When Reuben Hawkshaw returned to the chamber where Diggory Beggs
was in conference with the other three traders, he found that these
had finished their calculations.
"The matter is settled, Reuben, as far as we are concerned. My
three friends and myself will go equal shares in the matter. The
value of the Swan is to be taken as part of my contribution, and if
she ever comes back again, as we hope she may do, that sum will be
deducted from my share of the profits, due allowance being made for
what damage or injury she may have suffered. You, it is understood,
will take a share of the profits equal to ours, and one-third share
will, in the first place, be set aside to be divided among the
other officers and crew. It will be left entirely to you to choose
your officers and men, and I need not tell you the sort of fellows
to pick out for such a business.
"I shall see that the Swan is provided with new rigging and gear,
and that there is a plentiful store of all things on board, to
repair any damage you may suffer from storm or foe. My good friends
here are willing that the purchasing of all the stores required
shall be in my hands, and you shall yourself test the quality of
all the provisions before the bargains are concluded, so as to see
that everything is sweet and wholesome. My friends here will not
appear in the affair at all, for if folks saw that four of us were
concerned in the venture, they would think that it was something
quite out of ordinary.
"All preparation will be made as quietly as possible, and it will
be given out that the Swan is going to make a voyage to the Levant,
and that she will carry a stronger battery of guns than usual to
beat off any Moorish pirates she may meet by the way. As it is
known that she had a sharp fight, coming homeward, it will seem
only natural that we should add to her armament. I shall write up
to my agent in London to purchase for me the articles required to
trade with the natives, and bid him send them round here by sea,
well packed in bales. If we were to purchase so many strange
articles, here, it would give rise to talk; for people would wonder
with whom we intended to trade such goods.
"Tomorrow morning you and I will make out a list of what you deem
advisable for the purpose."
For another hour the party sat and talked; for, now that the other
traders had fully determined to go into the venture, they were
quite excited over it.
"Truly if I could but be spared from my business, here, I would
gladly go with you myself," Master Streatham said. "I have always
had a longing to see strange climes, and as no Englishman has yet
set eyes on these countries you are about to visit, Friend Reuben,
I would gladly be by your side, and take share in your perils and
adventures."
"I doubt not your heart and courage, Master Jonas," Reuben replied,
"and would warrant that you would behave doughtily, in case of
fight with Spaniard or Indian; but I question whether you would
support the hardships of the voyage, as cheerfully as you would the
dangers. Although you may store the Swan with the best provisions
that money can buy, a diet of naught but biscuit and salt meat
palls after some weeks--to say nothing of some months--of it; and
this all the more in a hot climate, where the appetite weakens, and
one comes to pine for dainty cakes such as our Devonshire wives are
famous for."
"Yes, I fear I never should support that," Master Streatham, who
was a large corpulent man, mightily fond of the pleasures of the
table, agreed with a sigh.
"Besides, Friend Jonas," Diggory Beggs put in, "Mistress Tabitha
would have her voice in the matter; and however much your spirit
would lead you to such an adventure, I doubt whether she would let
you put foot on board."
"No, it is not for us to be running after adventure," Nicholas
Turnbull said. "In the first place, we are sober citizens, and have
our wives and families to think about, and our business and the
affairs of the town; and in the next place, even could we leave all
these, Master Reuben Hawkshaw would not thank us for our company.
Every foot of space is of value on the ship; and men who take up
space and consume food, and can neither set a sail nor work a
cannon, are but useless encumbrances."
"You have spoken truly, Master Nicholas," Reuben said bluntly. "In
the matter of a trip to London, or even as far as the Low
Countries, we could accommodate your worshipful honors well enough;
but on a journey like this, any man who cannot, if needs be, drink
bilge water and eat shoe leather, is best at home. I took a voyage
once--it is many years ago, now--to Amsterdam, and the owner, not
my good cousin here, but another, took a fancy to go with me; and
his wife must needs accompany him, and verily, before that voyage
was over, I wished I was dead.
"I was no longer captain of the ship. My owner was my captain, and
his wife was his. We were forever putting into port for fresh bread
and meat, milk and eggs, for she could eat none other. If the wind
got up but ever so little, we had to run into shelter and anchor
until the sea was smooth. The manners of the sailors shocked her.
She would scream at night when a rat ran across her, and would lose
her appetite if a living creature, of which, as usual, the ship was
full, fell from a beam onto her platter. I was tempted, more than
once, to run the ship on to a rock and make an end of us all.
