"Stand by the fall tackles, watch on deck! Hoist in the boat!" ordered Bartelot, as he sprang up the man-ropes and proceeded aft. "Douse the ensign, Morrison. All is over; we've laid the old man in his last home—and it has been a queer business this. Set the courses; let fall and sheet home, for here comes the breeze; but first look at these things."
"The enamelled sword—a knight's cross of the Spanish Order of Santiago de Compostello," said Morrison.
"And this writing?"
"On the fly-leaves of the prayer-book or missal?"
"Yes," replied Bartelot, impatiently.
"It begins:—'The confession of Don Pedro Zuares Miguel de Barradas, Knight Commander of the Order of St. James of Spain, Captain and Governor of the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, for the Federal Government of the Free States of Mexico.'"
"Barradas again? It seems to me most strange; but I seem to have heard that name before," said Morley, searching in his memory, as they descended to the cabin, while the yard-heads were filled, and the ship, standing to her course before the freshening breeze, began to leave astern the island where the old hermit lay.
END OF VOL. I.
CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.