The clock, from a neighbouring church, struck two. My cell-door opened gently, and the turnkey appeared, carrying in his hand a tolerable-sized bundle, which I eagerly assisted him to undo. It contained a good suit, such as is commonly worn by Spanish sailors, with stout leggings fitted for scrambling in the woods, and a broad-brimmed and steeple-crowned felt hat. The doublet was tied round my waist with a broad silk sash, and into this I stuck a gleaming knife, similar to that carried by almost all Spaniards. But when the turnkey produced, from under his doublet, a short-barrelled carabine, or musquetoon—a trabucco, as he called it—with a fair supply of shot and slugs, I burst out into exclamations of gratitude.
‘Long live Don José!’ I cried. ‘I fear not the woods now; there is life and food within this hollow iron.’
‘Look you,’ said the turnkey, ‘here be the words of the nobleman who hath sent these. “Tell,” quoth he, “tell the Scots mariner, that as he bore himself before the alcaide like one whose word and good faith were dear to him, that I supply him with these weapons, upon his solemn promise that he will use them only to procure himself food, and that he will not turn them against any Spaniard, excepting only strictly in the way of self-defence.”’
You may be assured that this reasonable pledge I gave with the utmost readiness, and poising my musquetoon, and trying how it fitted to my shoulder, I cried, gaily—
‘Come—come! Despatch—despatch! good master jailer; your friends will be rousing themselves from their siesta. Faith, man, were you as near the gallows as I am every moment I linger here, you would pant to hear the free rustle of the branches above you.’
All the while that the turnkey was helping me on with my new costume, I kept thinking of where I should bend my steps as soon as I got clear of Carthagena. It was very likely, I thought, that the schooner would keep hovering upon the coast, still waiting for the galleon, the sailing of which would no doubt be delayed by what had happened. I considered, moreover, that the Will-o’-the-Wisp would be most likely to ply to the eastward, so as to keep the weather-gauge of the port she was watching, and that it was quite possible that she might approach near enough the shore for me to make a signal, by kindling a fire, or by any other means which might seem available, in order to attract her notice. So I determined, as soon as I could get fairly free of the town, to turn to the eastward and to descend again upon the coast some eight or ten miles from Carthagena.
‘Now,’ quoth the turnkey, ‘you will easily perceive that I am not to be seen in this business. Your escape must appear to have been effected by yourself, and it will be the more easy, inasmuch as the lock on this door has seen much service, and is not difficult to wrench off; especially when a man is provided with such a weapon as this,’ and he handed to me a strong iron chisel, or rather short crow-bar.
‘Listen,’ he continued; ‘I will again lock you up. Let five minutes elapse, then wrench open the door; take the two first turnings to your left, the next turning to your right, the next to your left again, and you are opposite the street. A sentry stands there. If he be asleep, as is not unlikely, good and well. If he be awake and challenge, reply, “Guarda Costa,”—that is the countersign. You must then shift for yourself. Farewell, Señor Buccaneer, and if ever you meet Don José fail not to tell him I behaved honestly by you, and earned his doubloons well. You will not forget “Guarda Costa.” Adieu.’
The door closed on him; I waited in silence and with a beating heart. It was a long five minutes which elapsed; but at its expiration, as nearly as I could judge, I inserted the short crowbar between the staple which held the bolt, and the lintel of the door. The wood was crumbling and rotten, and the iron eaten with long gathering rust. Gradually, as I applied my strength, the mouldy timber gave way beneath the pressure, and the metal creaked and crackled. I could have burst it off with one effort of my muscles, but I feared to make a noise; and so, gradually working the point of the crowbar further and further into the wreck of the dilapidated fastenings, I increased the strain, until at length, with one long, steady and vehement wrench, I tore the staples from the yielding wood. The metal fell with a clash upon the floor; the door, which opened inwardly, swung back; and I saw—the ferret eyes and the twitching visage of the alcaide’s clerk, staring and grinning through the opening.
I started back as though a demon had looked me in the face. The small wrinkled and puckered features worked and twisted, and the eyes gleamed so as to resemble nothing earthly. Then I saw the hand of the clerk creep stealthily towards the bosom of his mean doublet, without doubt to pluck therefrom a weapon; his lips moved, and the first syllables of a cry of alarm had passed them, when I sprang forward, and the grasp of my fingers round his meagre throat smothered the words. All this took place in an instant. I dragged the wretch inside the cell; struck to the door with a blow of my foot, and clutching both his thin wrists in my left hand, gripped his throat with my right, until the skin got blue and the eyes protruded all glaring and bloodshot. I thought for a moment to strangle him as we stood, but as I felt the weak struggles of the hapless creature, who writhed like a child in my grasp, my heart softened. I released my hold upon his throat.