him from
sailing right into Cartagena harbour itself and demanding the
restoration of their Captain, safe and sound. And he meant to do it,
too!

CHAPTER SIX.

HOW THEY TOOK THE GREAT GALLEON AND A VAST TREASURE.

There was no enthusiasm, no cheering, nothing in the nature of
hysterical exultation displayed by the crew of the _Adventure_, when the
longboat ran alongside and those who had performed the audacious feat of
rendering two powerful batteries innocuous rejoined their shipmates;
everything was accepted as a matter of course. It was fully realised by
all hands that the deed was one, the successful accomplishment of which
required the display of nerve and courage of superlative character, but
it was understood that the entire expedition, from start to finish, from
its departure from Topsham to its return thither, demanded the constant
exhibition of these same qualities--and would receive it. Therefore a
murmur or two of approval and satisfaction from Bascomb, when Dick made
his report, was all that was said in the way of commendation.

"And now, sirs," said the master, dismissing the topic of the
disarmament of the batteries, "Cartagena and the galleon are at our
mercy; and the sooner that the Spaniard can be brought to understand
this, the better is it like to be for our general. Therefore we will
enter the harbour forthwith, lay the galleon aboard and take her, and
then open negotiations with the authorities for the ransom of the town
and the deliverance of Captain Marshall. Mr Chichester, you know more
about the harbour than any of the rest of us. It must be your duty,
therefore, to pilot the ship alongside the galleon; the others I will
ask to go straight to their fighting stations and prepare the ship for
battle, after which, if there be time, we will take breakfast. If not--
well, we must e'en fight fasting, and eat after the galleon is taken."

So Dick went up on the poop and, stationing himself to windward, conned
the ship as she beat in toward the Boca Chica against the fast-failing
land breeze. But, good ship as the _Adventure_ was, her progress was
exasperatingly slow, as was that of all ships of that date when they
attempted to beat up against a foul wind; for neither the form of the
hull nor the cut of the sails was at that day favourable to such a
manoeuvre, and the ship was still a good mile from the harbour's mouth
when the land breeze suddenly failed, and she was left helplessly