"No, no: a day's sail out from Plymouth, in a freshly launched
ship, on a fine day, with a store of good victuals and a few flasks
of good wine, is a right merry business; but farther than that I
wish not to see a passenger, on board any ship which I command."
The others laughed.
"Well, Master Diggory, we must be going," Nicholas Turnbull said;
"it is getting late. Tomorrow I will come over in the forenoon, as
you suggest; and we will go through these lists more carefully, and
talk over prices and see what bulk they will occupy, and discuss
many other matters with the aid and advice of Master Hawkshaw.
There is no occasion for undue haste; and yet, if the thing is to
be done, the sooner it be done the better."
As the party went out, Reuben found his son waiting outside the
door.
"Well, father?" he asked anxiously, when the three merchants had
walked briskly off towards their homes.
"It is all settled, Roger. As soon as everything is prepared, the
Swan will sail for the Spanish main."
Roger threw his cap high in the air, with a lusty shout that
startled the better passers-by, hurrying towards their homes; for
it was now long after dark, and although the town watch patrolled
the streets regularly, prudent citizens did not care to be abroad
after nightfall.
"You silly boy;" Reuben said; "you have lost your cap."
"Nay, I heard it fall somewhere here," Roger said, searching;
"besides, a cap is a small matter, one way or other.
"Ah! Here it is, floating in a pool of mud; however, a bucket of
water will set it all right, in the morning.
"O father! I feel wild with joy, only to think that all we have
talked over together is going to be true, and that we are to be the
first Englishmen who ever saw the beautiful islands they talk
about, and the natives with their feathers and strange attire.
And--"
"And the Spaniards with their loaded guns, and their dungeons and
gibbets," Reuben Hawkshaw put in.
"Not for us, father. The bottom of the sea maybe, but not a Spanish
dungeon."
"I hope not, my lad. Still, no man can see the future. However, I
am right glad that we are to try this adventure. It is a glorious
one, and will bring us honor in the eyes of all Englishmen if we
succeed, to say nothing of wealth.
"But mind that you let not your spirits run away with your tongue.
No word of this must be spoken to a soul, nor must any mention be
made of it in the hearing of my Cousin Mercy, or the girls. The
four partners in the adventure have all taken a solemn promise to
each other, that they will not breathe a word of it even to their
wives, averring that women could never be trusted to keep a secret;
though as far as I have seen of them, methinks a woman can keep a
bridle on her tongue just as well as a man--and indeed, somewhat
better, since they do not loosen them with cider, or wine, or
strong waters. But I believe, myself, it was not so much that they
doubted whether their wives would keep the secret, as whether they
would approve of the enterprise; and that they made the contract
together, in order that each might, afterwards, be able to assure
his wife that, for his part, he would gladly have taken her into
his confidence, but that he was obliged to fall in with the wishes
of his partners.
"It is a strange thing, Roger, but methinks that, whereas most men
behave valiantly enough when it comes to blows with an enemy, a
great proportion are but cowards with their wives."
"But why should they be, father?"
"That is an easy question to ask, Roger, but a difficult one to
answer. Maybe you will understand the matter better, some day, when
you have taken a wife to yourself. In some matters there is no
doubt that women's wits outrun those of men, and that they have a
wonderful sharpness of tongue. Now a man, when things go wrong with
him, speaks out loudly and roundly; he storms and he rages, but
when it is over, there is an end of it. Now a woman is not like
that. She seems to ponder the matter over in her heart, and to
bring it out as it were piecemeal--throwing little darts at you
when you don't expect it; saying little things to which, from their
suddenness, you can find no reply; and pricking you furiously all
over, until you are ready to roar out with pain and vexation. You
see, Roger, a prick hurteth more than a great cut."
"I should not have thought that, father."
"That is because you have not thought the matter over, Roger. In
that fight with the Moors many of the men were sorely cut and
wounded, but you heard no cry from them; they only set their teeth
the harder, and smote more furiously upon their foes; but there was
no one of them all but, had he sat down suddenly on a small nail,
would have roared out like a bull, and have sworn lustily for a
good half hour. So it is in domestic matters: the man rages and
storms when things go wrong; and his wife, if she be a woman of
judgment, holds her peace until it is over, knowing well enough
that he will be at her mercy, afterwards. Then she sets to work,
like those gnats that came on board at Genoa, that they call
mosquitoes, and startles him with shrill buzzings in his ears, and
pricketh him in the tenderest spots she can find; drawing but the
smallest speck of blood, but causing an itching that makes him
ready to tear his flesh.
