We left old Gerald there, but I turned to watch him and the ’Gnome’ disappear into the gloomy forest among their little men, before I followed the Skipper—a big lump sticking in my throat. ’I’d have asked your brother to come on board, lad,’ he said, ’hang the arresting part of it and that warrant, and have taken him out of the country in safety, but I know he wouldn’t; he isn’t the kind of chap to leave his fellows in a hole.’ He was about right there. The same officer who had met us took us back, and this time we were obliged to pass that hole our 9.2 had made. The pathway was almost hidden by the blocks of stone and scattered bricks which had been hurled down by the explosion, and we had to pick our way very gingerly across them, so that it was impossible not to notice the huge gap above us. The officer waved his hands and shrugged his shoulders, ’We forget—you forget—all _mucho bueno_.’ ’Do you expect that ship to come here, sir?’ I asked him, as we pulled back to the ship. ’Don’t know, lad, she _should_ make for San Fernando first, and I’m going to stay here to see that she doesn’t get there, but I’ve told "Old Spats" to take the _Hercules_ to Los Angelos, in case she should attempt anything there.’ I told him what Gerald had said to me about Captain Pelayo, and asked him what he would do if she did not stop when told to do so. ’Shall we have to fight her, sir?’ ’I suppose we shall,’ he answered, with a wink. He looked as though he almost hoped she wouldn’t stop. So should I have done but for old Gerald. ’She’ll be a pretty hard nut to tackle, sir; she’s got eight twelve-inch guns on a broadside.’ ’Well, we’ve got four 9.2’s and four 7.5’s. Don’t bother about that, she won’t know how to use them.’ Still I couldn’t help thinking that, unless we had the _Hercules_ to help us, it would be a pretty hard job. Most of us on board thought so too, that is, if it did come to a scrap, but the general opinion was that her crew could not possibly be trained, would not be able to fight her guns properly, and, if she couldn’t run away, would have to surrender. Raynor, the Engineer Sub, who knew all about her, pointed out that she was supposed to have three knots more speed than the _Hector_, so might be able to escape. ’Running away won’t do her any good,’ I said, ’or Gerald’s people either.’ However, the possibility of having to fight made every one of us in the gun-room, except myself, extremely cheerful and excited, and when late in the afternoon we began to ’clear ship for action’ and ’prepare for battle,’ you would have thought by the way we all jumped round and got the ship in fighting trim that we were expecting to pay off old scores on some deadly enemy. It almost made me smile to hear the mids. talking now. At the back of their minds there was a feeling that perhaps the fight might be a bit more even if the _Hercules_ came along to help, and they made quite pleasant remarks about her and her hated gun-room.