lying."

Whereupon, Don Sebastian, clutching his locks with his left hand, took
pen in his right, and proceeded, with a great deal of difficulty, to
draft a letter setting forth in cold black and white the critical state
of affairs then existing in Nombre, and urgently entreating the Governor
of Panama to leave no stone unturned to find and surrender the seventeen
Englishmen, on account of whom all this fuss and pother was being made,
lest worse come of it. The Don was not a particularly fluent
correspondent, but he grew almost eloquent when he strove to impress
upon his fellow-governor the inexorable determination displayed by the
young English captain, and he wound up by quoting two or three Spanish
proverbs to the effect that of two evils it was always best to choose
the lesser, and that it was folly to cut off one's nose to spite one's
face, these being intended to support Don Sebastian's contention that it
would be better to surrender the Englishmen and forego one's righteous
desire to revenge oneself upon them, rather than that a Spanish town
like Nombre de Dios should be subjected to the horrors of sack and
pillage. The fair copy of the letter, after the draft had been
submitted for George's approval, was still in process of being written
when Senor Montalvo, booted and spurred, and otherwise dressed for the
road, made his appearance. The letter, however, was finished at last,
signed, sealed with the official seal, and handed to the secretary, who,
a minute later, mounted upon Josefa, the black mule, went clattering out
of the Grand Plaza, _en route_ for Panama.

"Now," said Saint Leger, when the important business of the letter to
the Governor of Panama had been satisfactorily disposed of, "with your
Excellency's approval we will all retire to the shore battery, where I
propose to concentrate my forces until a reply arrives from his
Excellency of Panama. I noted, when leaving, that the guns of the
battery effectually command the town, therefore, by holding the battery
I shall hold the town also; moreover, by withdrawing my men to it, there
will be the less likelihood of collisions between my people and your
countrymen. I must trouble your Excellency to accompany me, and to put
up, for a few days, with somewhat rougher quarters than you are
accustomed to; but we will make things as comfortable as we can for you,
and you may take with you any three of your servants whom you would wish
to accompany you. If y