By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico Read online

  Chapter 2: Bound To Unknown Parts.

  When Reuben Hawkshaw returned to the chamber where Diggory Beggswas in conference with the other three traders, he found that thesehad finished their calculations.

  "The matter is settled, Reuben, as far as we are concerned. Mythree friends and myself will go equal shares in the matter. Thevalue of the Swan is to be taken as part of my contribution, and ifshe ever comes back again, as we hope she may do, that sum will bededucted from my share of the profits, due allowance being made forwhat damage or injury she may have suffered. You, it is understood,will take a share of the profits equal to ours, and one-third sharewill, in the first place, be set aside to be divided among theother officers and crew. It will be left entirely to you to chooseyour officers and men, and I need not tell you the sort of fellowsto pick out for such a business.

  "I shall see that the Swan is provided with new rigging and gear,and that there is a plentiful store of all things on board, torepair any damage you may suffer from storm or foe. My good friendshere are willing that the purchasing of all the stores requiredshall be in my hands, and you shall yourself test the quality ofall the provisions before the bargains are concluded, so as to seethat everything is sweet and wholesome. My friends here will notappear in the affair at all, for if folks saw that four of us wereconcerned in the venture, they would think that it was somethingquite out of ordinary.

  "All preparation will be made as quietly as possible, and it willbe given out that the Swan is going to make a voyage to the Levant,and that she will carry a stronger battery of guns than usual tobeat off any Moorish pirates she may meet by the way. As it isknown that she had a sharp fight, coming homeward, it will seemonly natural that we should add to her armament. I shall write upto my agent in London to purchase for me the articles required totrade with the natives, and bid him send them round here by sea,well packed in bales. If we were to purchase so many strangearticles, here, it would give rise to talk; for people would wonderwith whom we intended to trade such goods.

  "Tomorrow morning you and I will make out a list of what you deemadvisable for the purpose."

  For another hour the party sat and talked; for, now that the othertraders had fully determined to go into the venture, they werequite excited over it.

  "Truly if I could but be spared from my business, here, I wouldgladly go with you myself," Master Streatham said. "I have alwayshad a longing to see strange climes, and as no Englishman has yetset eyes on these countries you are about to visit, Friend Reuben,I would gladly be by your side, and take share in your perils andadventures."

  "I doubt not your heart and courage, Master Jonas," Reuben replied,"and would warrant that you would behave doughtily, in case offight with Spaniard or Indian; but I question whether you wouldsupport the hardships of the voyage, as cheerfully as you would thedangers. Although you may store the Swan with the best provisionsthat money can buy, a diet of naught but biscuit and salt meatpalls after some weeks--to say nothing of some months--of it; andthis all the more in a hot climate, where the appetite weakens, andone comes to pine for dainty cakes such as our Devonshire wives arefamous for."

  "Yes, I fear I never should support that," Master Streatham, whowas a large corpulent man, mightily fond of the pleasures of thetable, agreed with a sigh.

  "Besides, Friend Jonas," Diggory Beggs put in, "Mistress Tabithawould have her voice in the matter; and however much your spiritwould lead you to such an adventure, I doubt whether she would letyou put foot on board."

  "No, it is not for us to be running after adventure," NicholasTurnbull said. "In the first place, we are sober citizens, and haveour wives and families to think about, and our business and theaffairs of the town; and in the next place, even could we leave allthese, Master Reuben Hawkshaw would not thank us for our company.Every foot of space is of value on the ship; and men who take upspace and consume food, and can neither set a sail nor work acannon, are but useless encumbrances."

  "You have spoken truly, Master Nicholas," Reuben said bluntly. "Inthe matter of a trip to London, or even as far as the LowCountries, we could accommodate your worshipful honors well enough;but on a journey like this, any man who cannot, if needs be, drinkbilge water and eat shoe leather, is best at home. I took a voyageonce--it is many years ago, now--to Amsterdam, and the owner, notmy good cousin here, but another, took a fancy to go with me; andhis wife must needs accompany him, and verily, before that voyagewas over, I wished I was dead.

  "I was no longer captain of the ship. My owner was my captain, andhis wife was his. We were forever putting into port for fresh breadand meat, milk and eggs, for she could eat none other. If the windgot up but ever so little, we had to run into shelter and anchoruntil the sea was smooth. The manners of the sailors shocked her.She would scream at night when a rat ran across her, and would loseher appetite if a living creature, of which, as usual, the ship wasfull, fell from a beam onto her platter. I was tempted, more thanonce, to run the ship on to a rock and make an end of us all.

