"I suppose you wish to deny everything," said he. "But I a.s.sure you it will do not the least good in the world."
"I presume not," escaped Clif"s lips.
The Spaniard frowned angrily, but he went on without a change of tone.
"You were captured, if I understand it truly, from a merchantman which you ran upon the rocks in order to prevent one of our vessels from recapturing her?"
"That is true," Clif said.
"And you must have thought it quite a smart trick! But according to this man here, you previously had some fighting with our vessel. Would you mind telling me about it?"
"I would not," said Clif. "We were steaming toward Key West, myself and these four men being a prize crew from the gunboat Uncas. We were hailed from the darkness by another vessel----"
"Ah! And what was the name of the vessel?"
"I do not know."
"Did you not ask?"
"I did. But she answered falsely. She pretended to be an American vessel----"
The Spaniard gave a sneer.
"So that is the yarn you mean to tell," he laughed.
"That is what occurred," said Clif, quickly. "If you have heard otherwise you have been told a lie. And my men will bear me out in the statement."
"Indeed! I do not doubt it."
There was fine sarcasm in that tone; but Clif did not heed it.
"Would you mind telling me what this fellow Ignacio has said?" he inquired.
"He says," responded the other, "that the vessel announced herself as a Spaniard, and called on you to surrender. You did so; and then when the boat"s crew came aboard you shot two of them and steamed away. Is that so, Ignacio?"
"It is," snarled the "agent." "I will take my oath upon it."
It was of course a lie; and it made Clif"s blood boil. The Spanish vessel had deceived them and tried to capture them by stealth. The men of the Spanish boat"s crew had been shot while trying to hold up the American.
But Clif had expected that Ignacio would tell such a tale, and so he was not surprised. The offense with which the lad found himself charged was a terrible one, and he realized that he could be hanged for it.
Yet what was he to do?
"I fear," he said to the Spaniard, "that it will do me little good to deny this story."
"That is true," said the other, promptly.
And his cruel eyes gleamed as he watched the prisoner.
"Do you deny the shooting?" he demanded.
"No," said Clif, "I do not."
"You find it easier to say that the men pretended to be Americans."
"I find it easier because it is truer," was the cadet"s answer.
And then there were several moments of silence while the three actors of this little drama watched each other eagerly.
Ignacio was fairly beside himself with triumph. He could scarcely keep himself quiet, and under his bushy eyebrows, his dark eyes gleamed triumphantly.
He had played his trump card. And he had his victim where he wanted him at last. To watch him under the torture of his present position was almost as good as to watch him under the torture of the knife.
For what could he do? He might bl.u.s.ter and protest (all to Ignacio"s glee) but n.o.body would believe him.
For Ignacio knew that the Spanish officer was glad enough to believe the story the spy told him. His prejudice and his hatred of Americans would turn the scale.
And it would be fine to punish a Yankee pig for such a crime as this.
As for Clif, he was filled with a kind of dull despair; he knew the odds against him, and realized that his struggles would be those of a caged animal. He had done nothing but his duty and the law of nations would have justified him. But Ignacio"s lie upon that one small point (of what the Spanish gunboat had done) was enough to make him liable to death.
The officer seemed to realize the smallness of difference, for he turned to Ignacio.
"Are you perfectly sure," he demanded, "that you heard our vessel announce her ident.i.ty?"
"I am, senor."
"And what was her name?"
Clif"s eyes brightened at that; he thought Ignacio would be caught there.
But the cunning fellow was prepared, and answered instantly.
"The Regina."
He had chosen the name of a Spanish gunboat he knew to be at sea; and the ruse worked.
"What more can you expect?" demanded the officer of Clif.
And then the cadet looked up to make the last effort for his life.
"As I have told you," he said, "this fellow"s story is false. And now I will tell you why he has done it. He has long been an enemy of mine, and he is making an effort to ruin me. I foiled him----"
"If you are going to tell me about that attempt of his to kill your Yankee admiral," interrupted the officer, "I know it already."
And Ignacio gave a chuckle of glee.
"In fact," the officer added, "I have learned of all your adventures, young man. And I have no doubt you consider yourself quite a hero after what you have done against Spain. But you will live to regret it, I think."