rm. This he placed on the table,
opened it, referred to an index, and then turned up the required entry.

"Yes," he said, "here we have it: `December 7th, 1568. Arrived from San
Juan de Ulua, the ship _San Mathias_, Juan Pacheco, master, having on
board seventeen Englishmen captured during an unprovoked attack upon the
plate fleet lying in San Juan harbour, and--'"

"That is a lie," broke in George. "The English ships were the attacked,
not the attackers. But--go on."

"--Harbour," resumed the secretary, reading, "`and sentenced by the
Military Commandant to the galleys for life. Their names are as
follows--'"

"Stop," interrupted George again, and, fumbling in his pocket, he
produced a document--the one that Don Manuel Rebiera had furnished him
with upon the first day of the _Nonsuch's_ visit to San Juan--and
carefully unfolded it.

"Now, proceed with your reading, senor, if you please," he said to the
secretary.

The secretary read out the names of the seventeen English prisoners,
which George found to agree with those recorded in his list. When the
secretary came to the last name he paused for a moment.

"Yes," assented George, "those names appear to be correct. Now, the
first thing that I wish to know is--what became of those men?"

"They were confined in the prison here for the space of just one month,"
answered the secretary, "during which communication was made to the
Governor of Panama, stating the circumstances of the case, and
requesting to know whether he could apportion the prisoners among the
galleys stationed at his port, as there are no galleys attached to
Nombre. The reply was in the affirmative, and on January 8th of this
present year the prisoners were dispatched to Panama in charge of the
escort which had just brought over a consignment of treasure. The
officer in command of the escort gave his receipt for the persons of the
prisoners, and--that is all that we here in Nombre know about them."

That was all that they there in Nombre knew about them! And it was to
obtain this trifling scrap of information that the English adventurers
had resorted to such extreme and highhanded action as actually to
capture one of the most important cities on the Spanish Main, and were
now holding possession of it by the skin of their teeth, in the face of
overwhelming numbers, by sheer downright audacity and arrogance of
demeanour! Young Saint Leger smiled inwardly as the amazing character
of the a