  "No, no: a day's sail out from Plymouth, in a freshly launchedship, on a fine day, with a store of good victuals and a few flasksof good wine, is a right merry business; but farther than that Iwish not to see a passenger, on board any ship which I command."

  The others laughed.

  "Well, Master Diggory, we must be going," Nicholas Turnbull said;"it is getting late. Tomorrow I will come over in the forenoon, asyou suggest; and we will go through these lists more carefully, andtalk over prices and see what bulk they will occupy, and discussmany other matters with the aid and advice of Master Hawkshaw.There is no occasion for undue haste; and yet, if the thing is tobe done, the sooner it be done the better."

  As the party went out, Reuben found his son waiting outside thedoor.

  "Well, father?" he asked anxiously, when the three merchants hadwalked briskly off towards their homes.

  "It is all settled, Roger. As soon as everything is prepared, theSwan will sail for the Spanish main."

  Roger threw his cap high in the air, with a lusty shout thatstartled the better passers-by, hurrying towards their homes; forit was now long after dark, and although the town watch patrolledthe streets regularly, prudent citizens did not care to be abroadafter nightfall.

  "You silly boy;" Reuben said; "you have lost your cap."

  "Nay, I heard it fall somewhere here," Roger said, searching;"besides, a cap is a small matter, one way or other.

  "Ah! Here it is, floating in a pool of mud; however, a bucket ofwater will set it all right, in the morning.

  "O father! I feel wild with joy, only to think that all we havetalked over together is going to be true, and that we are to be thefirst Englishmen who ever saw the beautiful islands they talkabout, and the natives with their feathers and strange attire.And--"

  "And the Spaniards with their loaded guns, and their dungeons andgibbets," Reuben Hawkshaw put in.

  "Not for us, father. The bottom of the sea maybe, but not a Spanishdungeon."

  "I hope not, my lad. Still, no man can see the future. However, Iam right glad that we are to try this adventure. It is a gloriousone, and will bring us honor in the eyes of all Englishmen if wesucceed, to say nothing of wealth.

  "But mind that you let not your spirits run away with your tongue.No word of this must be spoken to a soul, nor must any mention bemade of it in the hearing of my Cousin Mercy, or the girls. Thefour partners in the adventure have all taken a solemn promise toeach other, that they will not breathe a word of it even to theirwives, averring that women could never be trusted to keep a secret;though as far as I have seen of them, methinks a woman can keep abridle on her tongue just as well as a man--and indeed, somewhatbetter, since they do not loosen them with cider, or wine, orstrong waters. But I believe, myself, it was not so much that theydoubted whether their wives would keep the secret, as whether theywould approve of the enterprise; and that they made the contracttogether, in order that each might, afterwards, be able to assurehis wife that, for his part, he would gladly have t
aken her intohis confidence, but that he was obliged to fall in with the wishesof his partners.

  "It is a strange thing, Roger, but methinks that, whereas most menbehave valiantly enough when it comes to blows with an enemy, agreat proportion are but cowards with their wives."

  "But why should they be, father?"

  "That is an easy question to ask, Roger, but a difficult one toanswer. Maybe you will understand the matter better, some day, whenyou have taken a wife to yourself. In some matters there is nodoubt that women's wits outrun those of men, and that they have awonderful sharpness of tongue. Now a man, when things go wrong withhim, speaks out loudly and roundly; he storms and he rages, butwhen it is over, there is an end of it. Now a woman is not likethat. She seems to ponder the matter over in her heart, and tobring it out as it were piecemeal--throwing little darts at youwhen you don't expect it; saying little things to which, from theirsuddenness, you can find no reply; and pricking you furiously allover, until you are ready to roar out with pain and vexation. Yousee, Roger, a prick hurteth more than a great cut."

  "I should not have thought that, father."

  "That is because you have not thought the matter over, Roger. Inthat fight with the Moors many of the men were sorely cut andwounded, but you heard no cry from them; they only set their teeththe harder, and smote more furiously upon their foes; but there wasno one of them all but, had he sat down suddenly on a small nail,would have roared out like a bull, and have sworn lustily for agood half hour. So it is in domestic matters: the man rages andstorms when things go wrong; and his wife, if she be a woman ofjudgment, holds her peace until it is over, knowing well enoughthat he will be at her mercy, afterwards. Then she sets to work,like those gnats that came on board at Genoa, that they callmosquitoes, and startles him with shrill buzzings in his ears, andpricketh him in the tenderest spots she can find; drawing but thesmallest speck of blood, but causing an itching that makes himready to tear his flesh.