"Your mother, Roger, was one of the best of women. She was a good
housewife, and an affectionate. I do not know that I ever saw her
greatly ruffled in temper, but there were times when I would fly
from my house, and not come up from my work on board, until it was
time to go straight away to bed, so did she prick and sting me with
her tongue; and that not shrilly or with anger, but with little
things, let slip as it were unawares, and with an air of ignorance
that they in any way applied to me.
"No, Roger, if you will take my advice you will make your ship your
mistress. She will have her ways, but you will learn them, and will
know just how much helm she requires, and how the sail should be
trimmed; but with a woman no man attains to this knowledge, and if
you take my advice, you will give them a wide berth.
"I know," he went on, in answer to Roger's merry laugh, "that this
is a matter in which no man will trust to other experience than his
own. Every man who takes a woman to wife thinks that he can manage
her, and goes into the matter with a light heart, as if it were a
mere pleasure excursion on which he is embarking; whereas, in
truth, it is a voyage as full of dangers and perils as that upon
which we are about to adventure.
"Now let us turn back to our lodging, for I have nearly gone on my
face four times already, in these deep ruts and holes. I would that
the councilors of this town could see the streets of Genoa, or
Cadiz, or Amsterdam! They might then try to mend the ways of
Plymouth, and make them somewhat less perilous to passengers, after
dark."
Work began in earnest upon the following day. A number of
shipwrights were set upon the hull of the Swan, which was to be
thoroughly overhauled, caulked and pitched, within and without. The
masts and rigging were to be carefully looked to, and every defect
repaired. A new suit of sails was ordered, the old ones to be
patched where the Moorish shot had torn them, so as to be of use as
a second suit, did any misadventure happen to the others.
James Standing, the first mate, took charge of these matters;
Reuben Hawkshaw assisting Diggory Beggs in all things relating to
the stores. Greatly were the provision merchants of the town
surprised at the quality of the provisions that Master Beggs
ordered for the use of the Swan. Nothing but fine flour of the last
year's grinding; freshly killed beef and pork, to be carefully
salted down in barrels; and newly baked biscuits would satisfy
Reuben Hawkshaw. They could scarce believe that such articles could
be meant for use on shipboard; for, as a rule, the very cheapest
and worst quality of everything was considered as amply good enough
for the use of sailors.
Then, too, the cider and beer must be neither thin nor sour, but
sweet and of good body. Surely, Master Beggs must have gone off his
head, thus to furnish his ship! For never before had a vessel
sailed out of Plymouth harbor, provided after this fashion. An
ample store of ropes and cordage, and of all matters required for a
ship's equipage, were also laid in. To all questions as to the
surprising lavishness of cost, Diggory replied:
"I would have the ship well found in all matters. It was but the
other day that the Antelope returned from a voyage to the Levant.
She had lost a third of her crew from scurvy, and of the rest but
six were strong enough to pull at a rope when she came into port.
Did not the women follow Master Skimpole, her owner, through the
streets, and cry after him that he was the murderer of their
husbands, by reason of the foul victual that he had provided for
their use? No, no, it will cost more to start with, but it will be
cheaper in the end; for a weak crew often means the losing of a
ship, besides the loss of a good name. I have never carried economy
to such lengths as did Master Skimpole; but I am resolved, in the
future, that those who sail in my ships shall have good and
wholesome fare. Then, if misfortune happens, no one will be able to
point to me in the streets, and say that I fed my men worse than
dogs, and thought only of my profits and nothing of the lives of
those who served me."
Indeed Master Diggory, after a short time, quite forgot that all
this provision for the health and comfort of the crew was but the
outcome of Reuben Hawkshaw's insistence; and came to regard
himself, with a feeling of pride, as a man possessed of greater
benevolence than his fellow merchants.
A week after the refitting of the Swan was completed she was
afloat, with a large proportion of her stores in her hold. A ship
from London came round and took up her berth alongside of her,
discharging large numbers of bales and cases into her; together
with six cannon, in addition to those she before carried, and a
large store of ammunition. This naturally gave rise to fresh talk
in the town.
"They say that you are fitting the Swan out for a pirate, Master
Beggs," one of the merchants said to him; "for twelve cannon are
more than a peaceful trader can positively require."
