to a generosity rather knightly than sacerdotal, that all through his life he seemed to think only that it was more blessed to give than to receive. And all that wealth which he gained in the wars he dispersed among his sisters and the poor of his parish, living unmarried till his death like a true lover and constant mourner (as shall be said in place), and leaving hardly wherewith to bring his body to the grave. At whom if we often laughed once, we should now rather envy him, desiring to be here what he was, that we may be hereafter where he is. Amen."

CHAPTER XIX.

WHAT BEFELL AT LA GUAYRA.

"Great was the crying, the running and riding,
Which at that season was made in the place;

The beacons were fired, as need then required,
To save their great treasure they had little space."
Winning of Cales.

THE men would gladly have hawked awhile round Margarita
and Cubagua for another pearl prize. But Amyas having, as
he phrased it, "fleshed his dogs," was loth to hang about the
islands after the alarm had been given. They ran, therefore,
south-west across the mouth of that great bay which stretches
from the Peninsula of Paria to Cape Codera, leaving on their
right hand Tortuga, and on their left the meadow-islands of the
Piritoos, two long green lines but a few inches above the tide-
less sea.
Yeo and Drew knew every foot of the way, and had
good reason to know it; for they, the first of all English
mariners, had tried to trade along this coast with Hawkins.
And now, right ahead, sheer out of the sea from base to peak,
arose higher and higher the mighty range of the Caraccas moun-
tains; beside which all hills which most of the crew had ever
seen seemed petty mounds. Frank, of course, knew the Alps; and
Amyas the Andes; but Cary's notions of height were bounded
by M'Gillicuddy's Reeks, and Brimblecombe's by Exmoor; and
the latter, to Cary's infinite amusement, spent a whole day hold-
ing on by the rigging, and staring upwards with his chin higher
than his nose, till he got a stiff neck. Soon the sea became
rough and chopping, though the breeze was fair and gentle; and
ere they were abreast of the Cape, they became aware of that
strong eastward current which, during the winter months, so

often baffles the mariner who wishes to go to the westward. All night long they struggled through the billows, with the huge wall of Cape Codera a thousand feet above their heads to the left, and beyond it again, bank upon bank of mountain, bathed in the yellow moonlight.

Morning showed them a large ship, which had passed them during the night upon the opposite course, and was now a good ten miles to the eastward. Yeo was for going back and taking her. Of the latter he made a matter of course; and the former was easy enough, for the breeze blowing dead off the land, was a 'soldier's wind, there and back again," for either ship; but Amyas and Frank were both unwilling.

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'Why, Yeo, you said that one day more would bring us to La Guayra."

"All the more reason, sir, for doing the Lord's work thoroughly, when He has brought us safely so far on our journey." She can pass well enough, and no loss."

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'Ah, sirs, sirs, she is delivered into your hands, and you will have to give an account of her."

'My good Yeo," said Frank, "I trust we shall give good account enough of many a tall Spaniard before we return : but you know surely that La Guayra, and the salvation of one whom we believe dwells there, was our first object in this adventure."

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Yeo shook his head sadly. 'Ah, sirs, a lady brought Captain Oxenham to ruin.”

"You do not dare to compare her with this one?" said Frank and Cary, both in a breath.

"God forbid, gentlemen: but no adventure will prosper, unless there is a single eye to the Lord's work; and that is, as I take it, to cripple the Spaniard, and exalt her Majesty the queen. And I had thought that nothing was more dear than that to Captain Leigh's heart.”

Amyas stood somewhat irresolute. His duty to the queen bade him follow the Spanish vessel: his duty to his vow, to go on to La Guayra. It may seem a far-fetched dilemma. He found it a practical one enough. However, the Guayra he went.

counsel of Frank prevailed, and on to La He half hoped that the Spaniard would see and attack them. However, he went on his way to the eastward; which if he had not done, my story had had a very different ending.

About mid-day a canoe, the first which they had seen, came

staggering toward them under a huge three-cornered sail. As it came near, they could see two Indians on board. "Metal floats in these seas, you see," quoth Cary.

a fresh marvel, for you, Frank.”

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"There's

Expound," quoth Frank, who was really ready to swallow any fresh marvel, so many had he seen already.

Why, how else would those two bronze statues dare to go to sea in such a cockleshell, eh? Have I given you the dor now, master courtier ?"

"I am long past dors, Will. But what noble creatures they are! and how fearlessly they are coming alongside! Can they know that we are English, and the avengers of the Indians?"

"I suspect they just take us for Spaniards, and want to sell their cocoa-nuts. See, the canoe is laden with vegetables." "Hail them, Yeo!" said Amyas. "You talk the best Spanish, and I want speech of one of them."

Yeo did so; the canoe, without more ado, ran alongside, and lowered her felucca sail, while a splendid Indian scrambled on board like a cat.

