ls
that we perish, 'twill perish too. The odds are something heavier than I
like, and if the worst befall I trust every man to fling into the river
what jewels he carries sooner than let them become spoil of war. For if
they see such preciousness they will be fired to inquiry and may haply
stumble on our city. Such of us as live will some day return there....'
I have said we had little powder, but for half a day we withstood the
assault, and time and again when the enemy leapt inside our lines we
beat him back. At the end, when hope was gone, you would hear little
splashes in the waters as this man or that put his treasures into
eternal hiding. A Spanish sword was like to have cleft my skull, but
before I lost my senses I noted Captain Bovill tearing the chart in
shreds and using them to hold down the last charges for his matchlock.
He was crying, too, in English that some day we would return the road we
had come."

"And you returned?"

The seaman shook his head. "Not with earthly feet. Two of us they slew
outright, and two more died on the way coastwards. For long I was
between death and life, and knew little till I woke in the Almirante's
cell at Panama.... The rest you have heard. Captain Bovill died praising
God, and with him three stout lads out of Somerset. I escaped and tell
you the tale."

Raleigh meditation. With a sudden motion he rose to his feet and stared
through the port, which was now tremulous with the foreglow of the
tropic dawn. He put his head out and sniffed the sweet cold air. Then he
turned to his companion.

"You know the road back to the city?"

The other nodded. "I alone of men."

"What hinders, Jasper?" Raleigh's face was sharp and eager, and his eyes
had the hunger of an old hound on a trail. "They are all deserting me
and look but to save their throats. Most are scum and have no stomach
for great enterprises. I can send Herbert home with three shiploads of
faint hearts, while you and I take the Destiny and steer for fortune.
Ned King will come--ay, and Pommerol. What hinders, old friend?"

The seaman shook his head. "Not for me, Sir Walter."

"Why, man, will you let that great marvel lie hid till the hills crumble
and bury it?"

"I will return--but not yet. When I have seen my son a man, I go back,
but I go alone."

"To the city of the gold kings?"

"Nay, to the Mount of the Angels, of which the priest told."

There was silence for a minute. The light dawn wind sent a surge of