By Right of Conquest | Page 5

those whose opinions lead them to make
speeches that are regarded as seditious, and who stir up the people into discontent, who
fall into trouble; and that, as long as folks hold their own opinions in peace and quiet, and
trouble not others, neither king nor cardinal will seek to interfere with them.
"It is not so in Spain. There, upon the slightest suspicion that a man or woman holds
views differing from those of the priests, he is dragged away and thrown into the prisons
of the Inquisition, and tortured and burned."
Mistress Mercy now returned, and she and the girls busied themselves in laying the table
for dinner.
That evening, after Mistress Mercy, the girls, and Roger had retired to bed, Reuben
Hawkshaw and his cousin had a long talk together, concerning the next voyage of the
Swan. After Master Diggory had discussed the chances of a voyage to the low countries,
or another trip to the Mediterranean, Reuben, who had been silently listening to him,
said:
"Well, Cousin Diggory, to tell you the truth, I have been turning over a project that seems
to me to offer a chance of greater profit, though I deem it not without risk. That is the
case, of course, with all trading affairs; and, as you know, the greater the risk the greater
the profit, so the question to be considered is whether the profit is in fair proportion to the
risk run. I think that it is, in this case, and I am ready to risk my life in carrying it out. It is
for you to consider whether you are ready to risk your venture."
"What is it, Reuben? There are no other voyages that I know of; unless, indeed, you think
of sailing up to Constantinople, and trading with the Grand Turk."
"My thoughts go farther afield still, Diggory. It is a matter I have thought over for some
time, and when I was at Cadiz the other day I made many inquiries, and these have
confirmed me in my opinions on the matter. You know that the Spaniards are gaining
huge wealth from the Indies, and I heard at Cadiz that, after the conquest they made, a
year since, of the island they call Cuba, the stores of precious things brought home were
vast indeed. As you know, they bring from there gold and spices and precious woods, and
articles of native workmanship of all kinds."
"I know all that, 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,