He was full six feet high, and as bold and graceful of bearing as Frank or Amyas's self. He looked round for the first moment smilingly, showing his white teeth; but the next, his countenance changed; and springing to the side, he shouted to his comrade in Spanish

"Treachery! No Spaniard!" and would have leaped overboard, but a dozen strong fellows caught him ere he could do so. It required some trouble to master him, so strong was he, and so slippery his naked limbs; Amyas, meanwhile, alternately entreated the men not to hurt the Indian, and the Indian to be quiet, and no harm should happen to him; and so, after five minutes' confusion, the stranger gave in sulkily.

him.

"Don't bind him! Let him loose, and make a ring round Now, my man, there's a dollar for you."

The Indian's eyes glistened, and he took the coin.

"All I want of you is, first, to tell me what ships are in La Guayra, and next, to go thither on board of me, and show me which is the governor's house, and which the custom-house." The Indian laid the coin down on the deck, and crossing himself, looked Amyas in the face.

"No, Señor! I am a freeman and a cavalier, a Christian Guayqueria, whose forefathers, first of all the Indians, swore fealty to the King of Spain, and whom he calls to this day in all his proclamations his most faithful, loyal, and noble Guay

querias. God forbid, therefore, that I should tell aught to his enemies, who are my enemies likewise."

A growl arose from those of the men who understood him; and more than one hinted that a cord twined round the head, or a match put between the fingers, would speedily extract the required information.

"God forbid !" said Amyas, "a brave and loyal man he is, and as such will I treat him. Tell me, my brave fellow, how do you know us to be his Catholic Majesty's enemies?"

The Indian, with a shrewd smile, pointed to half-a-dozen different objects, saying to each, "Not Spanish."

"Well, and what of that?"

"None but Spaniards and free Guayquerias have a right to sail these seas."

Amyas laughed.

"Thou art a right valiant bit of copper.

Pick up thy

dollar, and go thy way in peace. Make room for him, men. We can learn what we want without his help.” The Indian paused, incredulous and astonished. "Overboard with you!" quoth Amyas.

when you are well off?"

"Don't you know

"Most illustrious Señor," began the Indian, in the drawling sententious fashion of his race (when they take the trouble to talk at all), "I have been deceived. I heard that you heretics roasted and ate all true Catholics (as we Guayquerias are), and that all your padres had tails."

Plague on you, sirrah!" squeaked Jack Brimblecombe. "Have I a tail? Look here!"

"Quien sabe? Who knows?" quoth the Indian through his nose.

There

"How do you know we are heretics ?" said Amyas. "Humph! But in repayment for your kindness, I would warn you, illustrious Señor, not to go on to La Guayra. are ships of war there waiting for you; and moreover, the governor Don Guzman sailed to the eastward only yesterday to look for you; and I wonder much that you did not meet him." "To look for us! On the watch for us!" said Cary. Impossible; lies! Amyas, this is some trick of the rascal's to frighten us away."

"Don Guzman came out but yesterday to look for us? Are you sure you spoke truth?"

“As I live, Señor, he and another ship, for which I took yours."

Amyas stamped upon the deck: that then was the ship which they had passed!

"Fool that I was to have been close to my enemy, and let my opportunity slip! If I had but done my duty, all would have gone right!"

But it was too late to repine; and after all, the Indian's story was likely enough to be false.

"Off with you !" said he; and the Indian bounded over

the side into his canoe, leaving the whole crew wondering at the stateliness and courtesy of this bold sea-cavalier.

So Westward-ho they ran, beneath the mighty northern wall, the highest cliff on earth, some seven thousand feet of rock parted from the sea by a narrow strip of bright green lowland. Here and there a patch of sugar-cane, or a knot of cocoanut trees, close to the water's edge, reminded them that they were in the tropics; but above, all was savage, rough, and bare as an Alpine precipice. Sometimes deep clefts allowed the southern sun to pour a blaze of light down to the sea marge, and gave glimpses far above of strange and stately trees lining the glens, and of a veil of perpetual mist which shrouded the inner summits; while up and down, between them and the mountain side, white fleecy clouds hung motionless in the burning air, increasing the impression of vastness and of solemn rest, which was already overpowering.

"Within those mountains, three thousand feet above our heads," said Drew, the master, "lies Saint Yago de Leon, the great city which the Spaniards founded fifteen years agone." "Is it a rich place?" asked Cary.

"Very, they say."

"Is it a strong place ?" asked Amyas.

"No forts to it at all, they say. The Spaniards boast, that Heaven has made such good walls to it already, that man need make none."

"I don't know," quoth Amyas. "Lads, could you climb those hills, do you think?"

"Rather higher than Harty Point, sir: but it depends pretty much on what's behind them."

And now the last point is rounded, and they are full in sight of the spot in quest of which they have sailed four thousand miles of sea. A low black cliff, crowned by a wall; a battery at either end. Within, a few narrow streets of white houses, running parallel with the sea, upon a strip of flat, which seemed not two hundred yards in breadth; and behind, the