hat Lieutenant Villacampa, who had commanded the
expedition, was perfectly able to furnish every particular that the
General might require; while, further, Jack considered that very unfair
pressure had been brought to bear upon him to induce him to lend his
yacht for the purpose of the expedition, and he therefore felt perfectly
justified in declining to afford any further assistance to the local
representative of the Spanish Government. Whereupon Captain Morillo
expressed his profound regret that Senor Singleton should have cause to
feel himself aggrieved, and departed, taking his men and his flags with
him. The _Thetis_ steamed out of Havana harbour again at eight o'clock
that same morning.

It is unnecessary to follow in detail the course of the voyagers during
the pleasure cruise upon which they had embarked; for while they
thoroughly enjoyed themselves the cruise was absolutely uneventful.
Suffice it to say that, proceeding in a very leisurely fashion, they
completely circumnavigated the island of Cuba, calling in at Matanzas,
Cardenas, Nuevitas, Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Trinidad, Xagua,
Batabano, and other more or less interesting ports on the coast;
sometimes remaining only a few hours, at other times spending as many
days in harbour, while Don Hermoso made certain mysterious excursions
inland and had secret conferences with more or less mysterious people,
during the progress of which Jack, Carlos, and the two ladies enjoyed
themselves amazingly in the steam pinnace, in which craft they made
excursions up rivers, and prowled about among romantic cays to their
hearts' content. Then they crossed to Jamaica, where they enjoyed ample
opportunity to compare the condition of that island, under British rule,
with Cuba under the government of the Spaniards, as also to learn how
the Jamaicans construe the word "hospitality". Dances, picnics, dinners
at Government House and elsewhere, balls at Up-Park camp and on board
the battleships at Port Royal succeeded each other with bewildering
rapidity; while they were positively deluged with invitations to spend a
week or more on various sugar estates dotted about here and there in
some of the most beautiful parts of the lovely island: small wonder was
it, therefore, that six full weeks slid away ere the _Thetis_ again
steamed out to sea from Port Royal. Thence, coasting along the southern
shores of San Domingo, the travellers visited Porto Rico, where Don
Hermoso again