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Sabatini, Rafael, 1875-1950

"Captain Blood"

That was in one scale;
in the other were the lives of sixteen men. Fourteen of them mattered
little to him, but the remaining two were his own and his son's.
He turned at length, and his back being to the light, the Captain
could not see how pale his face had grown.
"I accept," he said.

CHAPTER XI
FILIAL PIETY

By virtue of the pledge he had given, Don Diego de Espinosa enjoyed
the freedom of the ship that had been his, and the navigation which
he had undertaken was left entirely in his hands. And because those
who manned her were new to the seas of the Spanish Main, and because
even the things that had happened in Bridgetown were not enough to
teach them to regard every Spaniard as a treacherous, cruel dog to
be slain at sight, they used him with the civility which his own
suave urbanity invited. He took his meals in the great cabin with
Blood and the three officers elected to support him: Hagthorpe,
Wolverstone, and Dyke.
They found Don Diego an agreeable, even an amusing companion, and
their friendly feeling towards him was fostered by his fortitude and
brave equanimity in this adversity.


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