  "Your mother, Roger, was one of the best of women. She was a goodhousewife, and an affectionate. I do not know that I ever saw hergreatly ruffled in temper, but there were times when I would flyfrom my house, and not come up from my work on board, until it wastime to go straight away to bed, so did she prick and sting me withher tongue; and that not shrilly or with anger, but with littlethings, let slip as it were unawares, and with an air of ignorancethat they in any way applied to me.

  "No, Roger, if you will take my advice you will make your ship yourmistress. She will have her ways, but you will learn them, and willknow just how much helm she requires, and how the sail should betrimmed; but with a woman no man attains to this knowledge, and ifyou take my advice, you will give them a wide berth.

  "I know," he went on, in answer to Roger's merry laugh, "that thisis a matter in which no man will trust to other experience than hisown. Every man who takes a woman to wife thinks that he can manageher, and goes into the matter with a light heart, as if it were amere pleasure excursion on which he is embarking; whereas, intruth, it is a voyage as full of dangers and perils as that uponwhich we are about to adventure.

  "Now let us turn back to our lodging, for I have nearly gone on myface four times already, in these deep ruts and holes. I would thatthe councilors of this town could see the streets of Genoa, orCadiz, or Amsterdam! They might then try to mend the ways ofPlymouth, and make them somewhat less perilous to passengers, afterdark."

  Work began in earnest upon the following day. A number ofshipwrights were set upon the hull of the Swan, which was to bethoroughly overhauled, caulked and pitched, within and without. Themasts and rigging were to be carefully looked to, and every defectrepaired. A new suit of sails was ordered, the old ones to bepatched where the Moorish shot had torn them, so as to be of use asa second suit, did any misadventure happen to the others.

  James Standing, the first mate, took charge of these matters;Reuben Hawkshaw assisting Diggory Beggs in all things relating tothe stores. Greatly were the provision merchants of the townsurprised at the quality of the provisions that Master Beggsordered for the use of the Swan. Nothing but fine flour of the lastyear's grinding; freshly killed beef and pork, to be carefullysalted down in barrels; and newly baked biscuits would satisfyReuben Hawkshaw. They could scarce believe that such articles couldbe meant for use on shipboard; for, as a rule, the very cheapestand worst quality of everything was considered as amply good enoughfor the use of sailors.

  Then, too, the cider and beer must be neither thin nor sour, butsweet and of good body. Surely, Master Beggs must have gone off hishead, thus to furnish his ship! For never before had a vesselsailed out of Plymouth harbor, provided after this fashion. Anample store of ropes and cordage, and of all matters required for aship's equipage, were also laid in. To all questions as to thesurprising lavishness of cost, Diggory replied:

  "I would have the ship well found in all matters. It was but theother day that the Antelope returned from a voyage to the Levant.She had lost a third of her crew from scurvy, and of the rest butsix were strong enough to pull at a rope when she came into port.Did not the women follow Master Skimpole, her owner, through thestreets, and cry after him that he was the murderer of theirhusbands, by reason of the foul victual that he had provided fortheir use? No, no, it will cost more to start with, but it will becheaper in the end; for a weak crew often means the losing of aship, besides the loss of a good name. I have never carried economyto such lengths as did Master Skimpole; but I am resolved, in thefuture, that those who sail in my ships shall have good andwholesome fare. Then, if misfortune happens, no one will be able topoint to me in the streets, and say that I fed my men worse thandogs, and thought only of my profits and nothing of the lives ofthose who served me."

  Indeed Master Diggory, after a short time, quite forgot that allthis provision for the health and comfort of the crew was but theoutcome of Reuben Hawkshaw's insistence; and came to regardhimself, with a feeling of pride, as a man possessed of greaterbenevolence than his fellow merchants.

  A week after the refitting of the Swan was completed she wasafloat, with a large proportion of her stores in her hold. A shipfrom London came round and took up her berth alongside of her,discharging large numbers of bales and cases into her; togetherwith six cannon, in addition to those she before carried, and alarge store of ammunition. This naturally gave rise to fresh talkin the town.

  "They say that you are fitting the Swan out for a pirate, MasterBeggs," one of the merchants said to him; "for twelve cannon aremore than a peaceful trader can positively require."

