could by any possibility be successful; and one of these measures is the suppression of all importation of weapons and war material of every description.”

“Quite so,” concurred Jack with a smile. “We had an illustration of the vigour and thoroughness of your efforts in that direction upon our arrival on the coast, in the action taken by the Commander of the gunboat yonder, who was only convinced with the utmost difficulty that we were not engaged in the business of smuggling war material into the country. Indeed, I believe he never would have been convinced, had I not insisted upon his making a thoroughly exhaustive search of my vessel, with the result, of course, that nothing of the kind was to be found on board her.”

The old gentleman flushed, fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair, and fortified himself by emptying his glass. He would rather not have been reminded of that circumstance, especially at that moment.

“Ah!” he said, shaking his head sorrowfully as he put down his empty glass and feigned to be oblivious of the fact that Jack promptly refilled it; “yes, that was a most regrettable occurrence—the result of a very unfortunate mistake on the part of certain friends of ours on the other side. I understand, however, that Commander Albuquerque made theamende honourablein a manner that was absolutely satisfactory to yourself, Señor; and, with the expression of my own personal profound regret, I trust that you will have the extreme generosity to allow the deplorable affair to be forgotten.”

“Of course I will,” said Jack heartily; “I am not one to bear malice. We are all liable to make mistakes at some time or other of our lives.”

“Señor,” exclaimed the General with enthusiasm, “I am indeed delighted to find you so generously disposed—the more so that my visit to you to-day is connected with a similar incident; the only difference being that, in this case, there is unfortunately no room for the belief that we are making a second mistake. We have received the most positive information that certain American sympathisers with the revolutionary movement in Cuba have loaded a steamer with munitions of war for the use of the insurgents; and these munitions are to be landed to-day at a spot known as Mulata Bay, a few miles to the westward of this port. The information, most unfortunately, did not reach us in time to allow of our taking measures for the seizure of the cargo upon being landed; but that appeared, at the time, to be a matter of no moment, for I had planned to send a torpedo boat to seize the vessel and her cargo upon her arrival in Mulata Bay. The vessel, I may mention, was to have arrived at her destination at mid-day to-day; and, as a matter of fact, she has arrived, for she was sighted in the offing this morning, and has since been seen heading in toward the bay. And now we come to the explanation of my remark in reference to certain very clever conspirators; for when the torpedo boat attempted to leave the harbour this morning for the purpose of intercepting the smuggling ship, it was found that her machinery had been tampered with, so that it became impossible to send her. It was then decided to send the gunboat; but when she in turn attempted to move it was discovered that she also had been disabled. And finally, to cut my story short, it was discovered that the engines of Captain Morillo’s ship had also been so effectually tampered with that she cannot move. Thus, you see, at a very critical moment, we find ourselves absolutely helpless; and unless something can be done, and that instantly, the cargo will be landed, with the deplorable result that an armed rebellion will break out in the island, and incalculable mischief will ensue.”

“Yes,” assented Jack thoughtfully; “I must confess that such a result seems not improbable.”

“Not improbable!” ejaculated the General; “my dear sir, it is absolutely certain! We have the very best of reasons for knowing that, once the insurgents find themselves possessed of arms, they will lose not a moment in making a determined effort to throw off the yoke of Spanish rule, and the island will be at once plunged into all the horrors of war. Now, my dear Señor Singleton, it is in your power to avert those horrors, if you will!” (“Precisely!” thought Jack; “I could have bet that the old boy was leading up to this.”) “You see exactly how we are situated. That American ship and her cargo must be seized; yet we have no ship available with which to effect the seizure. You, on the other hand, have a ship that is in every way admirably adapted for the service, and you have steam up; you can leave the harbour at a moment’s notice, if you choose—”

“Pardon me, General,” interrupted Jack; “I understand exactly what you are driving at: you want me to lend you this yacht for the purpose of conveying a party of soldiers or sailors to—to—”

“Mulata Bay,” interpolated the General.

“Yes,” continued Jack, “to Mulata Bay, to seize an American ship which, you say, is smuggling a cargo of contraband-of-war into the island! But, my dear sir, has the very extraordinary nature of your request yet dawned upon you? Do you recognise that you are asking me, a private English gentleman, to mix myself up in a quarrel with which I have absolutely nothing to do, and the rights and wrongs of which I do not in the least understand? Why should I interfere with an American ship, even though she be engaged, as you suggest, in affording aid and encouragement to the revolutionaries?”

“Surely, Señor, the reasons that I have already advanced ought to be sufficient,” answered the General. “But if they are not, let me give you another. Your friend Don Hermoso Montijo, whom I see with his wife and family on the upper deck yonder, are not altogether free from the taint of suspicion of being in sympathy with the revolutionaries; indeed, it has been whispered to me that—but it would perhaps be unfair to them to repeat suggestions which have not as yet been absolutely proved: let it suffice for me to say that I wish the present predicament of my Government to be laid before them, together with the request which I have ventured to make to you; and let me know how they advise you in the matter.”

