"What are we waiting for now?" demanded Gray, vexed at any delay, and still speaking Spanish of course. "I have to place my men," replied Diego petulantly. At this point of the conversation on the deck Louis was intensely interested, for he was as desirous of knowing where each man was placed as the captain himself. In the beginning of the discussion he had simply hoped that something might be done to recover the steamer; but now Scott's proposition began to look more practicable. "I thought you had placed them," said Gray. "Francisco, who knows more about a steamer than any of the rest of your crew, is to be at the helm, and Pedro is to look out for the Spanish engineer, who is not likely to give us any trouble." "All right so far," replied the captain. "Lucio will remain on board of the Golondrina with me." "With you?" interrogated the Scotchman. "Of course I shall stay on board of the _goleta_," returned Diego, as though he had been asked a foolish question. "I supposed you would remain on board of the steamer," added Gray. "Have you lost your wits?" demanded Captain Velazquez, as nearly as Louis could render his remark into English. "Our valuable cargo is on board of the Golondrina, and do you expect me to leave it to take care of itself?" "But if you stay on board of the steamer you will not be far away from it," suggested Gray, who was clearly dissatisfied with the arrangement. "Suppose the tow-line should part and set the _goleta_ adrift: what would become of her with no one but Lucio on board of her?" "I have no idea that the tow-line will part." "But it may. Suppose we are chased by a cutter from Algeciras; she might run between the two vessels in order to break the line," argued Diego. "Then you would be taken by the officers, and I should be safe," added Gray with a chuckle. "But I happen to know that they have nothing just now but a sailing-vessel for a cutter, and there is not a breath of air to-night." "But there will be wind enough as soon as we get out from under the lee of these mountains to the north of us," the captain insisted. "I never leave my vessel when she is under way." Louis thought the captain had the best of the argument; and whether the Scotchman thought so or not, he made no further objection to the plan; and a few minutes later the listener heard the voice of Diego from a distance, which assured him that he had gone on board of the Golondrina. This word means a swallow, not an unusual name for a fast yacht in France and the United States; and Louis concluded that she must be a rapid-sailing craft, built for the smuggling business.