that
no labourers were to be had--every mother's son of them being an
insurgent, either openly or secretly--and consequently you could get no
work done on your land. Therefore it will manifestly be prudent for you
to postpone your undertaking until the present imbroglio is at an end
and the island is at peace once more. And now, I am afraid that I must
bid you good-morning; for this insurrection has piled up a lot of extra
business for me as well as for others. But I have given you the very
best advice of which I am capable, and I hope that you will not only
think it over but very speedily act upon it; for I tell you candidly
that Cuba is an exceedingly unsafe place for any Englishman just now."

"Upon my word," said Jack, "I am very much disposed to believe that you
are right; and I will certainly think over what you have said. Good-
bye, and many thanks for your most excellent advice!"

But even as the young man left the office and issued upon the crowded
street, he knew that he had not the remotest intention of acting upon
the Consul's advice, to the extent of leaving Cuba at all events: for he
felt that he was morally pledged to stand by the Montijos, so long as
they might need him; and there was the complication of the ownership of
the yacht, which would need a great deal of straightening out; and,
lastly, his close association with the lovely Senorita Isolda, during
the four months' cruise just ended, had not been without its effect upon
him; so that, taking things all round, he told himself that for him to
leave Cuba at present was quite out of the question.

When Jack set about making the necessary arrangements for the docking of
the _Thetis_ he at once found himself confronted with that adamantine
procrastination which constitutes such a serious flaw in the Spanish
character; _manana_ (to-morrow) is the word that is most often in the
Spaniard's mouth, and his invincible determination never to do to-day
what can possibly be postponed until the morrow is perhaps as marked a
national characteristic as is the indomitable pride of every Spaniard,
from the highest grandee down to the meanest beggar to be found outside
a church door. Thus, although the dock happened at that moment to be
empty, Singleton found it absolutely impossible to infuse into the dock-
officials the energy necessary to enable them to make arrangements for
the entrance of the yacht on that day. _Manana_ was the word, wherever
he turned; a