He turned at once to the furnace, and commenced to shovel coal into it at a rapid pace, keeping his eye all the time fixed on the pressure gauge.
"One hundred and fifteen pounds," he said. "Good! That will help us finely. Now we'll get the bearings warmed."
He turned the steam cock slightly, and sent a cloud of hot vapor rushing into the cylinders.
"Below there! she's loose. I've cast off the moorings," whispered Gerald at this moment, thrusting his head down into the stoke-hole.
"Then give her a good push off, and go to the wheel," answered Hal.
Gently, and without a sound, save the low drone of the fire, and the roar of flames rushing through the funnel, the launch left the quay, and, propelled by a thrust of Gerald's foot, glided some yards into the harbor. She was away only just in time, for, a minute or two later, some twenty soldiers marched up, and voices were heard.
"Halt, men, and see that you keep in your places," someone was heard to exclaim, in far from pleasant tones. "Now, señor, what is it? These beggarly Americans seem to have disturbed the whole town. First, my comrade is so upset by a blow in the face that I have to take his duty; and then you must needs turn me out at this uncomfortable hour to follow some wild-goose chase. Why could you not use your own ruffians?"
"Grumbling will not mend matters," was the suave answer, in a voice which Hal and his comrade recognized as José d'Arousta's. "These two Americans escaped from a fool of a jailer, and are still about. We have reason to believe that they are in the harbor, for their boots were found not an hour ago, beneath the Morro Castle. I received orders to call you and your men, and to instruct you to come here, so that you might get on board the launch. Caramba, but it is dark! It is like the bottom of a pit. Where can the boat be?"
"Alongside, you said, señor," the other answered sourly. "Where is it, then?"
Footsteps were heard on the paving as José d'Arousta and some of the soldiers hunted along the quay. Meanwhile the launch lay off at a distance of a few yards, her passengers crouching in the stoke-hole, and hoping to remain undiscovered.