ave made up my mind to have a try for the galleon; and as I
understood you to say that you had spent some time ashore, at or near
Cartagena, it occurs to me that you may be able to furnish me with some
valuable information. And I want to ask you, first, whether, while you
were in Cartagena harbour, you heard anything said that might lead you
to suppose the Spaniards deem it so far possible that the news of the
galleon may have spread far enough to lead to her captain taking extra
precautions against capture by steering a course right out to sea,
instead of making the best of his way to the eastward along the land, as
far as, say, Point Gallinas?"

"I think, Cap'n, I understand what's in your thoughts," answered the
man. "No, sir; I never heard anything that 'ud seemed to point to their
imaginin' that any news of the ship 'ud be likely to get to an enemy's
ears. At the same time, I don't doubt, from what was rumoured about the
amount of the treasure that she's to ship, that her skipper'll do
everything his wit 'll teach him to keep out of the road of our cruisers
and privateers. That, however, ain't very valuable information to give
you, because you'll have guessed as much as that yourself. And I'm
afraid that I ain't able to tell you any more--except this: that it'll
never do for this schooner to be seen dodgin' about anywheres near
Cartagena. If she was seen once I don't suppose any harm would come of
it, especially if she happened to be under a fairish amount of canvas,
because it 'ud probably be supposed that she was bound south to the Gulf
of Darien. But if she should happen to be seen twice, it 'ud be all up
with us, for a time, at least; they'd be pretty sure to delay her
sailin' and send something out to watch us. And as to cuttin' her out,
Cap'n, I'm afraid it couldn't be done. Besides, it 'ud be no use to try
it unless all the treasure was aboard; and I don't suppose they'll ship
that until her hatches are on, and she's all ready for sea, so that she
can up anchor and make a start directly the last ingot's hoisted in."

"Quite so," I assented; "that will no doubt be their mode of procedure.
But, on the other hand, she may be all ready for sea, even to having all
the treasure on board, and yet not sail for a day or two. Because it is
quite clear to me that, for some reason or other, they believe this
galleon to have a very fair prospect of safely reaching her destination,
or they would keep her back un