“But, General, this is absolutely preposterous!” protested Jack. “Why should Don Hermoso Montijo and his family be dragged into the affair? And why should I be supposed to be governed by their advice? I must positively refuse to submit the matter to them in any shape or form; and I must also refuse to permit myself to be influenced by any advice which they might see fit to give. They are my guests on board this vessel, and, I may tell you, have embarked in her for the purpose of taking a cruise in her for the benefit of the health of the ladies of the family—indeed, we were on the point of getting under way when you boarded us.”

“Señor,” retorted the General, “I will not pretend to dispute any one of your statements; but I will simply say that if you persist in refusing your assistance to the Spanish Government in this strait, your refusal will have the effect of very greatly strengthening the suspicions that already exist as to the loyalty of the Montijo family!”

“General,” exclaimed Jack, “if you did but know it you could scarcely have said anything better calculated to defeat your own wishes and make me declare that under no circumstances will I permit myself to be dragged into this business. To be perfectly frank with you, I do not believe that you have the slightest shadow of foundation or excuse for your suspicions of Señor Montijo and his family. But, in order to show you how little grounds there are for them—should such actually exist—I will do violence to my own feelings by acceding to your request, without consulting Señor Montijo in any way, to the extent of conveying a party of your men, not exceeding fifty, to Mulata Bay; upon condition that I am allowed to fly the Spanish man-o’-war ensign while engaged upon the service.”

“Why do you attach that condition to your assent, Señor?” demanded the General.

“Because,” snapped Jack, who was now perilously near losing his temper, “I neither can nor will do the work under the British flag!”

“I think, Excellency, Señor Singleton is justified in his demand,” remarked the skipper of the cruiser, now speaking for the first time. “The work that he has kindly undertaken to do is essentially Spanish Government work, and can only be properly done under the Spanish flag. I will bring you a Spanish ensign and pennant to hoist, Señor, when I bring my men alongside,” he added, turning to Jack.

“I shall be obliged, Señor, if you will,” answered Jack; “for I will do nothing without them.”

“Then that is settled,” exclaimed the General, rising to his feet. “When will you be ready to leave the harbour, Señor Singleton?”

“As soon as Captain Morillo brings his men alongside,” answered Jack.

“Then, to expedite matters, let us be going at once, Morillo,” exclaimed the General. Then, turning to Jack, he said: “Señor, permit me to express to you the gratitude not only of myself, personally, but also of the Spanish Government, for your courtesy in consenting to render us this important service at an exceedingly critical moment, I fear that, in my anxiety, I may have brought rather an unfair amount of pressure to bear upon you in order to overcome your scruples; but I trust that you will ultimately forgive me for that. And I am quite sure that if, as I have understood, you intend to prolong your stay in Cuba, the time will come when you will be glad to have placed us all under an obligation. I offer you a thousand thanks, Señor, and have the honour to bid you good-day!”

And thereupon, with many bows, his Excellency the Capitan-General of Cuba followed the skipper of the cruiser to the gangway and thence down into their boat.

“Well,” exclaimed Milsom, who had contrived to follow the conversation sufficiently to get a fairly accurate impression of what had transpired, “you have managed to get us all fairly into the centre of a hobble by consenting to run those men down to Mulata Bay! How the mischief do you propose to get out of it again without putting all the fat in the fire?”

“Quite easily, my dear Phil, or you may bet your bottom dollar that I would never have consented,” answered Jack. “You see, the Spanish ships have had their engines tampered with. Very well: ours have been tampered with too—Macintyre will have to see to that. While the old chap was talking, the idea occurred to me that if I should persist in my refusal, Captain Morillo might, in desperation, take it into his head to send away a boat expedition to Mulata Bay; and, the people there being of opinion that everything is all right, they may take matters prettily easily, with the result that the boat expedition might possibly have arrived in time to effect a seizure. Therefore while, for the sake of effect, I pretended to be very unwilling to fall in with his Excellency’s views, I had decided that I would do so, almost as soon as I saw what was coming. Now, my plan is this. We will take the Spanish crowd aboard and run them down toward Mulata Bay, which will put an effectual stopper upon any attempt to dispatch another expedition. But, when we get down abreast of our destination, our engines will break down, and instead of going into Mulata Bay, we shall go driving helplessly away down to leeward before this fine, roaring trade wind; and before we can get the ship again under commandthe James B. Potterwill have discharged her cargo and got away again. And I reckon upon our appearance off the place under the Spanish ensign and pennant to give all concerned a hint as to the importance of ‘hustling’ over their job. Twiggez?”

“Je twig—I tumble!” answered Milsom. “And a very pretty scheme it is, too, Jack—does you proud, old man; it ought to work like a charm. Now, before the Spanish Johnnies come aboard, I’ll just hunt up Macintyre, and post him upon his share of the work, while you go and explain matters to the Don and his family. Who-oop! It will be interesting to observe the expression on the countenances of our Spanish friends when our engines—tampered with by those pestilent revolutionaries—break down!”

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