fatigued
with swimming.

"What is it?" inquired Lantejas in a troubled tone--the more so that a
plaintive whine seemed to proceed from this singular object, which, with
somewhat of the form of a woman, had nothing human in its voice.

"A _manatee_," responded Costal; "an amphibious creature we call
_pesca-mujer_--that is, half-fish, half-woman. Dare you stand face to
face with a creature still more human-like in form--ah! more perfect
than any human creature?"

"What do you mean?" inquired Lantejas.

"Senor Captain Don Cornelio," continued the Indian, "you who are so
brave in the face of the enemy--"

"Hum!" interrupted Lantejas with an embarrassed air, "the bravest has
his moments of weakness, do you see?"

An avowal of his want of courage--though on certain occasions the
ex-student of theology was not lacking this quality--was upon the tongue
of Lantejas, when Costal interrupted him with a rejoinder--

"Yes, yes. You are like Clara--although a little braver than he, since
he has not had such an opportunity to cultivate an acquaintance with the
tigers, as you. Well, then, if you were to see down on the beach
yonder, in place of the manatee, a beautiful creature rise up out of the
deep--a beautiful woman with dishevelled locks--her long hair dripping
and shining with the water, and she singing as she rose to the surface;
and were you to know that this woman, although visible to your eyes, was
only a spirit, only of air--what would you do?"

"A very simple thing," answered the ex-student, "I should feel terribly
afraid."

"Ah! then I have nothing more to say to you," replied the Indian, with
an air of disappointment. "For a certain object I had in view, I was in
search of a comrade, one with more courage than Clara. I must content
myself with the negro. I expected that you--never mind--we need not
talk any more about the matter."

The Indian did not add a single word; and the officer, whose fears were
excited by the half-confidences of his companion, was silent also. Both
awaiting to hear the sounds of the attack upon the castle, continued to
gaze upon the vast mysterious ocean, in which the luminous tracks of the
sharks and the dark body of the manatee alone animated its profound
solitude.

They were thus seated in silence, with their eyes wandering over the
dark blue surface of the water, when all at once the manatee was heard
to plunge under the waves, uttering a melancholy cry as it went down.