I told the captain of my anxiety about the doctor and Padre Pacheco.
“They will be all right,” he answered; “I promised to burn a blue light as soon as you were safe on board, when they were immediately to shove off. It may puzzle the Spaniards somewhat to know what it means; but as they are not fond of turning out of their beds, we shall be away long before they come to look after us.”
The schooner was under way, standing on and off shore, when we got on board. We afterwards ran in closer, and, to my great joy, made out a boat pulling towards us, out of which presently stepped the doctor and the padre. The boat then pulled away; and we ran to the northward, so that we might be out of sight of land before the morning.
I asked the captain where he was going.
“I have received directions to proceed up the Orinoco to Angostura,” he answered. “As that city is in the hands of your friends, I conclude that you would wish to go there. If not, I will keep you on board and land you at Jamaica, or any other English island where you may desire to remain.”
“By all means let me go on shore at Angostura,” I said, “for I am as anxious as ever to help to drive the Spaniards out of the country.”
The doctor and the padre were greatly pleased when they found that the schooner was about to proceed up the Orinoco.
“I shall thus be able to recover my chests,” observed the former; “it would have broken my heart to leave them. I shall also, I hope, be able to remain till I see the patriotic cause triumphant, and you, Barry, settled happily at home. You make a very good soldier; but you are cut out for something better than shooting your fellow-creatures, and running the risk of being shot in return.”
“And I shall be able to get back to my people; and, I hope, have liberty to preach the gospel to them in quiet,” observed the padre.
We were soon out of the Caribbean Sea, when, the wind shifting to the north-east, we ran along the eastern shore of the beautiful island of Trinidad. The yellow water amid which we afterwards sailed showed us that we were off the mouth of the mighty Orinoco. The shores on both sides of the river were so low that we could see only the mangrove bushes rising out of the water, with tall trees farther off. Having taken a pilot on board, and the wind being from the eastward, we sailed rapidly up the stream, notwithstanding the strong current running against us. The river being in the hands of the patriots, who commanded it with strong flotillas of flecheras or gun-boats, we sailed on without molestation from the Spaniards, and at last, after a voyage of ten days or more, reached Angostura.