off to
the scene of our labours, which we found to be the fort mentioned by
Rogers--an antiquated structure in the very last stage of dilapidation,
which it was the task of the prisoners to repair.

To be obliged to work was, after all, no very great hardship. We were
in the fresh open air all day, which was infinitely better than
confinement between four walls, even had those walls inclosed a far
greater measure of comfort than was to be found within the confines of
our prison-house. The physical exertion kept us in a state of excellent
health, and consequently in fairly good spirits; the labour, though of
anything but an intellectual character, kept our minds sufficiently
employed to prevent our brooding over our ill fortune; we were allowed
to take matters pretty easily so long as we did not dawdle too much, and
thus entail upon our lounging guard the unwelcome necessity of
scrambling to their feet and hunting up our whereabouts; our daily
labours brought with them just that amount of fatigue which ensured
sound sleep and a happy oblivion of the dirt and manifold discomforts of
our night quarters; and finally, there was the prospect that at any
moment some lucky chance might favour our escape.

Four days from the date of our incarceration the muster-roll of the
prison was increased by the addition of the names of half a dozen
Spanish smugglers, who had been captured a few miles up the coast by one
of the guarda-costas and brought into La Guayra. They were a rough,
reckless-looking set of vagabonds; but their looks were the worst part
of them, for they all turned out to be gay, jovial spirits enough,
taking their reverse of fortune with the utmost nonchalance, and having
a laugh and a jest for everything and everybody, the guards included,
with whom they soon became upon the most amicable terms. One of these
men, a fellow named Miguel--I never learned his other name--was attached
to the gang of labourers to which I belonged; and though I fought rather
shy of him for a time his hearty good-nature and accommodating
disposition soon overcame my reserve, and I gradually grew to be on the
best of terms with him. He could speak a word or two of English, and,
seeming to have taken a fancy to me, he would strike up a conversation
with me as often as the opportunity offered, much to his own amusement
and mine, since we rarely succeeded in comprehending each other. These
efforts at conversation, however, inspired me with