As in many other adventures, the first and most difficult duty which we had to perform was to wait, so we ensconced ourselves in thick bushes, where we could see without being easily discerned, and watched the Spaniards as keenly as hawks do larks. The sun was above the horizon about half-an-hour, when a man issued from the cabin, and tapped the deck loudly with a handspike. At this summons the sluggards on the forecastle began to stir themselves, and to crawl forth, one by one, yawning from under the sails, and presently three or four bloodhounds, who seemed to have been sleeping among them, came whining and stretching themselves from their warm nests. The man who had wakened the rest, then went round the schooner, and appeared to examine the state of the moorings. The aspect of things seemed to satisfy him, for he went below, and presently the crew had their breakfast, which they ate on deck—a couple of bowls of cocoa, or some such beverage, being carried aft to the cabin. Soon after this, we observed, with great delight, a number of muskets and pistols brought on deck, at the sight of which, the grim bloodhounds yelped and bayed. The captain, as we called him then, appeared again; and after a long discourse, carried on with a great deal of gesticulation, the whole crew gathering round and handling the arms, the bloodhounds were fed, and the skiff—my skiff—hauled alongside, no doubt to convey the hunters on shore. The captain then seemed to be giving orders to one of the crew, a stout fellow, who wore a great striped woollen cap and had a long unsheathed knife in his girdle, and then the whole party, excepting the fellow with the knife and cap, tumbled into the boat, the bloodhounds leaping in along with them, and rowed towards the extreme head of the creek. The Spaniards numbered about a dozen, without including a boy whom they had with them, and of course weighed down the skiff until her gunwale was almost at the water’s edge. We were for a little time in some perturbation, lest they should chance to come our way. We heard them shouting, and laughing, and crashing through the boughs, as they made their way up the steep banks of the creek, and then the boat came floating down again to the schooner, with the boy paddling her. Meantime, the man with the striped cap had disappeared in a little cook-house or caboose, from the funnel of which a smoke began to rise; and the boy, having made fast the boat, went aft to the cabin, and presently returned with the bowls, which we had seen carried thither, empty. Now, as we had seen but one man come out of this cabin, and as breakfast had been served there for two, we considered that there were three persons left in charge of the ship, but that one of these was probably sick or disabled. While we were making these observations, the reader may be sure that we also listened attentively, in order to find out in what direction the hunting party had proceeded; and presently,