So saying, he went to a little cupboard alongside the companion ladder, and produced therefrom a water monkey, two tin pannikins, and a bottle of rum, all of which he placed on the cabin table.
“There, señor, help yourself freely; the little Joséfa and all that she contains is yours!”
“Thanks, señor,” I replied, as I poured out with a shaking hand and benumbed fingers a generous modicum of rum, filling up the pannikin with evil-smelling water, “I drink to our better acquaintance.”
So saying, I emptied the pannikin at a gulp, and set it down upon the table. “And now, señor,” I continued, as my companion, in turn, proceeded to help himself and to pledge me, “perhaps you will kindly inform me, first, whom I have the honour to address; secondly, why I have been brought aboard this felucca; and, thirdly, to what place you propose to convey me?”
“Assuredly, señor,” answered the Spaniard; “it will afford me much happiness to gratify so very natural and reasonable a request. In the first place, señor, I am your Excellency’s most humble servant, Juan Dominguez, captain of this felucca. In the next place, you are here by order of my excellent friend and patron, Don Pedro Morillo, captain of the brigantine Guerrilla; and, in the third place, I am conveying you—also by Don Pedro’s orders—to Cariacou, an island which I understand you have already visited, under certain memorable circumstances.”
So that was it, was it? I was kidnapped, not in accordance with some wild scheme of the Spaniards to cripple our too active navy by robbing it of every officer that they could lay hands upon, but in order that a cowardly, bloodthirsty pirate might at leisure, and in safety, wreak his revenge upon me for the injury that I, in the exercise of my duty, had done him. Speaking in all frankness, I do not believe I am a coward; but I confess that the information thus calmly communicated to me by this Spaniard—who was most probably a naturalised British subject—caused my blood to run cold; for I had heard quite enough of Morillo to feel tolerably well assured that if his motive in causing me to be kidnapped was revenge, he would not be satisfied with merely shooting me, or stabbing me to the heart; he would undoubtedly exercise his utmost ingenuity to render my passage out of this world as lingering and painful as possible; and, from all accounts, he was quite an adept in the art of torture!
“You seem disturbed at my intelligence, amigo,” remarked my companion, gazing upon me with a smile of amusement. “Well,” he continued, “perhaps you have cause to be; who knows? I have heard that it was you who, taking advantage of my friend’s absence at sea, visited Cariacou and destroyed poor Morillo’s batteries and buildings there, carrying off his brig and everything else that you and your crew could lay hands upon. I hope, for your sake, that Morillo was misinformed, and that you will be able to demonstrate to his complete satisfaction your entire freedom from all complicity in that very ill-advised and malicious transaction; he may then be content to simply hang you at his yardarm. But if you fail to convince him—phew! I sincerely pity you; I do indeed, señor.”
“Thanks, very much,” retorted I, with the best attempt at sarcasm that I could muster,—for I began to perceive that this fellow was amusing himself by endeavouring to frighten me, and I did not intend to afford him very much gratification in that way,—“your pity is infinitely comforting to me, especially as it is evident to me that the feeling is genuine. May I ask whether your share in this present transaction is undertaken purely out of friendship for Morillo, or is it being carried out upon a business basis?”
“Well, to be strictly truthful, there is a little of both,” answered Dominguez. “Why do you inquire, if it is not an indiscreet question?”
“Now,” thought I, “I wonder whether this question of his is intended to indicate that he is open to a bribe—a bribe to put me ashore again, safe and sound, provided that I make him a sufficiently liberal offer. Perhaps the attempt may be worth making; it will, at all events, enable me to judge what are my chances, so far as he is concerned.” So I replied—