"'What!' cried Clara, quite aloud, 'a ladder!--a real, live rope-ladder! how delightfully romantic!' "'Hush! hush! you lunatic!' said Pedro, in a hoarse whisper. "'Oh, Pedro!' continued his sister, 'just think how droll it is to run away with one's lover, and one's brother standing by aiding and abetting! Oh, fie! I'm ashamed of you! There, now, I've fastened this delightful ladder--what next?' "I ascended, and taking her in my arms, prepared to assist her to the ground. "'Am I not heavy?' she asked, as she put her arms about my neck. "My God! boys, I could have lifted twenty of her as I felt then. "'This is the second time, senor, that you have helped me to the ground within a week; now get me on the water, and I will thank you for all at once.' "'In a few moments more all danger will be behind us, dearest.' "Clara leaned upon my arm, enveloped in a boat-cloak, while we rapidly retraced our steps to the boat, which we reached in safety, but, behold, the men whom we had left were missing. Hardly had we made ourselves sure of this unwelcome fact when a file of men, headed by the same officer who had boarded us in the evening, sprang out from behind the molasses-hogsheads. In a moment more a fierce fight had begun. I seized Clara by the waist with one arm, and drew my cutlas just in time to save my head from the sabre of Carlos Alvarez, who aimed a blow at me, crying, 'Now, dog of a Yankee, it is my turn!' "'In the name of the king! in the name of the king!' shouted the officer--but it made no difference, we fought like seamen. Clara had fainted, but I still kept my hold of her, when suddenly a ton weight seemed to have fallen on my head; my eyes seemed filled with red-hot sparks of intense brilliancy and heat; the wild scene around vanished from their sight as I sunk down stunned and insensible.