ines of the
quarter deck, appeared to be weighing the old man's words with unusual
care. At length, however, he turned as one who has made his decision.

"By the mass and it shall be even as you say, Jarvis," he declared. "I
think myself 'twere well to push on at once. At the most they be but
Indians!" The last words were spoken in a lower tone as if to himself.
"'Twill matter little either way!"

It was at this point that young Harold stepped hastily forward. For,
strangely enough, although on the morning of that same day such a
proceeding would scarcely have appealed to him as being at all unfitting
or out of the ordinary, yet now it seemed unthinkable.

"But, good sir," he interrupted, "you would not so belie your promise!
To do as Jarvis here advises,--by heaven, 'twould be neither truthful
nor honorable! 'Tis not like you, Sir Francis!"

Drake shot at him a surprised glance from under his bushy eyebrows, then
shrugged his shoulders.

"Prate not to me, my lord, of truth or honor amongst these savages," he
replied. "Did not their chief himself but even now lie to me? Well knew
the rascally heathen where the Spaniard hides! The truth indeed! They
know not the meaning of such words."

In vain the younger man petitioned to be allowed to deliver the promised
gift with the aid of his own retinue.

"Thou can'st not get under way for two hours at best, sir," he pleaded,
"and well within that time I will be back. 'Tis but a stone's throw to
the shore!"

But Drake first scoffed at his rashness, then, finally losing patience,
as commander of the expedition he sternly forbade him or any of his men
to leave the ship.

"We dare not lose the wind," he finished emphatically, "and are like to
start at any minute." Then, turning on his heel, he strode away to his
cabin and shut the door behind him.

Left in this unceremonious fashion, young Harold considered a moment,
glancing with anxious eyes at the dim line of the coast just visible in
the darkness. For some minutes he leaned upon the rail, lost in thought.

"The old man will e'en have to bear his disappointment," he muttered at
length, "but, an' heaven help me, the maid shall not!"

Then he, too, left the deck to seek out his favorite retainer, the dark,
swarthy man who had sat that morning in the prow of the long boat. To
him he explained his difficulty, adding grimly:

"And so thou see'st, Mortimer, that I have work cut out for thee!"

He threw an arm about the