  "Yes, if she is to meet with none but peaceful people, neighbor;but if she meets with those who are not peaceful, at all, she needsjust as much defense as if she were a ship of war. Master Hawkshawhad much ado to beat off the Moorish pirates who attacked him onhis last voyage; and as the present one will be longer, and moredangerous, he has put stress upon me to add much to her armament.She will have valuable cargo on her return voyage, and he hasstrongly urged upon me to provide such means of defense as mayensure her being able to beat off any who meddle with her; besides,as far as I can read the course of politics, it seems to me thatour alliance with Spain is well nigh at an end, and before the Swanis on her return we may be at war with her. This in itself is goodreason why I should give my master the means of defending himselfstoutly.

  "The money spent on the guns is not wasted. They will be none theworse for keeping; and should the Swan, on her next voyage, go intoa safer line of trade, I can sell them for as much as they now costme."

  In the meantime, Reuben Hawkshaw had been carefully and quietlypicking a crew. He was going to take with him fully twice as manyas had, before, sufficed to navigate the Swan. Of the forty men whohad sailed with him he had lost nine, and five others had notsufficiently recovered from their wounds to sail with him again. Ofthe remainder he engaged twenty, all of whom were stout and willingfellows who would, he knew, sail with him wherever he bid them. Theremaining six, being given to grumbling, he would have none of,good sailors though they were.
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  "Half-a-dozen grumblers are enough to spoil a whole crew," he said.

  There were, therefore, some sixty new hands to engage. Towardsthese he found eighteen who had sailed with him on previousvoyages, and were glad enough to rejoin him; for he had the name ofbeing a good captain, considerate to his men; one who would beobeyed, but who did not harass his crew, and did all he could, inreason, to make them comfortable.

  The others were picked up carefully, one by one. For this purposehe took some of his best men aside, and confided to them,privately, that the present voyage was to be out of the ordinary,and that he needed not only stout fellows but willing and cheerfulones: men who would take hardships without grumbling, and who, witha prospect of good reward in addition to their pay, would gowithout question where they were told, and do as they wereordered--were it to singe the beard of the Grand Turk, himself, inhis own palace. He charged them, therefore, to find for him men ofthis kind, among their relations, or men who had sailed with him.

  "I would rather," he said, "have landsmen, providing they arestrong and stout hearted, than sailors, however skillful, who aregiven to grumbling and disaffection. We shall have plenty of goodsailors on board, and the others will soon learn their business;therefore, choose you not for seamanship, but rather forwillingness and good temper. And broach not the subject to anyunless you feel assured, beforehand, that they will be willing tojoin; for I want not the matter talked about. Therefore those whojoin are to keep the matter private, and are not to come on boarduntil the night before we get up our anchors. We are taking a muchstronger crew than usual, for we have many guns that need working,if it comes to fighting."

  As these instructions were given separately, none of the twelve menhe spoke to knew that the others had received similar instructions;and that instead of forty men, as usual, the Swan was to carrynearly ninety.

  As to the officers, Reuben Hawkshaw needed none others than thosewho had before sailed with him. The two mates had each been withhim for upwards of ten years, and had learned their business underhis eye; and he intended, although he had not as yet told him so,to rate Roger as third mate. His boatswain would go in the samecapacity as before; and he shipped, as gunner, one who had servedfor some years in a king's ship in that rank, and was wellacquainted with the working of ordnance.

  Mistress Mercy had, of course, heard from her gossips of the talkthat was going on, concerning the unusual preparations that werebeing made, by her husband, for the forthcoming voyage of the Swan;and the trader was often put to his wits' end by her questions onthe subject. His professions of benevolence towards the crew, andhis explanations of his reasons for her powerful armament hadsufficed for others, but they by no means satisfied her.

  "Do you think, Diggory Beggs," she asked, indignantly, "that afterall these years I do not know you as well as I do the contents ofmy linen chest? I have never before known you open your pursestrings one inch wider than was necessary. Have I not always had toask, until I am verily ashamed, before I can get a new gown formyself, or a decent cloak for the girls? You have ever been hardfisted with your money, and never disposed to spend a groat, saveon good occasion. There is not the wife of a trader of yourstanding in Plymouth but makes a braver show than I do, when wewalk on the hoe on holidays or feast days.

  "There is something at the bottom of all this I don't understand;but mark you, Diggory, I am not to be kept in the dark. As yourwife, I have a right to know why you are throwing about good andlawful money. I toil and slave to keep your house decent andrespectable, at small cost; but I shall do so no longer. If you canafford to throw money into the gutter in one way, you can inanother; and people will cry shame on you, when, as they say, youare pampering up your sailors, in such manner as will causediscontent among all others in the port, while your wife anddaughters are walking about in homespun!"

