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Raising my hat in reply, I answered, in the same language: "I deeply regret to inform you, senor, that Morillo is indisposed down with a slight attack of fever, in fact; and, as for the rest, they are away in the bush on the other side, whither they have gone to help bring in the cauffle which is due to arrive this afternoon. But will you not step in out of the sun?"
The expedition numbered fifteen thousand men, and was commanded in chief by the famous soldier, General Don Pablo Morillo, the guerilla champion, the opposer of the French. On the 4th of April, this redoubtable army effected a landing; and once more, all but an insignificant fraction of Venezuela fell under the hand of Spain.
As a result of the revolution in Spain, Morillo had to proclaim and swear to the Spanish constitution in the provinces that he governed. This fact wrought a marked change in the position of the contending armies.
Still, by a miracle, Morillo himself survived this last destructive broadside of ours; for when the smoke blew away I saw him still standing erect and shaking his fist defiantly at us. It was by this time evident to us all that the Guerrilla was a doomed ship; she was settling fast in the water, and to continue firing upon her would only be a waste of ammunition.
After leaving a garrison at Margarita and Cumana, Morillo went to Caracas, where he arrived on the 11th of May, immediately taking Cagigal's place as captain general.
Yet, after a while, as the victorious legions of Morillo flooded, in successive waves from the coast, the level region of his refuge, Paez was compelled to evacuate the Plains, and leave them to the invader. With a few hundred of his horsemen he established himself on the Plains of New Granada.
"That's right, that's right; you will then be able to make a good offing before the land-breeze drops," returned the admiral. "Well," he continued, "good-bye, my boy, and a successful cruise to you. And if, when you return, you bring Morillo with you, or can assure me of his destruction, you shall have t'other swab; for I shall consider that you have well-earned it."
Of course you will understand that I have no personal animus against you; you have never injured me, and therefore I have no feeling of revenge to gratify by delivering you into Morillo's power. But, on the other hand, Morillo is my friend, and I am always glad to oblige him when I can, particularly when, as in the present case, I am well paid for it.
So there you are, between two fires; and, if you care for my opinion, it is that the admiral is likely to prove a worse enemy to you than even Morillo over this business." "That, possibly, might be the case if the admiral happened to discover that I have been implicated in it," replied my companion, with exasperating composure. "But then, you see, he never will!
Yet, despite all this, it was not difficult for me to perceive that the reflection that Morillo and his gang were still at large greatly nettled him, and that I could not find a surer way to his continued favour than by finding and capturing or destroying the audacious pirate.
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