las! as they entered the _Condor's_ cabin, beholding its fulfilment.

The cry that escaped their lips came on the recognition of Don Gregorio
Montijo; followed by other exclamations, as they looked at the two
unoccupied chairs, a fan upon the one, a scarf over the back of the
other. It was then that Crozier rushing upon deck, sent the cutter off
for the surgeon, himself instantly returning to the cabin.

Still wilder--almost a wail--is the shout simultaneously raised by the
young officers, when, after dashing open the state-room doors, they look
in and see all empty!

They turn to those at the table, asking information--entreating it: one
answers with a strange Bedlamite laugh; the other not at all. It is Don
Gregorio who is silent. They see that his head is hanging over. He
appears insensible.

"Great God! is he dead?"

They glide towards him, grasp table-knives, and cut the cords that have
been confining him. Senseless, he sinks into their arms.

But he is not dead; only in a faint. Though feebly, his pulse still
beats!

With wine they wet his lips--the wine so long standing untasted! They
open his mouth, and pour some of it down his throat, then stand over him
to await the effect.

Soon his pulse grows stronger, and his eyes sparkle with the light of
reviving life.

Laid gently along the sofa, he is at length restored to consciousness;
with sufficient strength to answer the questions eagerly put to him.
There are two, simultaneously asked, almost echoes of one another.

"Where is Carmen? Where is Inez?"

"Gone!" he gasps out. "Carried away by the--"

He does not finish the speech. His breath fails him, and he seems
relapsing into the syncope from which he has been aroused. Fearing
this, they question him no farther, but continue to administer
restoratives. They give him more wine, making him also eat of the
fruits found upon the table.

They have also set the skipper free; but soon see cause to regret it.
He strides to and fro, flings his arms about in frenzied gesture,
clutches at decanters, glasses, bottles, and breaks them against one
another, or dashes them down upon the floor. He needs restraining, and
they do that, by shutting him up in a state-room.

Returning to Don Gregorio, they continue to nurse him; all the while
wishing the surgeon to come.

While impatiently waiting they hear a hail from the top of the
cabin-stairs. It is their coxswain, who shouts:--

"Below there!"