the best of his way to Albornos.

I had now the rest of the day before me in which to look round and make
my observations, and I determined to do so to the utmost extent of my
ability. But I was by this time hungry and thirsty, so before doing
anything else I sought out a comfortable spot in the shadow of a clump
of bush, and sat down to discuss a portion of the viands that I had been
careful to bring with me. Then, my meal finished, I produced pencil and
paper, and proceeded to very carefully draw a map of the harbour,
preserving as accurately as I could the just proportions of every
feature, and marking the shoals in their proper places, as also the
battery guarding the entrance channel, and the position of the villages
dotted here and there along the shore. I had taken the precaution to
bring a small pocket-compass with me, and this I found most useful as a
means of laying down the bearings of the various features from my point
of observation. By drawing the whole roughly to scale, judging my
distances as accurately as possible, and freely using my pocket-compass,
I found that by the end of the day I had secured a sketch map that had
the appearance of being fairly accurate. Not a soul came near me
throughout the day, but several small craft passed out of or into the
harbour, and these afforded verification of Hoard's statement as to the
extraordinary precautions observed by the authorities, every one of them
being obliged to heave-to until a boat from the battery had boarded
them. A large ship, apparently a Spanish Indiaman, also arrived pretty
late in the afternoon, so that I had an opportunity of witnessing for
myself the manner in which such craft made their way through the channel
to the inner anchorage.

At length, when the sun was within an hour of setting, I observed a
fishing-boat under sail emerge from among the group of islets that block
the approach to the village of Albornos, and it presently became evident
that she was making for the island, on the highest point of which I was
perched. I brought my telescope to bear upon her, but for some time was
unable to distinguish her occupants, the sail being in my way. At
length, however, one of them moved forward and stood for a few minutes
under the lee of the sail, and the boat being by this time more than
half-way across, I was able to recognise the ragged habiliments worn by
Hoard when we took him off the wreck of the _Magdalena_, and which he
had r