Seven hundred shots having been discharged, the attack was ordered.

It was in vain; neither threats nor entreaties could induce the Spaniards, hitherto so indomitable, to mount the breach.

The place seemed to their imagination protected by more than mortal powers, otherwise how was it possible that a few half-starved fishermen could already have so triumphantly overthrown the time-honoured legions of Spain.

It was thought, no doubt, that the Devil, whom they worshipped, would continue to protect his children.

Neither the entreaties nor the menaces of Don Frederic were of any avail.