With the end of her late war Spain found herself virtually stripped of colonial possessions, and from this time forward she must live within herself—her cruel but in one sense necessary work in opening the world to light has been finished and she will never again know the glory that has been hers in the past.
Roderic often thought over these things, for they were very pertinent to the subject, and every true blue Yankee must at times consider the future of these glorious islands thus coming into possession of the great republic.
Thus he killed time while waiting for the night to move on.
It was best that he delay his desperate work until San Juan had at least in a measure quieted down, since there was more chance of the sentries being careless, and less fear of running against citizens in the street after the rescue should have been effected.
The minutes dragged, for he was eager to get to work—like a war horse that paws the ground and tugs at his halter when the distant booming of guns and the pungent scent of burnt powder announce the battle to have begun.
At length his patience gave out.
By stretching a point the time had come for him to advance on the outer works, for which he was extremely grateful; with a sigh of genuine relief he threw off the incubus that had borne so heavily upon him during this delay, and set his face toward the ancient fortress that had seen almost every event of interest happening in San Juan from the days of that gallant adventurer and seeker after the Fountain of Youth, Ponce de Leon.