"I will do all that depends on myself."
"Thank you, and good night."
"One word, if you please, before parting."
"Speak, Colonel."
"I confess to you, that at this moment I am suffering from extreme curiosity."
"What about?"
"A moment before your arrival, I saw four men, carrying a fifth, enter the rancho to which accident had brought me."
"Well?"
"Who is that man?"
"I know no more about him than you do. All I can tell you is, that he was picked up dying on the beach, at eleven o'clock at night, by some of our men stationed as videttes to watch the bay. Now, who he is, or where he comes from, I do not know at all. He is covered with wounds; when picked up, he held an axe still clutched in his hand, which makes me suppose that he belonged to the crew of the Libertad corvette, which our friends so successfully boarded. That is all the information I am able to give you. Is it all you wish to know?"