"You know nothing, Sir Louis!" exclaimed the commander. "Will you be so kind as to tell me what you would have done if the Guardian-Mother and her captain had not been here?"
"I thought of running into Algeciras, instead of coming over here, where the gates are all locked after sunset, and giving up the vessel and the prisoners to the police and the custom-house officers over there," replied Louis.
"Very likely that is just what I shall do after I have learned more about the affair. Where did you fall in with these smugglers?"
"They fell in with us at the mouth of the Palmones River."
"That is in Spanish territory, and the offence is doubtless against the Spanish government. Probably the English authorities would take the matter in hand, but I don't know where to find the officers at this time of night, for it is after ten o'clock. Now we will go below and see what is to be done."
There was a ladder forward, and they descended to the forecastle. The commander looked in at the pilot-house, and saw that Francisco and Pedro were not in condition to make any trouble, and the pilot still kept watch of them.
"Sir Scott Fencelowe, I learn that you have been the hero of the present adventure, and I commend you, though I know very little about it," said Captain Ringgold, as he took the hand of the pilot.
"I obeyed the orders of Captain Belgrave; that's all, sir," replied Scott, with more modesty than he had always been in the habit of displaying, as he politely touched his cap to the commander.
"We will consider the matter another time," added the captain, as he led the way aft; and they entered the cabin together.
Captain Ringgold glanced at Gray, tied down to the legs of the divan, and he wondered that the "big four" had been able to overcome a man of his weight and apparent strength. Gray immediately appealed to the commander when Louis called him by name, declared that he was a British subject, and was the victim of a Yankee trick.