r and, in order to pass the time, rose from his
seat and began to move round the room. The apartment was so extremely
dark, however, that he presently walked over to the window, in order to
pull aside the curtains which he supposed, were excluding the light.

Greatly to his surprise, however, he found that there were no curtains
before the window, but that the gloom was caused by the fact that a kind
of iron shutter was securely fastened across the outside. This was
indeed a curious sort of waiting room, and--

A sudden thought flashed across Jim's mind, and he darted quickly to the
door and turned the handle, pulling it toward him as he did so.

It was as he had surmised; the door had been locked or bolted on the
outside; and he knew now why Lopes had paused those few seconds before
crossing the _patio_. Jim was a prisoner, and he had walked into the
trap with his eyes open. Oh! what a fool he had been! He might have
known that a person of importance such as the _intendente_ of Iquique
would not have had his residence among the slums of the city. But what
on earth, he wondered, had been their object in making a prisoner of
him? How came it about that he had been expected, and that a man had
been posted at the pier, ready to receive him and lead him into this
ambush?

Then he suddenly remembered the dispatches he carried from the Admiral;
and he realised that a person on shore with a telescope could have seen
him put off from the flagship, and have observed his progress the whole
way from her to the quay. What, too, more natural than that the
Peruvians should be anxious to get a Chilian officer into their hands,
especially a flag-officer, who would be almost certain to have a very
considerable knowledge of the Chilian admiral's plans? There were many
ways by which that information could be extracted by unscrupulous and
desperate men, and Jim shuddered as he realised the danger in which he
stood. The first thing that he now did was to take the dispatches from
his inner breast pocket, and secrete them, as well as he could under the
circumstances, next his skin, resolving at the same time that he would
give up his life rather than part with them, or disclose to the
Peruvians any of the admiral's plans.

The only weapon which Jim had brought ashore was, of course, his dress
sword; but he resolved that he would make some use of that before they
should place him in any closer confinement, or lay hands on his pap