ly to assist in the betrayal of one Giuseppe something--I don't
happen to know his other name. From a hint dropped by Carera I have
formed the opinion that this Giuseppe must be an industrious, hard-
working, and, withal, somewhat canny gentleman of the piratical
profession; a man who seems to have made the business pay pretty well,
too, for does not our friend on deck estimate that he has accumulated
the tidy little sum of close upon twenty-five thousand doubloons? Now,
however, that fickle goddess, Fortuna, appears to have withdrawn her
smiles from him. Those pestilent British cruisers are interfering with
him, and we know that when _they_ meddle with a business of that kind it
means simple ruination for the honest people who are trying to make a
livelihood out of it; consequently, our amigo Carera is no longer able
to depend upon finding a rich cargo, at a low figure for cash, awaiting
him at Giuseppe's snug little stronghold. Carera, the honest and
faithful, therefore proposes to become virtuous. He has, doubtless, of
late experienced certain qualms of conscience respecting the trade he is
at present engaged in, and he has made up his mind to abandon it. He
has also resolved to reform his friend Giuseppe; and, in order that the
reformation of that estimable person may be made thoroughly effectual,
he has undertaken--for a consideration, most probably a share of the
plunder--to point out to us, the captain-general's deputies, the various
rocks, shoals, and other impediments which obstruct the fairway to the
pirates' anchorage, and to indicate the several sea-marks which will
enable us to safely and successfully pilot an expedition into such a
position as will enable it to knock Giuseppe's stronghold into a cocked
hat. How does that accord with your view of the situation?"

"Yes," said I, "I think you are about right. That is pretty much the
idea I have formed of it."

"Good, again!" ejaculated Courtenay. "Let us go a little further. We
now come to the `hobble,' or dilemma, if you prefer the latter word, in
which we find ourselves. The unfortunate hitch in this business, as I
look at it, is this. It so happens that we are _not_ the captain-
general's deputies, but two British midshipmen, and we want to go, not
to the Barcos Channel, but to Port Royal. How are we to get to the
latter place?"

"That is a question which will demand our most serious consideration;
but we need not worry about it for a few da