ed to be reviewing the situation. At length he said:

"Senor, you must not blame my Government for the indiscretion of one of
its officers. I personally am responsible for the act of firing upon
your ship, which I now acknowledge to have been a quite unjustifiable
act, for which I beg to tender you my most sincere and profound
apologies; although I must be allowed to say that I fired under the
impression that you intended to disregard my summons to heave-to."

"I am afraid, Senor," said Jack, "that your explanation does not go very
far toward mending matters; for my contention is that you had no right
to stop me on the high seas. But I will allow that to pass, and will
accept your apology, for I have no wish whatever to make matters
unpleasant for you personally, or for your Government; on the contrary,
I am anxious to establish the most amicable relations possible between
myself and the Spanish authorities during my stay in the island:
therefore, having made my protest, I will say no more about it. But as
there appears to have been some suspicions with regard to the character
of my yacht, I must insist that either you, or someone on your behalf,
shall examine the vessel at once, that you--and, through you, your
Government--may be completely satisfied that such suspicions are
absolutely groundless."

"Senor," said the Spaniard, "you overwhelm me with your generous
consideration. If you will kindly permit me I should like, as well for
your justification as for my own, to look over your vessel, in order
that I may be in a position to absolutely assure my superiors that their
suspicions are without foundation. And, to prevent all possibility of
any future misunderstanding, I should like my lieutenant to be present
at the inspection, if you will be so very good as to permit it."

"By all means," answered Jack cordially. "Pray send your boat for your
lieutenant--and any other officers whom you would like to be present.
The more, the better; for, Senor, you must understand that I wish your
inspection of my yacht to be thorough and exhaustive."

The Spaniard bowed and, stepping to the gangway, called down to his
coxswain, instructing him to proceed to the gunboat and request
Lieutenant Fernandez to come on board the English yacht forthwith.
Then, during the short interval between the dispatch and the return of
the boat, the Spanish Commander chatted affably with Jack and Milsom
upon indifferent subjects, incidentall