"Oh, señor," he said to Creggan, "think you that your captain would permit you to spend a few weeks on shore with me? And your dear friend here? I will do all I can to make you happy."
"I do not doubt that for a moment," said Creggan, "and if we can succeed in getting leave we are at your command."
"Oh, I rejoice!" cried young Miguel.
"I myself," he added, "am bound up in botany, in sport, and in natural history. Ah! we will enjoy our little selves, see if we don't!"
Leave was asked for and granted that very day. The Osprey was going down the coast and would leave them here, returning again in three weeks' time.
"Ah!" said dark-eyed young Miguel, "that does mean six, my capitan. You look good, and good you must be."
The captain smiled.
"Oh, señor, Venezuela is a vast country!"
"Well, well, Miguel, I'll let the young fellows oft for five or six weeks. I think they will be safe with you, and it will do them both good."
"Oh, safe, sir, as the everlasting mountains. And I have two houses—one is my yacht, and the other my dwelling on shore on the banks of the great Orinoco. You have no such rivers in Britain, I believe, señor capitan?"