ey were.
Before we could get to the float several row-boats and launches came
around the bluff from inside the harbor. They had officers on board and
armed marines as well, and they searched that passage, rowing backward and
forward, until the next morning. It was only by good luck that we got to
the float at all, for they were upon us so quickly that we had barely
concealed ourselves when a boat with quite a large party on board was
right beside us."

An event which they thought unlucky now proved to be the salvation of the
fugitives, who very likely would have been shot on the spot by the marines
if they had then been seen from the boats. The rope which fastened the
float to the ship was too short to let it swing free, and one of the
pontoons that supported it was dragged partly under water, lifting the
other above the surface. If the raft had lain flat on the water they would
have had to climb on top and would have made an excellent mark for the
marines. As it was they got under its lifted side, and by thrusting their
hands through the slats that formed the deck they kept their heads above
the water, and had a chance to breathe.

Luckily for them the Spaniards paid no attention to the old, half-sunken
raft that floated above the wreck. They came near it frequently, and the
hidden sailors could hear their words, but no one seemed to suspect it.
The fugitives spoke only in whispers and at times were almost afraid to
breathe, lest they should be heard, but their hiding-place remained
unsuspected.

The water, warm at first, grew cold as the hours went on, and their
fingers ached as they clung desperately to the slats. As the night passed
their teeth began to chatter with the cold till it seemed to them as if
the Spaniards must hear the sound, so distinctly to their ears came the
noises on the water and on shore. The situation, in fact, became at last
so trying that one of the men let go and began to swim ashore. Hobson
called him back, and he obeyed, but the call was heard by the men in the
boats and created some commotion. They rowed up towards the float and
looked sharply about, but no one thought of investigating the float
itself, and soon they went off into the shadows again, letting the hidden
men once more breathe freely.

The question that most interested the Spaniards was to learn what ship it
was they had sunk. Hobson heard them talking and guessing about it and
understood many of their words. He soon percei