"'I have escaped from the Santiago prison. They took me, in the Washington, in British waters. I am Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski.'
"The captain rose to the occasion.
"'I don't care a hang who you are,' he replied politely, 'but if they took you in British waters, you're safe, till further notice, under the British flag.'
"And he maintained the same attitude when General Burriel himself approached and demanded my surrender, saying—
"'I want that man. That man is my prisoner.'
"The sailors had gripped their cutlasses; the marines had fixed their bayonets; and the captain of the Seamew stepped forward and shouted with that magnificent Anglo-Saxon insolence which is the admiration of the world—
"'Your prisoner, is he? Then, hang it, sir, let's see you come aboard my ship and take him.'
"But this the Spaniards did not do. If they had failed to keep Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski in their prison when he was alone and friendless, still less could they recapture him when the whole might of the British Empire stood behind him."
THE HUNTED POLE.
"See!" cried Stromboli, as we strolled round the Earl's Court Exhibition. "These stories of ours are becoming popular. The circulation of the magazine increases. In order to inspire my creditors with confidence, I buy a copy for each one of them. But they are many. It will be necessary to raise the price of the stories, in order that a reasonable margin of profit may remain."