"
"First tell us what you know yourself, Captain," begged Cora.
"I know little, except what I have heard, of the foundering of the
Ramona," was the answer.
"Then you think she did go down?" asked Bess.
"I fear so--the sailors we picked up so affirm. All I can tell you
is that, a day or so ago, as we were staggering along through the
stress of the storm, the lookout sighted a small boat. No signs of
life aboard were seen, but we stopped and picked it up. In the
craft, which was one of the lifeboats from the Ramona, were two
sailors, nearly dead from exposure, and one from hurts received."
"How was he hurt?"' asked Jack.
"He was shot, Senor."
"Shot!"
"Yes, it appears there was mutiny aboard the Ramona, as well as the
horrors of the storm and shipwreck."
"Mutiny!" murmured Cora, a look of horror in her eyes. "Poor, poor
mother!"
"You had better hear the story directly from the sailors," suggested
Captain Ponchero. "I will summon the unwounded one. You will find
that more satisfactory."
He came, a sorry and unfortunate specimen of a Spanish sailor. There
followed a rapid talk, in the Castilian tongue, between him and the
captain, and the latter then said:
"His story is this. They ran into the storm soon after leaving San
Juan, and could not find, or, rather, did not dare to try, for the
nearest harbor, as the seas were running too high to make it safe to
go through the narrow entrance.
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