"Yes, if she is to meet with none but peaceful people, neighbor;
but if she meets with those who are not peaceful, at all, she needs
just as much defense as if she were a ship of war. Master Hawkshaw
had much ado to beat off the Moorish pirates who attacked him on
his last voyage; and as the present one will be longer, and more
dangerous, he has put stress upon me to add much to her armament.
She will have valuable cargo on her return voyage, and he has
strongly urged upon me to provide such means of defense as may
ensure her being able to beat off any who meddle with her; besides,
as far as I can read the course of politics, it seems to me that
our alliance with Spain is well nigh at an end, and before the Swan
is on her return we may be at war with her. This in itself is good
reason why I should give my master the means of defending himself
stoutly.
"The money spent on the guns is not wasted. They will be none the
worse for keeping; and should the Swan, on her next voyage, go into
a safer line of trade, I can sell them for as much as they now cost
me."
In the meantime, Reuben Hawkshaw had been carefully and quietly
picking a crew. He was going to take with him fully twice as many
as had, before, sufficed to navigate the Swan. Of the forty men who
had sailed with him he had lost nine, and five others had not
sufficiently recovered from their wounds to sail with him again. Of
the remainder he engaged twenty, all of whom were stout and willing
fellows who would, he knew, sail with him wherever he bid them. The
remaining six, being given to grumbling, he would have none of,
good sailors though they were.
"Half-a-dozen grumblers are enough to spoil a whole crew," he said.
There were, therefore, some sixty new hands to engage. Towards
these he found eighteen who had sailed with him on previous
voyages, and were glad enough to rejoin him; for he had the name of
being a good captain, considerate to his men; one who would be
obeyed, but who did not harass his crew, and did all he could, in
reason, to make them comfortable.
The others were picked up carefully, one by one. For this purpose
he took some of his best men aside, and confided to them,
privately, that the present voyage was to be out of the ordinary,
and that he needed not only stout fellows but willing and cheerful
ones: men who would take hardships without grumbling, and who, with
a prospect of good reward in addition to their pay, would go
without question where they were told, and do as they were
ordered--were it to singe the beard of the Grand Turk, himself, in
his own palace. He charged them, therefore, to find for him men of
this kind, among their relations, or men who had sailed with him.
"I would rather," he said, "have landsmen, providing they are
strong and stout hearted, than sailors, however skillful, who are
given to grumbling and disaffection. We shall have plenty of good
sailors on board, and the others will soon learn their business;
therefore, choose you not for seamanship, but rather for
willingness and good temper. And broach not the subject to any
unless you feel assured, beforehand, that they will be willing to
join; for I want not the matter talked about. Therefore those who
join are to keep the matter private, and are not to come on board
until the night before we get up our anchors. We are taking a much
stronger crew than usual, for we have many guns that need working,
if it comes to fighting."
As these instructions were given separately, none of the twelve men
he spoke to knew that the others had received similar instructions;
and that instead of forty men, as usual, the Swan was to carry
nearly ninety.
As to the officers, Reuben Hawkshaw needed none others than those
who had before sailed with him. The two mates had each been with
him for upwards of ten years, and had learned their business under
his eye; and he intended, although he had not as yet told him so,
to rate Roger as third mate. His boatswain would go in the same
capacity as before; and he shipped, as gunner, one who had served
for some years in a king's ship in that rank, and was well
acquainted with the working of ordnance.
Mistress Mercy had, of course, heard from her gossips of the talk
that was going on, concerning the unusual preparations that were
being made, by her husband, for the forthcoming voyage of the Swan;
and the trader was often put to his wits' end by her questions on
the subject. His professions of benevolence towards the crew, and
his explanations of his reasons for her powerful armament had
sufficed for others, but they by no means satisfied her.
"Do you think, Diggory Beggs," she asked, indignantly, "that after
all these years I do not know you as well as I do the contents of
my linen chest? I have never before known you open your purse
strings one inch wider than was necessary. Have I not always had to
ask, until I am verily ashamed, before I can get a new gown for
myself, or a decent cloak for the girls? You have ever been hard
fisted with your money, and never disposed to spend a groat, save
on good occasion. There is not the wife of a trader of your
standing in Plymouth but makes a braver show than I do, when we
walk on the hoe on holidays or feast days.
"There is something at the bottom of all this I don't understand;
but mark you, Diggory, I am not to be kept in the dark. As your
wife, I have a right to know why you are throwing about good and
lawful money. I toil and slave to keep your house decent and
respectable, at small cost; but I shall do so no longer. If you can
afford to throw money into the gutter in one way, you can in
another; and people will cry shame on you, when, as they say, you
are pampering up your sailors, in such manner as will cause
discontent among all others in the port, while your wife and
daughters are walking about in homespun!"
