“I thought I was right,” he said, looking at me. “You are paler than yesterday. The doctor has done you no good. You had better let me send for a confessor. But, before long, he will be sure to come. Prisoners of your rank are never sent out of the world without a visit from him.”
“When he comes, I will do my best to satisfy him,” I answered, evasively; and the jailer, with a shake of the head, took his departure.
Later in the day the doctor appeared. “Your young prisoner requires a severe operation,” he observed, as he entered. “I won’t ask you to wait, as I can perform it alone; but you need not be in a hurry to return.”
Without looking to see whether the jailer had gone away, he approached me, and in a rough voice told me to show him my wound. He then dressed it as he had done before, and whispered,—“It is going on favourably; but we must not let the commandant know that. I have good and bad news to give you; good if you manage to make your escape, but otherwise bad. I yesterday met an old friend of yours, who commands a schooner which has come in here under English colours. Finding him a bold, dashing fellow, I told him that a young Englishman in whom I was interested was shut up in prison, and would very likely be put to death if not rescued. When I mentioned your name, he exclaimed,—‘I know him well! He came out with his uncle not long ago from England. I will run every risk to save the lad’s life. With my brave fellows we might take the castle by surprise, and, before the Spaniards could collect to oppose us, carry him off.’ I talked the matter over with Captain Longswill, and dissuaded him from following the plan he proposed, feeling sure that it would be much safer for you to try and effect your escape as before intended. Finally, the captain agreed to get a plan of the fort and surrounding ground, that you might be the better able to direct your course should you succeed in getting out of prison. The next day he brought it to me—and here it is;” and the doctor put a paper carefully folded up into my hand. “Study it well,” he added, as I unfolded it; “on the night that you may fix, a boat will be sent in to this point, where she can lie concealed among the rocks. If you can manage to drop from the ramparts on to the sand, you may make your way to the spot without much risk of being observed. Remark this place: the sea has thrown up a bank of sand which is very soft, and will assist to break your fall. Should you by any chance be recaptured, Captain Longswill will land with his crew and storm the fort, and attempt to set you free. I have given him a plan of the interior as far as I can make it out, so that he will know where to find you. Nil desperandum; keep up your courage, and all will go well. Perhaps, too, I may have an opportunity of giving a narcotic to some of your guards. Several of the fellows have come to me complaining of being sick, and I will be very liberal of my medicines,—depend on that.”
I thanked the doctor heartily for the interest he took in me, and told him that I was convinced it would be far better for me to try and escape secretly, than be the cause of bloodshed—as many lives would probably be sacrificed.
The doctor was at last obliged to summon the jailer to let him out. He shook his head as the man appeared.
“The poor young Englishman is in a bad way,” he whispered, pretending to wish that I should not hear what he said; “you should give him more food, to afford him a chance of recovering.”
“It matters very little,” answered the man; “a day or two hence it will probably be much the same to him whether he is well or ill.”
“It is my business to get him well,” observed the doctor; “after that, I have nothing more to say on the subject. If your general chooses to shoot or strangle him, that is no affair of mine—though I should be sorry to see so fine a youth put to death.”
Saying this, the doctor walked out, and the jailer closed the door behind him. I wished, after what I had heard, that I had arranged to try and escape that very night; and I determined that the next time the doctor came we should fix the time for making the attempt.