"Cospita! good. And pray, what is the cause of all that wonderful splashing yonder?" asked the don, as if suspecting that the Yankee knew.
Roderic, already in the act of following Captain Beven down the rope ladder that stretched to the yawl below paused long enough to look up at the general, and laughing say:
"Ask Jerome!"
"Aha! it is as I thought—ask Jerome—undoubtedly Senor Wellington has met his Waterloo."
But Owen had already dropped down the side of the blockade runner and into the boat.
Hardly had he gained the yawl than Beven, who was in the stern sheets said huskily:
"Push off, and away. Pull like tigers, my hearties, for unless all signs fail we may have a chase before we reach the yacht."
The men needed no urging.
Once clear of the steamer and they began to ply their ashen blades with an energy that sent the little boat flying through the water.
It was a period of suspense.