And one evening he waxed quite mad, when, after having
civilly enough hinted that if Englishmen came where they had no right to
come, they might find themselves sent back again, he was answered by a
volley of--

"We'll see that, sir."

"Depends on who says 'No right.'"

"You found might right," said another, "when you claimed the Indian
seas; we may find right might when we try them."

"Try them, then, gentlemen, by all means, if it shall so please your
worships; and find the sacred flag of Spain as invincible as ever was
the Roman eagle."

"We have, sir. Did you ever hear of Francis Drake?"

"Or of George Fenner and the Portugals at the Azores, one against
seven?"

"Or of John Hawkins, at St. Juan d'Ulloa?"

"You are insolent burghers," said Don Guzman, and rose to go.

"Sir," said old Salterne, "as you say, we are burghers and plain men,
and some of us have forgotten ourselves a little, perhaps; we must beg
you to forgive our want of manners, and to put it down to the strength
of my wine; for insolent we never meant to be, especially to a noble
gentleman and a foreigner."

But the Don would not be pacified; and walked out, calling himself
an ass and a blinkard for having demeaned himself to such a company,
forgetting that he had brought it on himself.

Salterne (prompted by the great devil Mammon) came up to him next day,
and begged pardon again; promising, moreover, that none of those who had
been so rude should be henceforth asked to meet him, if he would deign
to honor his house once more. And the Don actually was appeased, and
went there the very next evening, sneering at himself the whole time for
going.

"Fool that I am! that girl has bewitched me, I believe. Go I must, and
eat my share of dirt, for her sake."

So he went; and, cunningly enough, hinted to old Salterne that he
had taken such a fancy to him, and felt so bound by his courtesy and
hospitality, that he might not object to tell him things which he would
not mention to every one; for that the Spaniards were not jealous of
single traders, but of any general attempt to deprive them of their
hard-earned wealth: that, however, in the meanwhile, there were plenty
of opportunities for one man here and there to enrich himself, etc.

Old Salterne, shrewd as he was, had his weak point, and the Spaniard had
touched it; and delighted at this opportunity of learning the mysteries
of the Spanish monopoly, he often actually set Rose on to draw out