But now, almost out of sight
of land, we are in a difficulty. The only man among us schooled in
the art of navigation is fevered, delirious, in fact, as a result
of certain ill-treatment he received ashore before we carried him
away with us. I can handle a ship in action, and there are one or
two men aboard who can assist me; but of the higher mysteries of
seamanship and of the art of finding a way over the trackless wastes
of ocean, we know nothing. To hug the land, and go blundering about
what you so aptly call this pestilent archipelago, is for us to court
disaster, as you can perhaps conceive. And so it comes to this: We
desire to make for the Dutch settlement of Curacao as straightly as
possible. Will you pledge me your honour, if I release you upon
parole, that you will navigate us thither? If so, we will release
you and your surviving men upon arrival there."
Don Diego bowed his head upon his breast, and strode away in thought
to the stern windows. There he stood looking out upon the sunlit sea
and the dead water in the great ship's wake - his ship, which these
English dogs had wrested from him; his ship, which he was asked to
bring safely into a port where she would be completely lost to him
and refitted perhaps to make war upon his kin.
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