In the interior, he said, there raged a frightful guerilla warfare, and Caracas was under a veritable reign of terror.

Of the half-dozen friends for whom I had brought letters, one had been garroted; another was in prison, and would almost certainly meet the same fate.

It was only by posing as a loyalist and exercising the utmost circumspection that he had so far succeeded in keeping a whole skin; and if he were not convinced that he could do more for the cause where he was than elsewhere, he would not remain in the city another hour.

As for myself, he was quite of Moreno's opinion, that the sooner I got away the better.
"I consider it my duty to watch over your safety," he said.

"I should be sorry indeed were any harm to befall an English caballero who has risked his life to serve us and brought us such good news." "What harm can befall me, now that I have got rid of that packet ?" I asked.
"In a city under martial law and full of spies, there is no telling what may happen.