  Mistress Mercy did not succeed in extracting the information shedesired from her husband, who was, however, forced to fall backupon the defense that he had his reasons, but that he was pledgedto say nothing concerning them.

  "Pledged!" she replied, scornfully. "And to whom are you pledged, Ishould like to know? I thought you were pledged to me, and that youwere bound to cherish and comfort me; which means, of course, thatyou were to have no secrets from me, and to tell me all that Idesire to know."

  But though Diggory kept the secret, albeit with much trouble; andwith many misgivings as to what would happen in the future, whenhis wife came to learn of the important venture he had undertaken,without consulting her; she nevertheless succeeded so far that, inorder to pacify her, he was obliged to allow her a free hand inchoosing, from his magazines, such pieces of cloth and silk forherself and the girls as she had a fancy to. This permission shedid not abuse as to quality, for she knew well enough what wasbecoming, in the way of dress, for the wife of a merchant; and thatit was not seemly, for such a one, to attire herself in apparelsuited for the wives of nobles, and ladies of the Court. ButDiggory groaned in spirit, although he prudently said nothing, atseeing that she took advantage of the present position to carry offa store which would amply suffice, for at least two or three years'wearing, for herself and the girls.

  "You have done me a parlous ill turn, Cousin Reuben," he said sadlyto his cousin, "by bidding me hide this matter from my wife. A fewmore such secrets, and I should be a ruined man. Never before haveI known her seized with a desire for such prodigality of vesture. Ihave looked upon her, all these years, as a sober and discreetwoman, well content to wear what was quiet and becoming to herstation; but now--truly my heart melted when I saw how she fingeredthe goods, and desired John, my assistant, to cut off such lengthsas she desired from some of my goodliest cloths."

  "Tut, tut, cousin; you exaggerate things greatly. It is no wonderthat Mistress Mercy, seeing that you are flourishing greatly intrade, and able to spend your money freely, should deem it butfitting that she, as your wife, should make a braver show thanheretofore. Besides, the girls are growing up, and need to be alittle bright and gay. Why, man, there are many London citizens,who could not count their broad pieces with you, whose wives spendmany times as much, every year, on their attire as Mistress Mercyhas cost you now."

  "Well, well, Reuben, there may be something in what you say; but nomore secrets, or there is no saying what wild extravagance shemight take in her head, next time. She might quarrel with the houseand insist upon a new one, furnished from top to bottom; or set herheart on a coach, with running footmen. No, no more secrets, or Ishall be having her so set herself up that I shall be no moremaster of my own house."

  Roger was plied with many questions by his cousins, who triedalternately coaxing, and pouting, to learn from him why it wasthat, as all told them, preparations were being made for the voyageof the Swan such as were unknown, before, at Plymouth. All he couldreply was that the ship was only being victualed as all ships oughtto be whose owners cared, as they should do, for the comfort andhealth of their crews. More than that he could not say. He wouldnot deny that he had certain ideas of his own as to the voyage; butif Cousin Diggory and his father thought it well to make no talkabout the matter, it was not for him to say what were his thoughtsabout it.

  "But we would tell nobody," Dorothy urged. "Don't you think wecould keep a secret, as well as you can?"

  "That is just it, Cousin Dorothy! Don't you see, if I were to tellyou, it would be a proof that I could not keep a secret? And then,if you told it, I could not blame you for blabbing. I don't saythere is any secret; but if there is, I must keep it."

  "I know that you are going into danger, Reuben; else you would nothave all those great guns they say there are, on board."

  "The great guns will keep us out of danger, you see. The more guns,the less danger."

  "Come away, Agnes," Dorothy said, with an assumption ofstateliness. "Cousin Roger is altogether too smart for us. Let himkeep his secrets, if he will; and let us go and help mother withher sewing."

  And so, for the last two or three days before the Swan sailed,there
was a coolness between Roger and the girls, as well asbetween Diggory Beggs and his wife.

  At last the day came when everything was complete, the water casksfilled, and the last packet and bale stored away in the hold; andeven Reuben Hawkshaw admitted that there was nothing else that hecould think of, requisite either for the safety or navigation ofthe ship, or the provisioning or health of the crew.

