serves. There," handing me a
packet, "are your orders, which you will find are that, while cruising
against the enemy, and doing as much harm as you can to their commerce,
you are to keep a bright lookout for Morillo, and either capture or
destroy him at all costs. When do you sail?"

"The moment that I can get aboard, sir," answered I.

"That's right, that's right; you will then be able to make a good offing
before the land-breeze drops," returned the admiral. "Well," he
continued, "good-bye, my boy, and a successful cruise to you. And if,
when you return, you bring Morillo with you, or can assure me of his
destruction, you shall have t'other swab; for I shall consider that you
have well-earned it."

And therewith I left him and drove into Kingston, where I routed out a
boatman and made the best of my way aboard the _Diane_. An hour later
the brigantine was under way, and threading her passage through the
shoals to seaward under the influence of a roaring land-breeze.

The question that now exercised my mind was, where was I to look for
Morillo? In what direction should I be most likely to find him? It was
a most difficult question to answer; but, after considering the matter
in all its bearings, I came to the conclusion that his most likely haunt
would probably be near one of the great entrances from the Atlantic to
the Caribbean Sea, where he would be conveniently posted to intercept
and plunder both outward and homeward-bound ships; although he would
probably take care not to establish himself _too_ near, lest he should
run foul of any of our cruisers stationed in the same locality for the
protection of British bottoms trading to and from West Indian ports. He
would in all likelihood select a spot some two or three hundred miles
away out in the Atlantic, from which he could command both the outward
and the homeward routes of ships bound from and to Europe. I opened a
chart of the North Atlantic and studied it carefully, trying to imagine
myself in his place, and thinking what I should do under such
circumstances; and reasoning in this way, I at length fixed upon a belt
of ocean suitable for piratical purposes, and thither I determined to
make my way, thoroughly searching every mile of intervening water as I
did so. Then came the question whether I should select the Windward or
the Mona Passage by which to make my way into the Atlantic; and after
much anxious consideration I decided upon the Windward Pas