of Moreño's opinion, that the sooner I got away the better.

"I consider it my duty to watch over your safety," he said. "I should be
sorry indeed were any harm to befall an English caballero who has risked
his life to serve us and brought us such good news."

"What harm can befall me, now that I have got rid of that packet?" I
asked.

"In a city under martial law and full of spies, there is no telling what
may happen. Being, moreover, a stranger, you are a marked man. It is not
everybody who, like the commandant of La Guayra, will believe that you are
travelling for your own pleasure. What man in his senses would choose a
time like this for a scientific ramble in Venezuela?"

And then Señor Carera explained that he could arrange for me to leave
Caracas almost immediately, under excellent guidance. The _teniente_ of
Colonel Mejia, one of the guerilla leaders, was in the town on a secret
errand, and would set out on his return journey in three days. If I liked
I might go with him, and I could not have a better guide or a more
trustworthy companion.

It was a chance not to be lost. I told Señor Carera that I should only be
too glad to profit by the opportunity, and that on any day and at any hour
which he might name I would be ready.

"I will see the _teniente_, and let you know further in the course of
to-morrow," said Carera, after a moment's thought. "The affair will
require nice management. There are patrols on every road. You must be well
mounted, and I suppose you will want a mule for your baggage."