point we found our way at last
into the harbour. We hauled up the boat on the beach, and ran along
till we came to the big house the vice-consul had told us of.

"`This must be the place,' said Mr Desmond, giving a pull at the
door-bell.

"Again we had to ring and shout as before. No one coming to the door,
Mr Desmond proposed trying the old dodge, and getting in at the window.
We went round the house, and knocked at all the windows we could reach.
At last an old gentleman poked out his head from an upper window, and
threatened in Spanish to blow out our brains with a blunderbuss, if we
didn't take ourselves off. Mr Desmond understood what he said, and
that he meant it was clear, for I caught sight of the muzzle of his
piece resting on the window-sill.

"`Don't do that same, if you please, sir,' answered Mr Desmond. `I am
an officer of her Majesty's sloop of war, the _Tudor_, and my companion
is one of her crew, and we have come to get the assistance of the
consul, who, I presume, you are.'

"I can't say that he looked much like one in his white night-cap. The
old gentleman then asked a number of questions of Mr Desmond, who told
him all about what had happened, and at last, having taken some time,
however, to dress himself, he came down and let us in. He was polite
enough then, for he showed us into a room and begged us to sit down,
while he listened to what Mr Desmond had further to say to him.

"He told us in reply that he had but little influence with General
Carmona, and that he had, therefore, some time back written to Jamaica,
begging that a ship of war might be sent to protect the English on the
coast, as their position was far from pleasant. He promised, however,
to return to Carthagena the next morning, and to try what he could do to
save the colonel's life, and obtain the liberation of the other
prisoners. He advised us to wait till the morning, but Mr Desmond was
in a hurry to go back and report to Miss O'Regan and his messmates what
we had done; he thought that we could get into the prison before
daylight by the way we had come. The consul seemed very much astonished
at his determination, but he was firm, and I was ready to do whatever he
proposed.

"`After all you may be right, if you manage to do so without being
discovered,' answered the old gentleman. `It will save me also from
being accused of assisting in the escape of the prisoners.'

"Having wished the consul good-bye we hastened b