Pedro nodded as soon as Ysabel had translated the words into Spanish.
“Tell him we’ll do that before we leave,” said Bob, “but that we can’t trust him ashore until we are ready to go.”
Pedro tried to talk in response to this, and Bob removed the gag for a moment. Turning his face toward Ysabel, Pedro spoke rapidly for a few moments. Ysabel’s face became very serious as she listened.
“What is it?” inquired Bob.
“He says that the Grampus will never be able to leave the river,” answered the girl; “that the fort is in the hands of the rebels, and that they are planting mines in the river, so close to the bottom that the submarine will strike them if she submerges. If she floats on the surface, then the guns of the fort will sink her.”
There was terror in the girl’s face as she repeated Pedro’s words. Here was an unlooked-for difficulty, and one that gave Bob the utmost concern.
“Just ask him, Ysabel,” said he, “why the rebels planted mines in the river when they knew the submarine was in the hands of their friends? Pedro’s story sounds improbable, to me. If it comes to that, we passed the mouth of the river under water, and no one in the fort or the town saw us.”
Ysabel talked for a few moments more with Pedro.
“He says,” the girl reported finally, “that Don Carlos saw the flag of the rebels flying from the fort by means of the periscope when we ascended the stream; but the don knew there were some submarine mines in Port Livingstone, and that he was going to have the soldiers plant them. He was afraid Fingal might try to run away with the Grampus, and intended to pen her in the river.”