, Reuben; and also that, like dogs in the manger,
they suffer none others to sail those seas; and that no English
ship has ever yet traversed those waters."

"That is so, Diggory; but by all I hear the number of islands is
large, and there are reports that there lies, farther west, a great
land from which it is they procure, chiefly, the gold and silver
and precious things. Now it seems to me that, were the matter
secretly conducted, so that no news could be sent to Spain, a ship
might slip out and cruise there, dealing with the natives, and
return richly stored with treasures.

"The Swan is a fast sailer and, did she fall in with the Spanish
ships, would show them a clean pair of heels. Of course she would
avoid the places where the Spaniards have forts and garrisons, and
touch only at those at which, I hear, they trade but little;" and
he took out a scroll from his bosom, unrolled it, and showed it to
be a map.

"This I purchased, for ten gold pieces, of a Spanish captain who
had come to poverty and disgrace from his ship being cast away,
while he was asleep in liquor, in his cabin--a fault which is rare
among the Spaniards, and therefore thought all the more of. I met
him in Cadiz, at a wine shop near the port. He told me his story as
we drank together, for he spoke Dutch, having traded much with the
Low Countries.

"He took out a map, to show me some of the places at which he had
had adventures. I said that the thing was curious, and would buy it
of him, if he was disposed to sell. He said that it would be as
much as his life were worth to part with it, to an Englishman; and,
indeed, that it was only captains of ships trading in those seas
who were allowed to have them, seeing that all matters connected
with the islands were held as a state secret. After some trouble
and chaffering, however, he agreed to make me an exact copy, and to
sell it me for ten gold pieces.

"This is the copy. It is exact, for I compared it with the
original, before I paid for it. Now here, you see, are laid down
the position and bearing of all the islands, together with all the
ports and places where the Spaniards have their settlements. This
line over here represents the mainland, but it is, as you see, but
vaguely drawn; seeing that, except at one or two points, the
Spaniards themselves have but little knowledge of it. Now it seems
that, with the help of this, I might so navigate the Swan as to
avoid much risk of falling in with t