"When the vessels
were subsequently docked, it was discovered that their propellers had
been rendered immovable by being locked with stout chains, from which it
was surmised that the outrage must have been perpetrated by means of
some kind of diving vessel; but where such a craft could have come from
heaven only knows, for nothing of the kind has been discovered or got
wind of in any of the harbours of Cuba--although I suppose it would not
be a very difficult matter for people acquainted with the working of
such a vessel to conceal her very effectually at the bottom of some out-
of-the-way bay. I remember reading, some years ago, the story of a
gigantic craft that was either airship or submarine, at the will of her
crew, and which was capable of doing some very wonderful things; but I
regarded the yarn as nothing more than the flight of a romancer's vivid
imagination. Yet it must have been some such vessel that disabled the
Spanish warships; which goes to prove again the soundness of the old
adage that `truth is stranger than fiction'. But your yacht's
disablement was an entirely different matter, as I understood, for you
actually steamed several miles before you broke down. Did you ever
discover to whom you were indebted for your mishap?"

"How could we?" answered Jack. "We went to sea again the next morning,
and have been absent ever since. I was thinking that I would call upon
the Capitan-General, and ask him if any of his people had ever been able
to find a clue to the identity of the guilty parties."

"Were you?" said the Consul. "Then let me very strongly advise you not
to do anything of the kind. He has plenty to worry him just now without
being reminded of an exceedingly unpleasant and annoying incident. And,
finally, be persuaded by me to clear out of Cuba at the very earliest
possible moment; for the island is certainly at present no place for a
young fellow like you, who have a good business at home, and no business
at all here. Even if you are serious in your idea of purchasing land
and establishing a tobacco-growing estate, this is certainly not the
time at which to engage in such an undertaking: for, in the first place,
the very strong suspicion and distrust with which the authorities at the
present moment regard all foreigners would render it almost impossible
for you to secure an inalienable title to your land; and, in the next
place, when all other difficulties were surmounted, you would find