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Spy Line

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.
peteraroes and a little old Lombard we had, very good for throwing
a big shot, and lighting our fuse we gave them a rousing broadside
and did good execution. The Lombard crashed down four of them,
while the peteraroes did great slaughter, and we gave them a volley
from the musketoons, and so in amongst them with our cutlashes
and very busy.

Meantime Phips and his party were firing into them from the rock-
-though not at Brooks and those on the plank, which was shaking
under their weight as they advanced; and now the captain shouted
to him, "Come on, Captain Brooks, come on and take command of
your ship. Come on, I say."

And on Brooks went, hurling oaths like a tempest howling across

the sea, and followed by the others; while, now and again, he yelled
out, "We are betrayed; we are betrayed," and so got fair into the
middle of the plank.

And then he saw, but too late, the snare in which he had been
taken. For it bent so under their weight and also gave so that,
looking down, he saw it was all bored and pierced so as to be by
now almost apart, and kept up only by the great gun-bolt.

"Back! back!" he screamed then to the others. "Back! See, oh

God! see, the plank gives, it yields, we are undone!" And then from
him there came a worse cry, a thrilling blood-curdling shout, for he
saw what was below him. The sharks which do infest all parts of
these waters had come again--attracted, doubtless, by the blood of
the killed and wounded and the dead bodies in the water, which
already they were busy at; and with them and fighting them for the
prey, were fierce crocodiles--or, as they are called by the Spanish,
the allagartos. "For God's sake, back!" he howled, "back, I say!" But
those behind could not turn back because we were there, and so
they met their doom. With one more scoff and jeer Phips and a
sailor pulled at the line, the great gun-bolt came forth from the
mortise, or staple--the boy had done well his work overnight!--the
plank broke with a crash, and down they went.

And as they went we saw the great snouts of the crocodiles come
at them, and tear them below with a snapping dreadful to hear, we
saw the sharks heave over on their sides to take their prey, we
heard one wild and awful yell from each of these villains, and all was
over with them. As for the others who were not killed, they threw
down their arms and implored mercy, and so were bound and
carried away for the time.

And in this way ended the second and last mutiny in the Algier
Rose, wherefore I will again rest awhile.

CHAPTER XI.

THEY HAVE TO DESIST.

Now, by this time Phips was within a month of his thirty-sixth

year, and we had been out on our fishing expedition four years
almost, it being the end now of 1686 of our Lord.

"So," says Phips, "another month will see me into my thirty-

seventh, and then, Nick, we must have the plate."

"Whereby you mean to say," I observed, "that you do, indeed,

believe in that Jack Pudding's prophecy that at that time you shall
find it. Yet I should scarce have thought, sir, that so stalwart a sailor
as you would have hearkened much to such as he."
 "I hearkened to him," replied he, "because I am a sailor, and
therefore, like unto you, Nick, and all of us, given unto believing in
auguries. Yet, reflect also on what other reasons I have. First, there
was my dear mother, whose doings were most rightly foretold; and
next was there the vow I always made that, some day, I would
command a King's ship. Well, that have I done, though without
finding the plate-carrack, and therefore I am positive that when my
thirty-sixth year is past I shall do so."

"I trust you may," says I, "yet in four years it has not been done;
how, therefore, shall it now be done in one?"

"We will fish in other waters," says he; "we will try another side of
the reef. We will have it, Nick--have it somehow."

Yet, as you who read this paper shall see, it was not until his
thirty-seventh yeare came--proving thereby, alas! that wizards and
astrologers, who are the children of the devil, can speak truth
sometimes--that it was to be taken from where it had lain for its
forty-four or fifty years. Meanwhile I must perforce write down all
that happened before that time.

