do'? Dost think that any man breathing could
resist the temptation to gain a knowledge of the way thither? I suffer
from no gold hunger, but I would like the honour of discovering that
notable country. So wouldst thou; so would Admiral Drake. I shall
have done thee no harm, but rather given thee a lesson in caution if I
restore thy papers."

"Wilt do so?"

Basil opened the press, and tossed a packet on the table. "There they
are."

Dan snatched it up, and turned it round and round in his fingers. "Why
dost thou give them back?"

"They are thine, and thou hast come for them."

"Hast read them?"

"Of course."

"What is in them?"

"Maybe truth, maybe idle tales; their value remains to be proven.
Come, thou hast thy packet; give me mine."

A cunning gleam came into the sailor's eyes. "I have not read thine.
Can we fairly cry quits until I have done so?"

Basil bit his lip. "Canst read?"

"No."

"Then let me read them to thee. They are part of a treatise on
philosophy which I am writing. The opinion of a plain man upon it
would be valuable. I should like to have thine."

But Dan was no philosopher, and his present adversary had given him an
excellent lesson in caution. He thrust his own packet into his
doublet, to lie side by side with the other papers.

"Master Priest, Papist, and spy of Spain--for so I learn thou art--thy
work is more likely to be the hatching of plots than the writing of
learned books. Thou didst keep my papers for a time quite against my
will, and without my consent; therefore shall I hold thine until I
learn their contents. Tit for tat is reasonable justice 'twixt man and
man."

Basil laughed. "Read me thy riddle," he said. "The world is narrow;
thou art surely confounding me with some other man."

"That is possible. A few hours will decide the point. A certain
Master Morgan of Gloucestershire and a well-known knight, Sir Walter
Raleigh of Sherborne, are yonder in Plymouth town, and will be able to
testify for or against thee. Thou shalt be haled before them
to-morrow."

"That's work for a strong man, Dan Pengelly."

"There are many of my family in this village, and I did not come alone
from Plymouth. The widow hath bonny company in the kitchen."

Basil's face blazed. "'Tis she hath betrayed me."

"Not so. We scared her worse than we scared thee."

Basil sat silent for a while, and Dan drummed on his sword-hilt with
his fingers. At length the spy spok