Of course, all those hours I wondered what our chaps were doing to bail me out, but didn’t worry much—I knew things would come right in the end—and of course they did. But I did worry about Gerald and what his hare-brained adventures would lead him to. He had always been getting into trouble at home, and that was why the pater and mater had shipped him out to Santa Cruz, though they little thought that he’d take a leading part in a revolution, and the poor old mater would be fearfully worried when she heard about it. It was jolly to know that an Englishman, and my own brother, was such a boss among these fierce, blood-thirsty, half-Spanish people, but that wouldn’t be much comfort to the mater if he was stuck up against the parapet of San Sebastian, which would certainly be his fate if he ever fell into the clutches of the President. It was my chum of the cigarette case who actually fetched me down and took me aboard the _Hector_. Even whilst I was trying to thank him, the Commander began bellowing that ’He’d make me pay for the paint he’d spoilt clearing for action and housing the topmasts.’ He was as rude as it was possible to be, but every one else—’Old Tin Eye’ included—was all right, and Ginger signalled congratulations from the _Hercules_. Of course my adventure was known all over Princes’ Town before we’d anchored more than an hour or two, and reporters from the local papers and Reuter’s Agent came bustling on board for more details, but were told nothing, except that I’d been arrested by mistake, and that, as a hint to the President to let me out again, ’chop, chop,’ one or two of the Santa Cruz gunboats had been seized. We had all been ordered to give no political information to anybody, but you may imagine that their ears were rigged out for something more exciting than that, and you can jolly well guess who gave it to them—the Angel backed up by Cousin Bob. They saw their way to getting a cheap ’blow out’ at the Savannah Hotel, and actually had the cheek to tell the two local reporters that if they’d stand them a dinner there, they would tell them all they knew about it. They had put their names down in the leave book for the late boat and went ashore, but of course I had no idea what their game was. I had turned in early, and they woke me, by knocking at my cabin and asking if they could come in. I switched on my light, and there they were, in their best blue suits, grinning from ear to ear. They both began talking twenty to the dozen. ’We’ve given you such a "leg up"—we’ve had a topping feed at the Savannah, and you’ll see all about it in the papers to-morrow!’ ’All what?’ I asked. ’All about you fighting dozens of soldiers, knocking them over, and of our trying to rescue you.’ ’We put in a lot of extras to make it look better,’ Bob squeaked. ’We told them all about knocking over the rotten _Hercules_ mids., and about you being so like Cousin Gerald.’