dly be lost, and I had counted upon this
magnificent bounty. _Carrambo_! we shall get nothing but a wreck."

The dangerous situation of the schooner was of course known in the fort,
where it had already created considerable confusion. This was now
changed into consternation by the approach of the insurgents; and the
wild war-cry of Galeana, as he sprang forward to the walls, echoed by
his followers, and accompanied as it was by loud peals of thunder,
produced something like a panic among the ranks of the Spanish garrison.
So sudden was the attack, and so completely unexpected, that it could
scarcely fail of success; and indeed, after a short hand-to-hand combat,
one portion of the garrison fled, while the other surrendered without
conditions to the triumphant Galeana.

Scarcely had the last shot been fired, and the fort delivered up to the
victors, when the schooner, striking violently upon a sharp reef, leant
over to one side, and, like a steed gored by the horns of the bull, the
sides of the vessel were opened, and she began to sink among the foaming
waves. The victors on shore thought no more of enemies, but now bent
all their energies towards saving the unfortunate mariners, whose lives
were thus placed in peril. By means of lazoes flung from the beach,
most of the latter were rescued from the death that threatened them.

The sun soon after cast his yellow beams over the agitated bosom of the
ocean, but his rising had no effect in calming the tempest. The storm
continued to rage as furiously as ever.

Just as the last of the shipwrecked sailors had been got safely on
shore, a flag running up to the signal-staff of the fort announced that
a new sail was seen in the offing. In a few minutes after a vessel was
perceived in the roadstead of the bay, struggling against the storm, and
endeavouring to stand outward to sea.

This intention the adverse winds seemed trying to prevent; and driven by
these out of her course, the strange ship passed so near the isle of
Roqueta that those in the fort could see the people on board, and even
distinguish the uniforms and faces of the officers upon the quarterdeck.
It was evident that the vessel thus coasting past Acapulco was a
man-of-war; and the uniforms of the officers aboard of her could plainly
be distinguished as that of the Spanish navy. One was dressed somewhat
differently from the rest. His costume was military, not naval. It was
that of an officer of dragoons.