..."
"Now don't be rash. My men are within their rights, as you are
aware. They demand to know when this sharing of the spoil is to
take place, and when they are to receive the fifth for which their
articles provide."
"God give me patience! How can we share the spoil before it has
been completely gathered?"
"My men have reason to believe that it is gathered; and, anyway,
they view with mistrust that it should all be housed aboard your
ships, and remain in your possession. They say that hereafter
there will be no ascertaining what the spoil really amounts to."
"But - name of Heaven! - I have kept books. They are there for
all to see."
"They do not wish to see account-books. Few of them can read.
They want to view the treasure itself. They know - you compel me
to be blunt - that the accounts have been falsified. Your books
show the spoil of Cartagena to amount to some ten million livres.
The men know - and they are very skilled in these computations -
that it exceeds the enormous total of forty millions. They insist
that the treasure itself be produced and weighed in their presence,
as is the custom among the Brethren of the Coast.
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