Perhaps an especial guard had been stationed in the passage.
If so it would be Roderic's duty to take care of him, and to this end he had previously made ample preparation.
Desperate measures are only carried to a successful issue by heroic treatment, and no man was better equipped for this purpose than the American who dared enter San Juan while the Spanish flag still waved over the walls.
The darkness was now against them, and it would have been almost impossible to advance but for a streak of luck that separated clouds and moon, and allowed the latter to sift her silvery radiance down through various breaches in the overhanging walls, thus dissipating to some extent the appalling gloom.
Thanks then to this feeble illumination Roderic with his keen vision was enabled to discover a figure ahead.
Spanish soldiers doing duty in the tropics are generally in the habit of wearing white uniforms made of some coarse drilling or canvas.
It was this fact that betrayed the presence of the guard, and Roderic mentally thanked his lucky stars for the favor.
He watched the man.
The Spaniard seemed nervous, and would walk up and down with jerky steps, stopping now and then to try the doors of several cells.