nner
ditch. It was perfectly dry, and as the ground was hard I felt somewhat
shaken; but recovering myself, I crawled along till I could mount the
bank at a spot whence I could observe the sentries on either side. One,
as he did not move, had, as I hoped, taken the doctor's potion; but the
other still walked backwards and forwards, evidently wide-awake. At
last he sat down, and as I watched him I saw that he was overcome with
drowsiness. I at once crept across the intervening space, and gained
the top of the wall without being seen. Glancing downwards, the height
appeared considerable; but hesitation might prove my destruction, so
throwing myself over, I dropped a height of not much under thirty
feet,--happily alighting on the soft sand which the doctor had told me
of.

I had still some distance to run along the beach: on I went, hoping that
the two sentries would not awake till I had gained the shelter of some
rocks. I then stopped an instant to ascertain whether I was taking the
right direction. There was sufficient light to enable me to discern the
point where the boat was to meet me. No noises proceeded from the fort.
I made my way among the rocks with caution, to avoid the risk of
slipping down and hurting myself; and at length, to my infinite
satisfaction, I heard Captain Longswill's voice.

"All right, Barry," he said; "we are here. Give me your hand, and I
will show you the boat."

Never did I more thankfully grasp a man's hand; and in a few seconds I
was seated in the stern-sheets of his boat, and we were pulling off for
the _Flying Fish_, which lay in the offing.

I told the captain of my anxiety about the doctor and Padre Pacheco.

"They will be all right," he answered; "I promised to burn a blue light
as soon as you were safe on board, when they were immediately to shove
off. It may puzzle the Spaniards somewhat to know what it means; but as
they are not fond of turning out of their beds, we shall be away long
before they come to look after us."

The schooner was under way, standing on and off shore, when we got on
board. We afterwards ran in closer, and, to my great joy, made out a
boat pulling towards us, out of which presently stepped the doctor and
the padre. The boat then pulled away; and we ran to the northward, so
that we might be out of sight of land before the morning.

I asked the captain where he was going.

"I have received directions to proceed up the Orinoco to Angostura,"