"It is all very well to laugh," Bob said. "These are the sort of little things that are so difficult to work in. It is easy enough to make a general plan, but the difficulty is to get everything to fit in.
"I will have a talk with Mr. Parrot, in the morning, about the boats. He will know what boats have been trading with the Rock, and what men to trust."
"You can talk to him now, if you like," the girl said. "He and Mr. Logie's other clerk have the top storey of the house."
"Oh, then I will go up and see him, at once; the sooner it is arranged, the better. If things are in the state that everyone says, you might all be seized and imprisoned, any day."
Bob went up at once to Mr. Parrot's rooms, and had a long talk with him. The clerk quite agreed that anything would be better than for a young girl to be shut up in a Moorish prison, but he did not see how it was possible for them to find their way across to Gibraltar.
"Many of our fishermen are most courageous fellows, and have run great risks in taking letters from Mr. Logie across to Gibraltar. I do not suppose that the blockade is very much more strict than it was; and indeed, the fact that you got through shows that, with good luck, the thing is possible enough. But that is not the difficulty. The strictest order has been issued that no boat is to take Englishmen across to the Rock, or is to cross the Straits on any pretence, whatever; and that anyone evading this law will be executed, and his goods forfeited to the state. That is how it is Mr. Logie has been able to send no letters, for the last month; and why none of the merchants, here, have tried to get across to the Rock. No bribe would be sufficient to tempt the boatmen. It would mean not only death to themselves, if they ever returned; but the vengeance of the authorities would fall on their relations, here. I am afraid that there is nothing to be done, that way, at all."
"There are the three men who brought me across, this morning," Bob said. "They might be bribed to take us back. The governor authorized me to offer a hundred pounds. I own that I don't like their looks."
"You would have some difficulty in finding them, to begin with," Mr. Parrot said; "and I don't think a hundred pounds would be likely to tempt them to run the risk."
"I would not mind giving them two hundred more," Bob said. "I have got that money, of my own, at Gibraltar; and I am sure, if it were necessary, Major Harcourt would gladly pay as much more to get his daughter back."
"Three hundred would be ample. If they would not run the risk for a hundred apiece, nothing would tempt them. I should say your best plan would be to go down, early tomorrow, and see if you can find one of them. They are likely to be loitering about by the quays, as they have their boat there.