In fine, and before the council broke up, the enterprise was planned. The expedition was to be commanded by the Marshal, accompanied by his nephew, the younger Galeana, while Lantejas was to be the captain of a canoe, with Costal under his orders. "The brave Don Cornelio would never forgive us," said Galeana, "if we were to perform this exploit without him." The Captain smiled as he endeavoured to assume a warlike expression of countenance. He thought to himself, however, how much more to his taste it would be to have been deprived of the privilege accorded to him. But according to the habit he had got into, and in conformity with the energetic Spanish refrain: _Sacar de tripas corazon_ (Keep a stout heart against every fortune), he pretended to be delighted with the honour that was yielded to him. The prognostic of Costal about the weather appeared likely to be realised. During the whole day, while they were making preparations for their night expedition, the sky remained shadowed with sombre clouds; and, as evening arrived, the sun went down in the midst of a thick cumulus of vapour. CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. AN ENTERPRISE BY NIGHT. As soon as darkness had fairly descended over the deep, the men took their places in the boats. The flotilla was comprised of three barges or whale-boats, and a small canoe--in which altogether not more than fifty men could be embarked; but as it was at this period the sole fleet possessed by the insurgents, they were forced to make the best of it. With oars carefully muffled, they rowed out from the beach; and, thanks to the darkness of the night, they succeeded in passing the castle without causing any alarm. They were soon out of sight of the shore; and after rowing a mile or so further, the dark _silhouette_ of the cliffs ceased to be visible through the obscurity. The canoe commanded by Captain Lantejas carried, besides himself, Costal and two rowers. As it was the lightest vessel in the flotilla, it was directed to keep the lead, as a sort of _avant-courier_, to announce whatever might be seen ahead. Costal sat in the stern guiding the craft; and while engaged in this duty, he could not resist the temptation of pointing out to his captain what the latter had already tremblingly observed:--three or four great sharks keeping company with the canoe. "Look at them!" said the Indian; "one might almost imagine that the instinct of these fierce sea-wolves told them--" "What?" inquired Lantejas, with an anxious air. "Why, that this vessel we are in is not sea-worthy. She is as rotten and ricketty as an old tub; and very little--Bah! I only wish that my friend Pepe Gago was one of those fellows in the water, and I had nothing more to do than leap in and poniard him in presence of the others!" "What! are you thinking still of that fellow?"