hat a glass of wine would do me good. Like most
youngsters, however, I was too proud to yield to the weakness which had
momentarily overpowered me, so, rallying with an effort, I murmured that
it was a mere nothing, and turned the subject by asking his permission
to muster my men in the waist that I might ascertain exactly who were
the missing ones. The permission was at once accorded, and I then
discovered that, of the entire crew of the _Dolphin_, the surgeon, Boyne
the senior mid, and twenty-six men still remained unaccounted for.

The question now arose: In what light would Don Felix regard us, and how
dispose of us? I thought it desirable that this question should be
settled at once; and I was about to submit it to the Spanish captain
before dismissing the men, when the individual most concerned
forestalled me by calling me aside to the quarter-deck, where he and
several of his officers had been in apparently anxious consultation
whilst I had been mustering the remnant of the schooner's crew. He
informed me, upon my joining him, that, pleased as he was to have been
the means of rescuing us, his duty to his government left him no
alternative but to regard us as prisoners of war; and, whilst he should
be pleased to receive my parole and that of the other officers, he
feared he would be compelled to put the seamen in close confinement
below--unless I would undertake on their behalf that no attempt should
be made by them to capture or otherwise interfere with the _Santa
Catalina_ and her crew, in which case the confinement should be merely
nominal.

I could scarcely refrain from smiling at the suggestion thus thrown out,
for the Spaniards mustered twice as strong as we did; and they were
moreover armed, which we were not. But, preserving my gravity, I
unhesitatingly replied that gratitude alone for the important service
rendered us would have sufficed to prevent any such attempt as that
hinted at, and that I therefore cheerfully entered upon the required
undertaking.

This matter satisfactorily settled, I retired below with the young
officer who had had charge of the boat which effected our removal from
the raft. His name, he informed me, was Silvio Hermoso Villacampa y
Albuquerque; he was second lieutenant of the ship; and being very nearly
my size and build he had very kindly proffered me the use of a suit of
his clothing with which to replace my own drenched garments. He was a
very pleasant, chatty young f