136 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



threatening attitude in the city, and begging 

 that the ship might remain for the present at 

 San Bias. 



The difficulty now was to satisfy all parties ; 

 in point of fact, to be in two places at the same 

 time. It was evident we could not well leave 

 San Bias, and equally plain that we were 

 wanted at Mazatlan, where the foreign mer- 

 chants would be in need of assistance in the 

 event of the city be'ng captured by Lozada's 

 men. I adopted a compromise. The troops 

 which had already started, would, I was aware, 

 take five or six days of rapid marching to reach 

 Mazatlan, whilst we could do it in twenty- four 

 hours by sea. 



I therefore sent back a reply to say that the 

 " Reindeer " would remain forty-eight hours 

 longer at San Bias, so as to allow time for any 

 families to leave the city, after which I should 

 proceed without further delay to Mazatlan. 



As nothing more could be done for the 

 present, I went out shooting. San Bias is one 

 of the worst places on the coast; the anchorage 



