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                         ROGER THE BOLD

               _A TALE OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO_

                 BY LT.-COLONEL F. S. BRERETON

    Author of "The Dragon of Pekin" "Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout" &c.

    _ILLUSTRATED BY STANLEY L. WOOD_

    BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED
    LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY




[Illustration: "HE LEAPED UPON THE TOP OF THE BARRICADE"]




CONTENTS


    CHAP.                                          PAGE

        I. THE IMAGE OF THE SUN                       9

       II. OFF TO THE TERRA FIRMA                    24

      III. ROGER THE LIEUTENANT                      41

       IV. THE ISLAND OF CUBA                        61

        V. A VALUABLE CAPTURE                        80

       VI. A STRANGER COMES ABOARD                  102

      VII. THE HAND OF THE TRAITOR                  121

     VIII. A CITY BY THE WATER                      139

       IX. LED TO THE SACRIFICE                     160

        X. ROGER AT BAY                             179

       XI. NEWS OF FERNANDO CORTES                  199

      XII. THE SPANIARDS LAY AN AMBUSH              218

     XIII. A SENTENCE OF DEATH                      237

      XIV. ROGER IS TRUE TO HIS COMRADES            257

       XV. BACK TO MEXICO                           274

      XVI. THE FIRST ENCOUNTER                      294

     XVII. A FLEET OF BRIGANTINES                   313

    XVIII. THE DEFENCE OF THE CAUSEWAYS             330

      XIX. ALVAREZ PROBES THE SECRET                347

       XX. A RACE FOR THE OCEAN                     367




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                           Facing Page

    HE LEAPED UPON THE TOP OF THE BARRICADE              _Frontispiece_

    THE GOLDEN DISK                                                 18

    ROGER SENT HIM ROLLING INTO THE UNDERWOOD                       88

    THE BLADE FELL TRUE ON THE SOLDIER'S HEAD, DROPPING
    HIM LIKE A STONE                                               232

    THE REMAINDER WERE QUICKLY IN FULL FLIGHT                      288

    THE SPANIARD WAS STAGGERED                                     368

    Map of Part of Mexico                               _in page_  146

    Map showing Mexico City and Surroundings            _in page_  169




ROGER THE BOLD




CHAPTER I

The Image of the Sun


"Hi! Hi! Hi! Your attention, if it please you. Gentles and people, I
pray you lend your assistance to one who is in need of help, but who
seeks not for alms. But little is asked of you, and that can be done in
the space of a minute or more. 'Tis but to decipher a letter attached to
this plaque. 'Tis written in some foreign tongue--in Spanish, I should
venture. A silver groat is offered to the one who will translate."

The speaker, a short, large-nosed man of middle age, had taken his stand
upon an upturned barrel, for otherwise he would have been hidden amongst
the people who thronged that part of the city of London, and would have
found it impossible to attract their attention. But as it was, his head
and shoulders reared themselves above the crowd, and he stood there the
observed of all observers. He was dressed in a manner which suggested a
calling partly attached to the sea and partly to do with the profession
of arms, and if there had been any doubt in the minds of those who
watched him, and listened to his harangue, his language, which was
plentifully mingled with coarse nautical expressions of that day, and
his weather-beaten and rugged features, would have assured them at once
that he at least looked to ships and to the sea for his living. Peter
Tamworth was indeed a sailor, every inch of him, but he had been
schooled to other things, and had learned to use arms at times and in
places where failure to protect himself would have led to dire
consequences.

He was a merry fellow, too, for he laughed and joked with the crowd, his
eyes rolling in a peculiar manner all his own. His nose was large, huge
in fact, and of a colour which seemed