The various events we have described, and the incidents that followed them, had occupied a considerable period; the whole day had slipped away, and the organisation was not completed till an hour before sunset. Captain Johnson gave the command of the corvette to Don Serapio, with Don Cristoval as first lieutenant, and Ramirez as master; while he himself retained the command of the brig. Then, when all was in order, the Captain had the Mexican flag hoisted at the peak of the corvette, which immediately started for Galveston. The Captain returned on board his own vessel, taking with him El Alferez, to whose determination and coolness the Texan Revolutionary Government owed the possession of a naval force. The result was grand, and surpassed even the expectations of the insurgents. But that was not enough: on getting aboard his brig, the Captain ordered the Texan flag to be struck, turned upside down, and hoisted again with the Mexican colours above it. The brig set sail, and kept up with the corvette, being careful to keep under her guns, as if really captured by her. The sailors did not at all comprehend this singular manoeuvre; but, as they had seen the Captain laugh, they suspected some stratagem, and, in spite of the shame they felt at seeing their colours beneath those of Mexico, they repressed their murmurs, in the hope of a speedy revenge. In the meanwhile, the whole population of Galveston had since morning been plunged in the greatest anxiety. Assembled on the jetty, they had watched the obstinate pursuit until the vessels disappeared; the sound of cannon, repeated by the echo of the cliffs, had reached the city; a fight had, therefore, taken place, but what the result was everybody asked the other, and no one could answer. The silence of the fort had also seemed inexplicable; they could not understand why it had not sunk the brig as it passed. Suddenly there was an outburst of shouts and cheers, for the brig and corvette reappeared at the entrance of the passage, with the Mexican colours proudly flying on the two ships over the Texan flag, which was disgracefully reversed. This delight knew no bounds when the ships were seen to anchor beneath the guns of the battery; the Mexicans were victors, and the Texan insurgents had suffered a defeat, from which they would not so easily recover. CHAPTER XXI. A STRANGE LEGEND. We will now return to the Jaguar, whom we left departing from the pulqueria, and proceeding at the head of his bold companions toward the fort of the Point. But, before going further, in order to make the reader understand the almost insurmountable difficulties which the Jaguar would meet with on the audacious expedition he was attempting, we ask leave to tell him the legend current about this fortress, a legend which has survived to this day, in all its quaint simplicity.