Father Ignacio first addressed them.

He stated that the English officer had come on a mission from the earl, and had arrived accidentally while the fight was going on, and that he was of opinion that the French offer of surrender should be accepted.

A murmur of dissent went round the circle.
"I was at first of your opinion," the priest said, "but the reasons which this English officer has given me in support of his advice have brought me round to his way of thinking.

I will leave him to state them to you." Jack now rose to his feet, and repeated the arguments which he had used to the priest.

He gathered from the faces of his hearers that, although some were convinced that mercy would be the best policy, others were still bent upon revenge.