“Not exactly,” said Mr Q—, “because we obeyed orders. Had we not, we should have had no escape at all: we must have been taken, every man of us. The boats are not in sight, so I’ll just tell you how it was. Gentlemen, try this Madeira. We halted one evening, after a weary march, in a village. The rain was coming down in torrents. We unloaded the treasure, and housed it, glad enough to get a little rest. Just at that moment, Mr Y—, an order came to your uncle, to load again, and be ready to move on at a moment’s warning, but not to stir till further notice. Well, sir, we made ready again, with all expedition; the night closed in; the rain fell, heavier than ever; and an anxious time we had of it. Parties of stragglers, one after the other, came hurrying through the village—one set assuring us the enemy were close at their heels, another telling us we had better be off, another warning us, if we stayed there, we should all be taken, and serve us right. I own I felt rather nervous; but the Governor would not budge. He had got his directions, he said, not to proceed without further orders; and there he should wait, treasure and all, till the orders came. Presently, in a mighty bustle, up rode a general officer. Begged to know, in a tone of authority, why we were waiting there. The Governor replied as before. ‘Well, but it was perfectly absurd. The enemy were close at hand—on our flanks, right and left.’ Couldn’t move the Governor. The general grew angry, swore, almost threatened. ‘Will you move on, sir, or will you not?’ Then clapped spurs to his horse, in a towering passion, and rode away with a wave of his hand, as if saying, ‘I leave you to your fate.’ Well, gentlemen, we waited, waited till midnight. No order came. Waited on till morning dawned. Then, at length, came a staff-officer, with a message from his lordship, directing us to proceed. We did so; and found the general quite right in one thing—the French had been on our flanks. But not only that; they had been in our front. During the night, they had occupied in force the very road by which we were to pass. Had we started sooner, we should have walked right into them.” The boats now made their appearance, and were soon alongside the jetty. A working party embarked the treasure, packed, as before, in boxes. I then said farewell, and took my seat. With three boat-loads of treasure, and a guard of a corporal and six soldiers, we pulled away for the bridge of Oyarzun. There we found three individuals expecting our arrival—Captain Rattler, who was appointed to command our escort, my friend, and Sancho.