Brandon of the Engineers

Next morning Dick reviewed the situation as he ate his breakfast in the

fresh coolness before the sun got up. He had got a shock, but he was

young and soon recovered. His anger against the unknown plotter remained

fierce, but this was, in a sense, a private grievance, by which he must

not be unduly influenced. It was plain that he was thought dangerous,

which showed that he was following the right clue, and he had determined

that the raiding of ships belonging to Britain or her allies must be

stopped. Since he had gone to the representative of British authority and

had been rebuffed, he meant to get Fuller to see if American suspicions

could be easier aroused, but he must first make sure of his ground. In

the meantime, Don Sebastian had asked his help and he had given a

conditional promise.

Dick decided that he had taken the proper course. Don Sebastian held

Kenwardine accountable and meant to expose him. This was painful to

contemplate for Clare's sake, but Dick admitted that he could not shield

Kenwardine at his country's expense. Still, the matter was horribly

complicated. If Kenwardine was ruined or imprisoned, a serious obstacle

in Dick's way would be removed, but it was unthinkable that this should

be allowed to count when Clare must suffer. Besides, she might come to

hate him if she learned that he was responsible for her father's

troubles. But he would make the liner's fate a test. If the vessel

arrived safe, Kenwardine should go free until his guilt was certain; if

she were sunk or chased, he would help Don Sebastian in every way he

could.

For three or four days he heard nothing about her, and then, one hot

morning, when Stuyvesant and Bethune stood at the foot of the tower by

the sluice examining some plans, Jake crossed the pipe with a newspaper

in his hand.

"The Diario has just arrived," he said. "I haven't tried to read it

yet, but the liner has been attacked."

Dick, who was superintending the building of the sluice, hastily

scrambled up the bank, and Stuyvesant, taking the newspaper, sat down in

the shade of the tower. He knew more Castilian than the others, who

gathered round him as he translated.

The liner, the account stated, had the coast in sight shortly before dark

and was steaming along it when a large, black funnel steamer appeared

from behind a point. The captain at once swung his vessel round and the

stranger fired a shot, of which he took no notice. It was blowing fresh,

the light would soon fade, and there was a group of reefs, which he knew

well, not far away. The raider gained a little during the next hour and

fired several shots. Two of the shells burst on board, killing a seaman

and wounding some passengers, but the captain held on. When it was

getting dark the reefs lay close ahead, with the sea breaking heavily on

their outer edge, but he steamed boldly for an intricate, unmarked

channel between them and the land. In altering his course, he exposed the

vessel's broadside to the enemy and a shot smashed the pilot-house, but

they steered her in with the hand-gear. The pursuer then sheered off, but

it got very dark and the vessel grounded in a position where the reef

gave some shelter.