followed by Polly carrying the box with her
mistress's wardrobe.

"Now, young gentlemen," said the consul, "we have come to conduct you to
my house, where no one will dare to molest you, and I daresay that you
will be glad to get out of the prison."

"Yes, indeed we shall, sir," answered Tom, "but I should like to wish
the gaoler's wife good-bye."

"I am sorry to tell you that she and her husband have been dismissed
from their post, and are now themselves confined in one of the cells in
which they have been accustomed to lock up others. However, I will do
my best for them, and in a short time there will be another change of
government, when they will probably be reinstated. They are accused of
having connived at the escape of your companions, and I can probably
help them by explaining how it occurred."

Murray had thought it better not to tell Stella of her father's death.
Her suspicions, however, had been aroused, and she pathetically begged
that she might see him.

"It is impossible," answered Murray. "Let me entreat you not to inquire
further at present, and you shall be informed of all that has happened
as soon as we reach the consul's house."

Stella was silent. The dreadful truth began to dawn on her. She dare
not ask another question.

With no small satisfaction the party found themselves outside the prison
walls. They were not interfered with by the populace, who regarded the
conqueror of their fleet rather with awe and respect than any vindictive
feelings. The vice-consul's Spanish wife received the young English
lady with a kind welcome, and did her best to prepare her for the
afflicting intelligence she was to hear. Murray undertook the task.
Her grief was too great for tears.

"I was prepared for it," she said, at length. "A fearful foreboding of
evil has oppressed me since we sailed from Antigua. I cannot help
thinking that he himself felt that such might too probably be his fate,
yet he braved it under the belief that he was engaged in the cause of
humanity."

The consolation Murray offered was not without its due effect.

"There is one, at all events, who will take your father's place, and
joyfully devote his life to your service and to watching over you with
the tenderest love," he said, taking her hand.

"I know it," she answered, "and my father often expressed his
satisfaction at the thought that I might some day become your wife."

Stella had another trial to undergo when rec