Mistress Mercy did not succeed in extracting the information she
desired from her husband, who was, however, forced to fall back
upon the defense that he had his reasons, but that he was pledged
to say nothing concerning them.
"Pledged!" she replied, scornfully. "And to whom are you pledged, I
should like to know? I thought you were pledged to me, and that you
were bound to cherish and comfort me; which means, of course, that
you were to have no secrets from me, and to tell me all that I
desire to know."
But though Diggory kept the secret, albeit with much trouble; and
with many misgivings as to what would happen in the future, when
his wife came to learn of the important venture he had undertaken,
without consulting her; she nevertheless succeeded so far that, in
order to pacify her, he was obliged to allow her a free hand in
choosing, from his magazines, such pieces of cloth and silk for
herself and the girls as she had a fancy to. This permission she
did not abuse as to quality, for she knew well enough what was
becoming, in the way of dress, for the wife of a merchant; and that
it was not seemly, for such a one, to attire herself in apparel
suited for the wives of nobles, and ladies of the Court. But
Diggory groaned in spirit, although he prudently said nothing, at
seeing that she took advantage of the present position to carry off
a store which would amply suffice, for at least two or three years'
wearing, for herself and the girls.
"You have done me a parlous ill turn, Cousin Reuben," he said sadly
to his cousin, "by bidding me hide this matter from my wife. A few
more such secrets, and I should be a ruined man. Never before have
I known her seized with a desire for such prodigality of vesture. I
have looked upon her, all these years, as a sober and discreet
woman, well content to wear what was quiet and becoming to her
station; but now--truly my heart melted when I saw how she fingered
the goods, and desired John, my assistant, to cut off such lengths
as she desired from some of my goodliest cloths."
"Tut, tut, cousin; you exaggerate things greatly. It is no wonder
that Mistress Mercy, seeing that you are flourishing greatly in
trade, and able to spend your money freely, should deem it but
fitting that she, as your wife, should make a braver show than
heretofore. Besides, the girls are growing up, and need to be a
little bright and gay. Why, man, there are many London citizens,
who could not count their broad pieces with you, whose wives spend
many times as much, every year, on their attire as Mistress Mercy
has cost you now."
"Well, well, Reuben, there may be something in what you say; but no
more secrets, or there is no saying what wild extravagance she
might take in her head, next time. She might quarrel with the house
and insist upon a new one, furnished from top to bottom; or set her
heart on a coach, with running footmen. No, no more secrets, or I
shall be having her so set herself up that I shall be no more
master of my own house."
Roger was plied with many questions by his cousins, who tried
alternately coaxing, and pouting, to learn from him why it was
that, as all told them, preparations were being made for the voyage
of the Swan such as were unknown, before, at Plymouth. All he could
reply was that the ship was only being victualed as all ships ought
to be whose owners cared, as they should do, for the comfort and
health of their crews. More than that he could not say. He would
not deny that he had certain ideas of his own as to the voyage; but
if Cousin Diggory and his father thought it well to make no talk
about the matter, it was not for him to say what were his thoughts
about it.
"But we would tell nobody," Dorothy urged. "Don't you think we
could keep a secret, as well as you can?"
"That is just it, Cousin Dorothy! Don't you see, if I were to tell
you, it would be a proof that I could not keep a secret? And then,
if you told it, I could not blame you for blabbing. I don't say
there is any secret; but if there is, I must keep it."
"I know that you are going into danger, Reuben; else you would not
have all those great guns they say there are, on board."
"The great guns will keep us out of danger, you see. The more guns,
the less danger."
"Come away, Agnes," Dorothy said, with an assumption of
stateliness. "Cousin Roger is altogether too smart for us. Let him
keep his secrets, if he will; and let us go and help mother with
her sewing."
And so, for the last two or three days before the Swan sailed,
there was a coolness between Roger and the girls, as well as
between Diggory Beggs and his wife.
At last the day came when everything was complete, the water casks
filled, and the last packet and bale stored away in the hold; and
even Reuben Hawkshaw admitted that there was nothing else that he
could think of, requisite either for the safety or navigation of
the ship, or the provisioning or health of the crew.
