"But what is this yarn of a warship?
When last I sighted the launch she was standing out of the harbor, and the first clouds of the storm helped to screen her from the citadel." Iris interpreted.

San Benavides repeated his story of the rockets.

In her present tumult, the girl forgot the touch of realism with regard to the firing that he had heard.

Certainly there was a good deal of promiscuous rifle-shooting after the departure of the launch, but warships use cannon to enforce their demands, and the boom of a big gun had not woke the echoes of Fernando Noronha that night.

Philip deemed the present no time for argument; he despised San Benavides, and gave no credence to him.