Chapter Twelve.
Needham’s Narrative (continued)—The Sarah Jane captured by Carthagenan fleet—The Colonel and his daughter, with the midshipmen, conveyed on board the enemy’s corvette—Carried to prison in Carthagena—The Colonel separated from his daughter—Stella, and the midshipmen, with Needham, placed in an upper room—The gaoler’s wife—Plans for escaping—Desmond and Needham get out—Reach the Consulate—Alarm in the household—Obtain a boat, and go in search of the Consul—Driven out to sea.
“The night I was speaking of seemed almost as long as those we spent on the wreck. Just at dawn the first mate came on deck.
“‘No sign of the boats yet?’ he asked, in an anxious tone.
“‘Yes, I hear them!’ exclaimed Mr Rogers, and after listening for a minute or so to be sure that he was right, he went below to tell Miss O’Regan. She and the three midshipmen were presently on deck.
“‘The boats are pulling very fast; you’ll soon have the colonel on board,’ said Mr Rogers to the young lady, as she stood eagerly looking towards the shore, where we could as yet see nothing on account of the mist which still hung over it.
“‘Good reason they have for coming fast, I suspect,’ suddenly cried the first mate, who was turning an eye to the offing. The darkness of night had then pretty nearly rolled away. ‘What do any of you fancy those craft are out there?’
“‘Why,’ says I, ‘I make out a ship, and a brig, and a couple of schooners. The first are men-of-war, I judge, by the squareness of their yards, and they are standing for the harbour. They have been creeping along shore with the land-wind during the night, or they wouldn’t be where they are.’