d it was only with the
utmost difficulty that he at length drew from Don Hermoso the dreadful
tidings that his daughter, who had been brought on board the ship a
raving maniac, had that very morning contrived to elude the guard, and,
rushing on deck, had thrown herself overboard and never been seen again!

Poor Jack was so utterly overwhelmed at this awful confirmation of his
worst forebodings that several minutes elapsed ere he could speak, and
even then he could find no words wherewith to soothe the despair of his
friends: but presently he managed to tell them again that he was there
to restore them to liberty, and that there were plenty of friends who
would stand by them upon their return to their home; then he asked them
whether they knew of any more prisoners on board who, like themselves,
were the victims of Spanish injustice and tyranny, suggesting that, if
so, those poor wretches should also be restored to freedom; whereupon
Don Hermoso mentioned that he believed there were two or three more
political prisoners on board, and, at Jack's request, accompanied him
forward and pointed them out. These also Jack ordered aft, and when
they came abreast of the gangway he directed them down into the boat,
whither Don Hermoso and his bereaved family followed them, Jack going
last, and informing the skipper of the _Maranon_ ere he left that he
might now proceed on his voyage, which that individual forthwith did;
while, as soon as the released prisoners were on board the yacht, and
the boat hoisted to the davits, that craft continued her course to the
westward--until the convict steamer was out of sight, when the bows of
the _Thetis_ were again turned eastward and her speed reduced to dead
slow, for she now had to be stripped of her disguise and restored to her
normal appearance again, and some convenient spot for the performance of
this operation had to be found, Milsom not deeming it wise to return and
effect it in the spot from which they had so recently come. This spot
was eventually found, in the shape of a tiny cove near Point Lucrecia;
and into it they steamed at daylight next morning, leaving it again the
same evening, an hour before sunset, when the _Thetis_ again showed as
the trim, white-hulled English yacht, with all her boats bright
varnished as of yore, neither yacht nor boats bearing the slightest
trace of ever having been even remotely connected with the mysterious
"gunboat" that had been seen by the fisherm