'That will not be necessary,' answered the Marquis, testily. 'How many guns are there at St. Jerome? Surely enough to drive these robbers back to their boats?'
'We have eight, Señor, at St. Jerome, and those will play freely on them; they will be caught in a trap.'
'Well, then, that will settle them. We know they cannot advance up the river below this hill.'
'Only a canoe could reach us here, and that would hold but a few men,' said Don Francisco.
'The blacks declare that Captain Morgan has only four hundred men with him; if so, there will be no great difficulty.'
'Nay, but the Indian Andreas,' said Carlo, 'has just told me they are more like a thousand strong. I believe Andreas is the only scout who gets near enough to know.'
Carlo had an especial liking for Andreas, who often accompanied him out into the woods to kill the birds. He was a very sharp fellow, and knew every turn and winding in the islands.
'A thousand strong! What nonsense, Carlo! Your opinion was not asked, boy, and silence is your best course,' said the Marquis, angrily.
Carlo blushed, but all the same he knew he was right, and was terribly annoyed at hearing his father ask counsel first of one and then of another, without coming to any decision. He saw several of the officers looking evidently anxious, and when the council of war broke up--having decided nothing but that a scout should be sent to St. Jerome for news, and that there should be another meeting next morning--Carlo went up to an officer and said hastily:
'Why do we not collect a force of men and go out to meet them in the marshes?--for that is surely the way they will advance.'