  The order was passed round for all the old hands to be aboardbefore sunset, that evening, together with those who had beenopenly engaged to fill up the vacancies. As for the rest, thetwelve recruiters each received private orders. Three of them wereto bring down the men they had engaged to the wharf, abreast of theSwan, at eight o'clock; and to go off in the boat which would beawaiting them there, under charge of Master Standing. Three otherswere to come half an hour later. The other six were to bring downtheir men at daybreak--so that all would get on board unnoticed.

  The last meal at Master Diggory's was but a dull one. The subjectof the Swan and her voyage had, by common consent, been droppedaltogether for the last day or two; and it was not until supper wasover that Mistress Mercy, and the girls, knew that the hour ofsailing was at hand. Then Reuben spoke up:

  "We go on board tonight, Cousin Mercy, and shall get up our anchorand loose our sails the first thing in the morning. I know that youhave been somewhat aggrieved, at not learning more about ourintentions; but it was not Cousin Diggory's fault that you have notbeen told."

  "I do not seek to pry into matters which my husband thinks fit toconceal from me," she said, coldly.

  "Nevertheless, cousin, you are hurt; and I cannot blame you, seeingthat it is natural that a woman should like to know what is passingaround her. But I wish, before I go, that you should see thatDiggory is not to blame in this matter. There is no harm in mytelling you, now, that he stands not alone in this venture, butthat others have joined with him. Now he himself, knowing you to bea circumspect woman, who could be trusted to keep to yourselfanything that you might learn, would willingly have taken you intoour councils; but all women are not so discreet, and matters whichit is very important should be kept secret might have leaked out,had it not been proposed that all concerned in the matter shouldbind themselves solemnly to each other, to say no words about it,even to their wives; and thus, you see, Diggory's lips have beensealed, and that not by any mistrust of you.

  "It may be some time before it will be prudent for the truth aboutthis voyage to be known, but in good time those concerned may thinkfit to relieve each other of this agreement they have entered upon,and to let their wives, and others who may be depended upon, intothe secret. I wanted to tell you this before we sailed, for Ishould not like to go away feeling that you cherished aught ofmalice against me; for I have seen for some time that you have heldme, as well as your husband, to blame. We are going on a longvoyage, Cousin Mercy, and one from which it may well be that noneof us will ever return to this good town of Plymouth. I am somewhatbreaking my promise in saying this, and I rely upon you, and thegirls, repeating it to no one. It is a long and venturous journey,and one not without much peril; but if it succeeds, it will bringmuch honor, as well as wealth, to all concerned.

  "And now, Cousin Mercy, as I have told you so much as that, I trustthat we may part as we have always parted, in friendly and kindlyfashion. You and your husband have been good friends to me and myboy, and have gone in that matter far beyond the ordinary bounds ofkinship; and I should not like to start upon this voyage knowingthat there was a cloud between us."

  Mistress Mercy rose from her seat, walked round to Reuben Hawkshaw,and kissed him.

  "Forgive me, Cousin Reuben," she said, "for my cross looks andshrewish ways. I see that I have acted altogether wrongly in thematter, and that neither you nor Diggory are to blame. I knew notthat others were concerned, and thought that a mystery was beingmade because it was considered that, did I know it, I should runout and blab it in the streets of Plymouth. Now I know how it is, Iam well content as to that; but not so, at the thought of thisunknown peril into which you are about to run, and I wonder thatDiggory should adventure your life, and that of Roger, upon such anexpedition."

  "It is my own proposal, Cousin Mercy, and Diggory has but yieldedto my wishes. Roger is as hot for the adventure as I am, and we areboth content to run what risks we may encounter, for the honorwhich we shall gain if we return safely home.

  "And now, Roger, let us be going. Leave takings are sad things, andthe shorter they are made, the better."

  While these words had been said the girls, who sat on either sideof Roger, were silently making their peace with him, by furtivesqueezes of his hands below the table; and they burst into tears,as Roger and his father rose.

  "Goodbye, Agnes," Roger said.

  "Goodbye, Dorothy," and as he kissed her he whispered, "if Ireturn, I will bring you the prettiest trinkets ever seen inPlymouth."

  "Bring back yourself, Roger, and I shall be more than content," shereplied.

  In another minute they were gone, Diggory Beggs taking his hat andstarting with them; telling his wife that he should not returnuntil morning, as he should go on board the Swan with them, andremain until she sailed.

  "You will not go before daybreak, Cousin Reuben?" Mistress Mercyasked.

  "No; it will more likely be an hour after sunrise before we weighanchor."

  "Then I and the girls will be down on the wharf, to see the last ofyou and wave our kerchiefs, and wish you a pleasant voyage and asafe return."