"The cap'n gave him tit for tat, all right," asserted William Gordon. "We've got a verse or two of Yankee Doodle in us yet!"
They finished supper and shoved back their cowhide benches.
"We're to go where we plaze, ain't it?" queried Hugh. "So long as we keep bounds? Well, I'm for seein' the town whilst I can."
"We're with you, old hoss," they cried, and trooped into the court.
First thing, they found that their guns had vanished.
Freegift scratched his shaggy head.
"Now, a pretty trick. We're disarmed. They come it over us proper, I say."
Spanish soldiers were passing to and fro. Some stared, some laughed, but nobody offered an explanation or seemed to understand the questions.
"That wasn't in the bargain, was it?" Alex Roy demanded. "The cap'n'll have a word or two of the right kind ready, when he learns. Anyhow, we'll soon find out whether we're prisoners as well. Come on."
The gate at the entrance to the court was open. The guard there did not stop them. They had scarcely stepped out, to the square, when loitering soldiers and civilians, chatting with women envel-