The order was passed round for all the old hands to be aboard
before sunset, that evening, together with those who had been
openly engaged to fill up the vacancies. As for the rest, the
twelve recruiters each received private orders. Three of them were
to bring down the men they had engaged to the wharf, abreast of the
Swan, at eight o'clock; and to go off in the boat which would be
awaiting them there, under charge of Master Standing. Three others
were to come half an hour later. The other six were to bring down
their men at daybreak--so that all would get on board unnoticed.
The last meal at Master Diggory's was but a dull one. The subject
of the Swan and her voyage had, by common consent, been dropped
altogether for the last day or two; and it was not until supper was
over that Mistress Mercy, and the girls, knew that the hour of
sailing was at hand. Then Reuben spoke up:
"We go on board tonight, Cousin Mercy, and shall get up our anchor
and loose our sails the first thing in the morning. I know that you
have been somewhat aggrieved, at not learning more about our
intentions; but it was not Cousin Diggory's fault that you have not
been told."
"I do not seek to pry into matters which my husband thinks fit to
conceal from me," she said, coldly.
"Nevertheless, cousin, you are hurt; and I cannot blame you, seeing
that it is natural that a woman should like to know what is passing
around her. But I wish, before I go, that you should see that
Diggory is not to blame in this matter. There is no harm in my
telling you, now, that he stands not alone in this venture, but
that others have joined with him. Now he himself, knowing you to be
a circumspect woman, who could be trusted to keep to yourself
anything that you might learn, would willingly have taken you into
our councils; but all women are not so discreet, and matters which
it is very important should be kept secret might have leaked out,
had it not been proposed that all concerned in the matter should
bind themselves solemnly to each other, to say no words about it,
even to their wives; and thus, you see, Diggory's lips have been
sealed, and that not by any mistrust of you.
"It may be some time before it will be prudent for the truth about
this voyage to be known, but in good time those concerned may think
fit to relieve each other of this agreement they have entered upon,
and to let their wives, and others who may be depended upon, into
the secret. I wanted to tell you this before we sailed, for I
should not like to go away feeling that you cherished aught of
malice against me; for I have seen for some time that you have held
me, as well as your husband, to blame. We are going on a long
voyage, Cousin Mercy, and one from which it may well be that none
of us will ever return to this good town of Plymouth. I am somewhat
breaking my promise in saying this, and I rely upon you, and the
girls, repeating it to no one. It is a long and venturous journey,
and one not without much peril; but if it succeeds, it will bring
much honor, as well as wealth, to all concerned.
"And now, Cousin Mercy, as I have told you so much as that, I trust
that we may part as we have always parted, in friendly and kindly
fashion. You and your husband have been good friends to me and my
boy, and have gone in that matter far beyond the ordinary bounds of
kinship; and I should not like to start upon this voyage knowing
that there was a cloud between us."
Mistress Mercy rose from her seat, walked round to Reuben Hawkshaw,
and kissed him.
"Forgive me, Cousin Reuben," she said, "for my cross looks and
shrewish ways. I see that I have acted altogether wrongly in the
matter, and that neither you nor Diggory are to blame. I knew not
that others were concerned, and thought that a mystery was being
made because it was considered that, did I know it, I should run
out and blab it in the streets of Plymouth. Now I know how it is, I
am well content as to that; but not so, at the thought of this
unknown peril into which you are about to run, and I wonder that
Diggory should adventure your life, and that of Roger, upon such an
expedition."
"It is my own proposal, Cousin Mercy, and Diggory has but yielded
to my wishes. Roger is as hot for the adventure as I am, and we are
both content to run what risks we may encounter, for the honor
which we shall gain if we return safely home.
"And now, Roger, let us be going. Leave takings are sad things, and
the shorter they are made, the better."
While these words had been said the girls, who sat on either side
of Roger, were silently making their peace with him, by furtive
squeezes of his hands below the table; and they burst into tears,
as Roger and his father rose.
"Goodbye, Agnes," Roger said.
"Goodbye, Dorothy," and as he kissed her he whispered, "if I
return, I will bring you the prettiest trinkets ever seen in
Plymouth."
"Bring back yourself, Roger, and I shall be more than content," she
replied.
In another minute they were gone, Diggory Beggs taking his hat and
starting with them; telling his wife that he should not return
until morning, as he should go on board the Swan with them, and
remain until she sailed.
"You will not go before daybreak, Cousin Reuben?" Mistress Mercy
asked.
"No; it will more likely be an hour after sunrise before we weigh
anchor."
"Then I and the girls will be down on the wharf, to see the last of
you and wave our kerchiefs, and wish you a pleasant voyage and a
safe return."