“Ah!” exclaimed his Excellency, with an air of relief. “Then that sufficiently accounts for my very imperfect recollection of the affair”—with a glance at George to direct the latter’s attention to the explanation. “Proceed, Señor Montalvo,” continued the Governor; “tell us all that you know concerning the matter.”
“Certainly, your Excellency,” answered the secretary. “With your Excellency’s permission I will fetch the official records, containing the full and complete account of the affair.” And, bowing deeply to Don Sebastian and George, he hurried away, and presently returned with an exceedingly bulky volume under his arm. This he placed on the table, opened it, referred to an index, and then turned up the required entry.
“Yes,” he said, “here we have it: ‘December 7th, 1568. Arrived from San Juan de Ulua, the ship San Mathias, Juan Pacheco, master, having on board seventeen Englishmen captured during an unprovoked attack upon the plate fleet lying in San Juan harbour, and—’”
“That is a lie,” broke in George. “The English ships were the attacked, not the attackers. But—go on.”
”—Harbour,” resumed the secretary, reading, “‘and sentenced by the Military Commandant to the galleys for life. Their names are as follows—’”
“Stop,” interrupted George again, and, fumbling in his pocket, he produced a document—the one that Don Manuel Rebiera had furnished him with upon the first day of the Nonsuch’s visit to San Juan—and carefully unfolded it.
“Now, proceed with your reading, señor, if you please,” he said to the secretary.
The secretary read out the names of the seventeen English prisoners, which George found to agree with those recorded in his list. When the secretary came to the last name he paused for a moment.
“Yes,” assented George, “those names appear to be correct. Now, the first thing that I wish to know is—what became of those men?”
“They were confined in the prison here for the space of just one month,” answered the secretary, “during which communication was made to the Governor of Panama, stating the circumstances of the case, and requesting to know whether he could apportion the prisoners among the galleys stationed at his port, as there are no galleys attached to Nombre. The reply was in the affirmative, and on January 8th of this present year the prisoners were dispatched to Panama in charge of the escort which had just brought over a consignment of treasure. The officer in command of the escort gave his receipt for the persons of the prisoners, and—that is all that we here in Nombre know about them.”