"Glad to welcome you on board, sir," Captain Trefethen greeted Francis with a white s***h of teeth between his smiling lips. "But who is this man?" He nodded his head to indicate Henry.
"A friend, captain, a guest of mine, in fact, a kinsman."
"And who, sir, may I make bold to ask, are those gentlemen riding along the beach in fashion so lively?"
Henry looked quickly at the group of horsemen galloping along the sand, unceremoniously took the binoculars from the skipper's hand, and gazed through them.
"It's the Jefe himself in the lead," he reported to Leoncia and her menfolk, "with a bunch of gendarmes." He uttered a sharp exclamation, stared through the glasses intently, then shook his head. "Almost I thought I made out our friend Torres."
"With our enemies!" Leoncia cried incredulou
