Part 38 (1/2)
”Well done, Jack! Let's have the wine, nevertheless, and then down to set a guard on the cabin doors for fear of plundering”
”Better go down, and see that nothing is thrown overboard by Spaniards As for plundering, I will settle that”
And A the men
”Muster the men, boatswain, and count them”
”All here, sir, but the six poor felloho are laid forward”
”Now, my men,” said Amyas, ”for three years you and I have wandered on the face of the earth, seeking our fortune, and we have found it at last, thanks be to God! Noas our promise and vohich we rant us good fortune, and bring us hoain with a prize? Was it not, that the dead should share with the living; and that every o to hisor his orphans, or if he had none, to his parents?”
”It was, sir,” said Yeo, ”and I trust that the Lord will give these h of His providences by this time to fear Him”
”I doubt them not; but I remind them of it The Lord has put into our hands a rich prize; and ith the gold which we have already, we are well paid for all our labors Let us thank Him with fervent hearts as soon as the sun rises; and in the meanwhile, remember all, that whosoever plunders on his private account, robs not the adventurers merely, but the orphan and the hich is to rob God; and e of gold, and brought down God's anger on the whole army of Israel For me, lest you should think ive it up freely into the common stock, for the use of the whole shi+p's creho have stood by h weal and woe, as men never stood before, as I believe, by any captain So, now to prayers, lads, and then to eat our breakfast”
So, to the Spaniards' surprise (who lish were atheists), to prayers they went
After which Briuese steith such energy that, by seven o'clock, the latter worthy appeared on deck, and, with profound reverences, announced to ”The lishman,” that breakfast was ready in the state-cabin
”You will do us the honor of accouest, sir, or our host, if you prefer the title,” said Amyas to the commandant, who stood by
”Pardon, senor: but honor forbids me to eat with one who has offered to me the indelible insult of bonds”
”Oh!” said A off his hat, ”then pray accept on the spot ies for all which has passed, and nities which you have unfortunately endured, were owing altogether to the necessities of war, and not to any wish to hurt the feelings of so valiant a soldier and gentle and shrugging his shoulders--for, indeed, he too was very hungry; while Cary whispered to Amyas-- ”You willhuives me that we shall hear black news, and have, perhaps, to do a black deed yet, on board here Senor, I follow you”
So they went down, and found the bishop, as by this time unbound, seated in a corner of the cabin, his hands fallen on his knees, his eyes staring on vacancy, while the two priests stood as close against the wall as they could squeeze the up a ceaseless mutter of prayers
”Your holiness will breakfast with us, of course; and these two frocked gentle them all hospitality, as yet”
There was a marked emphasis on the last tords, which made both entlemen His lordshi+p the bishop will donext to me”
The bishop seemed to revive slowly as he snuffed the savory stea mechanically, subsided into the chair which Amyas offered hiht
”A little of this kid, my lord? No--ah--Friday, I recollect Some of that turtle-fin, then Will, serve his lordshi+p; pass the cassava-bread up, Jack! Senor colass of wine? You need it after your valiant toils To the health of all brave soldiers--and a toast from your own Spanish proverb, 'To-day to me, tomorrow to thee!'”
”I drink it, brave senor Your courtesy shows you the worthy countryman of General Drake, and his brave lieutenant”
”Drake! Did you know hilishmen at once
”Too well, too well--” and he would have continued; but the bishop burst out-- ”Ah, senor coain! Have you no mercy? To sit between another pair of--, and entleman, whose mouth had been full of turtle the whole ti, and was only saved froh! The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel, and their precious ballishman! May I ask you to pass those limes?--Ah! what is turtle without lime?--Even as a fat old man without money! Nudus intravi, nudus exeo--ah!”
”But what of Drake?”
”Do you not know, sir, that he and his fleet, only last year, swept the whole of this coast, and took, with shaustine, and--I see you are too courteous, senors, to express before ht to feel But whence come you, sir? Froic, art-ic!” moaned the bishop
”Your holiness! It is scarcely prudent to speak thus here,” said the commandant, as nevertheless much of the saht, senor, about the taking of Cartagena”
The commandant blushed, and stammered out somewhat--”That it was excusable in hiious and curious a valor had not sprung from mortal source”
”No more it did, senor,” said Jack Briht our 'hands to war, and our fingers to fight'”
The commandant bowed stiffly ”You will excuse me, sir preacher: but I a to be alone the cause of Heaven But, senor captain, how caic after you came on board, I, alas! can testify but too well: but what spirit--whether good or evil, I ask not--brought you on board, and whence? Where is your shi+p? I thought that all Drake's squadron had left six o”
”Our shi+p, senor, has lain this three years rotting on the coast near Cape Codera”
”Ah! we heard of that bold adventure--but we thought you all lost in the interior”
”You did? Can you tell overnor of La Guayra may be now?”
”The Senor Don Guzman de Soto,” said the commandant, in a somewhat constrained tone, ”is said to be at present in Spain, having thrown up his office in consequence of do anything”
Aed to ask more: but he knew that the well-bred Spaniard would tell hi which concerned another man's wife; and went on
”What befell us after, I tell you frankly”
And A at Guayra to the passage down the Magdalena The commandant lifted up his hands
”Were it not forbidden to me, as a Catholic, most invincible senor, I should say that the Divine protection has indeed--”
”Ah,” said one of the friars, ”that you could be brought, senors, to render thanks for your miraculous preservation to her to whom alone it is due, Mary, the fount of h without her as yet,” said Amyas, bluntly
”The Lord raised up Nebuchadnezzar of old to punish the sins of the Jewish Church; and He has raised up these men to punish ours!” said Fray Gerundio
”But Nebuchadnezzar fell, and so rowled the other to himself Jack overheard him
”I say, my lord bishop,” called he frolish custouests be as rude as they like; but perhaps your lordshi+p will hint to these two friars, that if they wish to keep whole skins, they will keep civil tongues”
”Be silent, asses!over the wine, who are you, that you cannot eat dirt as well as your betters?”