"You could get from Caracas into the interior, and do the cause an
important service."

"How?"

Señor Moreña explained that the patriots of the capital, being sorely
oppressed by the Spaniards, were losing courage, and he wished greatly to
send them a message of hope and the assurance that help was at hand. It
was also most desirable that the insurgent leaders on the field should be
informed of the organization of a British liberating Legion, and of other
measures which were being taken to afford them relief and turn the tide of
victory in their favor.

But to communicate these tidings to the parties concerned was by no means
easy. The post was obviously quite out of the question, and no Spanish
creole could land at any port held by the Royalists without the almost
certainty of being promptly strangled or shot. "An Englishman,
however--especially an Englishman who had fought under Wellington in
Spain--might undertake the mission with comparative impunity," said Señor
Moreña.

"I understand perfectly," I answered. "I have to go in the character of an
ordinary travelling Englishman, and act as an emissary of the insurgent
junta. But if my true character is detected, what then?"

"That is not at all likely, Mr. Fortescue."

"Yet the unlikely happens sometimes--happens generally, in fact. Suppose
it does in the present instance?"