t," replied Bascomb, sententiously, "will be their lookout. If they
cannot find anyone to translate my letter, so much the worse for them.
But there should be no trouble about that; for if they can find nobody
else the captain will make my meaning clear to them."

It was considerably past midday when at length the whole of the
Spaniards, together with their dead and wounded, were transferred to the
felucca and dispatched to the shore, the Spanish captain being entrusted
with the letter to the governor or commandant of the town; and then the
English found time to look into their own affairs and take a meal. It
was found that by a marvellous stroke of good fortune the galleon had
been captured without the loss of a man, or even so much as a single
casualty on the English side; and, this being the case, the question
arose whether or not they should retain possession of the vessel,
dividing the _Adventure's_ crew equally between her and the prize.
There arose quite a sharp difference of opinion on this point, Bascomb
and the two gentlemen adventurers maintaining that the prize was far too
valuable to be parted with or destroyed, now that they had her; while
Winter and Dick contended that they were far too few in number to
justify the proposed division, the effect of which would be to put them
in possession of two perilously short-handed ships, instead of one fully
manned. Moreover, the _Santa Margaretta_ was nearly twice the size of
the _Adventure_, the proposal therefore to divide the crew of the latter
into two equal parts would hardly meet the case, since a crew of forty
men could handle the galleon only in fine weather, while as to fighting
her effectually in the event of their falling in with an enemy, it
simply could not be done. Winter's proposal, in which Dick backed him
up, was that everything of value--or at least as much of it as they
could find room for--should be transferred to the _Adventure_, after
which a ransom of, say, twenty thousand ducats could be demanded for the
ship and what remained of her cargo, failing the payment of which she
might be burnt at her anchors as a wholesome example! The dispute at
length grew so warm that Stukely, who was present but took no part in
it, suggested that the matter should be left for Captain Marshall to
decide, upon his return.

The afternoon of that day was busily spent by the English, one party of
whom, under the joint leadership of the carpenter and boatswain, d