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He was quite dead, though not yet cold, the cause of death being clearly indicated by a small bullet-wound fair in the centre of his forehead. My thoughts flew back in an instant to the night on which we last stood under that same roof, to the attempted abduction of Dona Antonia; and the conviction at once seized upon me that we were now looking upon another piece of Senor Madera's work.
Of course it would have been a very simple matter to put the question directly to Don Manuel; but he had evinced such very palpable embarrassment and reticence whenever Madera's name had been mentioned that I thought it would be better to rely, in the first instance at all events, upon my own personal investigations.
Madera's appearance at Don Manuel's house, coupled with the evident fact that he was a seaman, had at once suggested to me the strong probability that there must be a navigable creek at no very great distance; and I thought it might be useful to ascertain whether such actually was or was not the case, and in the event of this question being decided in the affirmative also to ascertain the precise locality of the said creek.
This much determined, Don Manuel next led us to a spot from which he assured us that Senor Madera's vessel could be seen; and there, sure enough, we saw our old foe the Black Venus snugly moored in the creek. A council of war was at once held as to what should be our next proceeding.
I counted them as they passed in over the gangway; they numbered sixty- three; and, judging from the schooner's size, I calculated that she had accommodation for about one hundred and fifty; her cargo being therefore incomplete, I feared we should be called upon to endure Senor Madera's presence for at least another day or two.
The creek was precisely similar in character to all the others with which I had previously made acquaintance; but so narrow and shallow at the point where I had hit it off that I saw at once, to my vexation, that I must have a further scramble among the mangrove-roots, exposed all the while to the attacks of countless hosts of bloodthirsty mosquitoes, if I would gratify my desire to see Senor Madera's vessel.
"Then she must have arrived within the last half-hour, for it is barely that since we passed from the mouth to the head of the creek, and no ship was in it then." A little cross-questioning, however, elicited the fact that there were two creeks near Don Manuel's house; we had explored the western creek, and it was the other which at that moment sheltered Senor Madera's ship.
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