Part 16 (2/2)

_D_. But he will be in a great rage if I do not.

_W_. Who will he be in a great rage at?

_D_. At you.

_W_. What occasion have we to value that?

_D_. Why, he will send all his army down against you.

_W_. And what if they were all here just now? What dost thou suppose they could do to us?

_D_. He would expect they should burn your s.h.i.+ps and bring you all to him.

_W_. Tell him, if he should try, he may catch a Tartar.

_D_. He has a world of men.

_W_. Has he any s.h.i.+ps?

_D_. No, he has no s.h.i.+ps.

_W_. Nor boats?

_D_. No, nor boats.

_W_. Why, what then do you think we care for his men? What canst thou do now to us, if thou hadst a hundred thousand with thee?

_D_. Oh! they might set you on fire.

_W_. Set us a-firing, thou meanest; that they might indeed; but set us on fire they shall not; they may try, at their peril, and we shall make mad work with your hundred thousand men, if they come within reach of our guns, I a.s.sure thee.

_D_. But what if the king gives you hostages for your safety?

_W_. Whom can he give but mere slaves and servants like thyself, whose lives he no more values than we an English hound?

_D_. Whom do you demand for hostages?

_W_. Himself and your wors.h.i.+p.

_D_. What would you do with him?

_W_. Do with him as he would do with us--cut his head off.

_D_. And what would you do with me?

_W_. Do with thee? We would carry thee home into thine own country; and, though thou deservest the gallows, we would make a man and a Christian of thee again, and not do by thee as thou wouldst have done by us--betray thee to a parcel of merciless, savage pagans, that know no G.o.d, nor how to show mercy to man.

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