hat he went on asking question after
question until Chichester felt constrained to intervene and imperatively
insist that the young captain should go on deck and leave his brother to
get a little urgently needed rest.

As George ascended to the poop, almost dazed with the good fortune which
had enabled him to so unexpectedly deliver his brother from a life that
was one long torment, his ears were greeted with the cries of the
mariners shortening sail; and a few minutes later the galleon's anchor
was dropped in the new berth for which the ship had been making. The
sails were furled, the decks cleared up, ropes coiled down, and every
preparation made for the expected visit of the Governor. And shortly
afterward a large boat, pulling twelve oars, with an awning spread over
the stern sheets, and with the Spanish flag floating from an ensign
staff set up in the stern, was seen coming out of the harbour and
heading toward the _Cristobal Colon_.

Twenty minutes later she ranged up alongside, and a party of ten
Spaniards, dressed most extravagantly in the height of the prevailing
mode, proceeded to climb with more or less difficulty the lofty side of
the galleon, where, as they passed in through the entry port, they were
received by George at the head of his officers. The contrast in
appearance between these popinjays, arrayed in silks and satins of the
most costly description, with splendid jewels round their necks, on
their fingers, and in their ears, their oiled, curled, and perfumed
locks surmounted by jaunty little caps of silk or velvet decorated with
beautiful feathers secured in place by gem-set brooches, and the sturdy
Devon lads, attired mostly in perfectly plain armour not altogether
guiltless of rust, beneath which showed their well-worn clothing, was a
striking one indeed, but there was a stern, business-like look on the
faces of the Englishmen that promptly checked any disposition to sneer
on the part of the Spaniards.

The visitors were of course received with every manifestation of the
most elaborate courtesy on the part of the English, and there was a
tremendous amount of bowing and scraping on the galleon's quarter-deck
before even a word was spoken. Presently, however, a tall, dark
Spaniard, of about forty years of age, his handsome features marked with
an expression of considerable resolution, stepped forward and said, with
a bow:

"Senores, I am the Governor of Panama. Who among you is Senor George