"Patria!" he said, sharply, when the officers were only two paces from him.
"Libertad!" they answered, without hesitation.
"Viva Dios!" the sailor said, as he returned his pistols to the leather belt that passed round his hips; "It is a good wind that brings you, Don Serapio, and you too, Don Cristoval."
"All the better, Ramirez," said the officer addressed as Serapio.
"Have you any news, then?" his comrade asked, curiously.
"Excellent, Don Cristoval, excellent," Ramirez answered, as he rubbed his hands gleefully.
"Oh, oh!" the two officers muttered, as they exchanged a glance of satisfaction; "Tell us it, then, Ramirez."
The latter took a suspicious glance around.
"I should like to do so," he said, "but the place where we are does not seem at all propitious for a conversation of the nature of the one we have before us."
"That is true," said Don Serapio; "but what prevents us getting into your boat? There we can talk at ease."