Then, as the younger Espinosa broke into fresh intercessions mingled with imprecations, he wheeled upon him sharply.
"Peace!" he snapped.

"Peace, and listen! It is no part of my intention to blow your father to hell as he deserves, or indeed to take his life at all." Having surprised the lad into silence by that promise--a promise surprising enough in all the circumstances--he proceeded to explain his aims in that faultless and elegant Castilian of which he was fortunately master--as fortunately for Don Diego as for himself.
"It is your father's treachery that has brought us into this plight and deliberately into risk of capture and death aboard that ship of Spain.
Just as your father recognized his brother's flagship, so will his brother have recognized the Cinco Llagas.

So far, then, all is well.

But presently the Encarnacion will be sufficiently close to perceive that here all is not as it should be.

Sooner or later, she must guess or discover what is wrong, and then she will open fire or lay us board and board.