and the caballeros stretched themselves upon
the ground.

When the most minute and accurate search
was made next morning for means of descending
the abyss and scale the opposite rock, a
cleft was discovered which offered, indeed,
some means of descending; and as to the
rock, a negro servant pointed out a way by
which it was admitted that—however poor
the chance might be—there was at least a
possibility of climbing. Both passages, however,
were unanimously declared to be
impracticable for any other feet than those of
a chamois or a Marron nigger, and the
gentlemen accordingly consulted over what
should next be done.

After some deliberation it was it resolved
that, since more runaways were doubtless
gathered upon the spot, and it was desirable
to put a final stop to this sort of vagabondage,
the best plan would be to starve them
out.

The necessary measures were then taken.
Sentinels were posted at every spot offering
the slightest chance of escape. A regular
method of field-duty was put into practice.
The videttes were relieved at appointed
intervals, and during the night one could hear
the outposts calling to each other as formally
as in military camp.

The caballeros established themselves quite
at their ease. Tents were brought down
from the plantations, a flying camp was
pitched near the place, and the ultimate
result of the blockade was awaited. The
days or hours of its duration were
calculated in advance. But hour after hour,
day after day passed, and still the
bloodhounds never howled—as they are sure to do
the moment they scent death. Each morning
they gathered near the cleft by which
the track led down to the abyss, and lifting
up their noses high into the air, barked on
with the same unabated fury. Day after day
a thin pillar of smoke was seen during a few
hours whirling from the top of the platform
through the deep blue sky.

The matter became altogether a mystery.
A whole week, ten days, a fortnight went by,
and still the dogs were to be heard barking
as usual, still that column of smoke was to
be seen whirling up to the sky. It was all
very well for the caballeros to direct their
spy-glasses towards the naked rock; they
could see nothing, understand nothing.

"Madre de Dios! What on earth can
those black rascals be feeding upon up
there?"

At last one of the negro servants offered
himself as a spy, advising his masters, for
appearance sake, to raise the siege till he
came back.

The offer was accepted; the siege broken
up. Only a few sentinels were left behind,
carefully hidden, lest the spy should prove to
be a double traitor. The fellow, however,
knew but too well that little was to be got
from the Marrons, and much from Don
Gomez de Mier.

When, after the lapse of five days, he came
back, safe and sound, from his perilous
expedition, he had a strange story to
tell. He had descended the abyss, and
climbed the rock at the risk of his neck.
When he had reached the top, and joined
the fugitives, reporting himself a runaway
from his master, who, he said, had given up
the blockade altogether, they received him
without suspicion. There were eight of
them, the woman included, all well and in
the best condition, making good cheer indeed.
They had venison, mutton, fowl—anything
but bread and cheese—for dinner. They
stewed and they roasted. Some of them
climbed now and then down the sea-face of
the rock to gather as much wood and
seaweed as they could get for their fuel; as to
the water, they had a fresh spring near at hand.

But the game? How did they get that?
This was the very mystery which the spy
had to spend four days in finding out.

Night after night he saw Juano, leaving
the others, make for the sea-side of the platform,
armed with a large stick; but as he
knew pretty well that a shadow of suspicion
would have put at once a fatal stop to his
diplomacy, he dared not follow him. When
the negro came back he was sure to bring
with him a hare or a young roe, perhaps even
a whole sheep, at which the others never
testified the least surprise. The supplies
were received quite as a matter of course,
not worth any particular remark.

On the morning of the fourth day at last
the spy had a chance of loitering, as if by
accident, near the opposite side of the platform,
and was startled by the sudden flight
of a great eagle that circled rapidly above
the top of a peak some thirty or forty feet
higher than the common level of the platform.
A suspicion then occurred to him, which he
was able promptly to confirm; for on the
same night he succeeded in tracing Juano to
the peak, where, from his own hiding-place
behind a block, he could hear the cries of the
frightened and angry birds, the vigorous
blows with which the negro defended himself
against their mighty wings, their dangerous
beaks, their powerful talons. The mystery
was revealed. The Marrons were feeding on
the eagles' prey.

Those poor birds had to work hard. There
was their own family to be supported, and there
were moreover eight idle stomachs to be
supplied with the necessities of life, and as
the negro took care never to leave more than
was strictly required to keep any of the brood
from perishing of hunger, the foraging went
on with great activity.

When this incident was made known to
the Spaniards, Don Gomez wrote a polite
letter to an old acquaintance, captain of
La Hija Hermosa, a Spanish clipper-ship
noted for her fast sailing, and just then at