To begin, therefore, the mutiny was, as you have seen, over, and
so rooted up and crushed down also were the men that it was
impossible there could be another. Of killed there were thirty-one,
including Brooks and the man who was to have had my place, and
there was something like twenty-five prisoners; the remainder of the
crew, though but few, being tried men and loyal to us. Some of the
dead we took into the middle of the beach and buried, while the
sharks and crocodiles provided the graves for the others without any
trouble to us; and then, all being done that was necessary, we left
this sweet little harbour of ours, which, had it not been stained by
the horrid mutiny and its outcome, we should have turned away
from with regret. But, considering what had happened there, we
went back to the blazing sea quite joyfully to begin once more our
search.
 For those mutineering ruffians who were not killed, it would have
been easier to them if they had been. They worked now under the
boiling tropic sun in chains, their hands alone being free wherewith
to assist the divers; they were given no more food than would
actually keep them alive and enable them to work; they had but one
watch off during the twenty-four hours, and over them ever was an
officer with a loaded pistol to his hand, ready to shoot them down.
And, worse than this, whenever we should return to Spithead there
they would be hanged to the yard-arm, as they would have been ere
this to the yard-arm of the Algier Rose, had they not been wanted to
work the ship home when her time came to go. Verily, they had
gained little by their wicked foolishness!

So in this way the weeks slipped by and still we found no plate,

yet was Phips firm. His commission was for five years, which would
carry him well into that thirty-seventh year for which he longed so,
and that commission he fully meant to serve, when, lo! there
happened a thing that for a time changed all his plans, though not
for long, owing to Providence, as you shall read.

One morning when the day broke, the lookout descried, some two
leagues from us and our reef, a great frigate sailing very free and
bearing down towards us, while to our joy we saw that she carried
our own dear English colours. Now, in all the three years and a half
that had passed, or nearly four, no ship of our own country had
come anywhere near us, although often enough had we thought we
saw them pass afar, as, indeed, they must have done on their way to
some of the West Indie Islands. Yet, as I say, none had come to us,
and so we had no news from the world without. But that this frigate
was making for us there could be now no doubt; already, she was so
near that she was shortening her sail, and, not long afterwards, she
fired a salute, which we returned with joyous hearts. Then she hove-
to, and signalled to us that the Captain was to go aboard.

You may be sure that he went very willingly, the ship proving to
be the Guinea, and an old Commonwealth frigate I knew very well,
and a good sailer; and brave enough did Phips look as he took his
seat in his boat, all adorned in his best scarlet coat and his great
wig; "for," says he, "hot as the morning is, and will be hotter, I will
not go to greet a brother-captain foully dressed."

That we in the Algier Rose waited impatiently enough for the

news you may be sure, and, since 'twas long a-coming, that
impatience became very great. Indeed, 'twas not till night was near
at hand that we saw the boat coming back to us, while at the same
time we saw the great frigate's topsayl fill, and observed her slowly
gather way and steer towards the west. Then, a while later, the
Captain came aboard, and, sending for me into his cabin, he said,
while I noticed that his face was grave and sad:

"Nick, we have to give up the search; we shall not get the plate
now. The frigate was, as doubtless you made out, the Guinea, on
her way to Jamaica to relieve the Constant Warwick, and brought
me my orders to go home."

"But," said I, "the commission was for five years; they are not yet
expired."

"Nay," says he, "that matters not. The King is dead, and has been
so for a year, and the Duke of York has succeeded him. And he
believes not in putting the ships of his navy to treasure hunts,
deeming such things better for private adventurers. Moreover, he
says the Algier Rose can do better service at home against his
enemies--of which the Captain of the Guinea says he has a many--
than in fishing for plate. So, to-morrow, Nick, we will take in water
from the island, and away to England."

"'Tis pity," says I, "a many pities. Yet the King's orders must be
obey'd. And the plate--I wonder who will get that?"

"I shall," said Phips sharply, "and you, Nick, if you will follow me.
For the very moment I give up my command of this ship, I shall seek
out those private adventurers of whom the new King speaks. I would
pawn my life the thing is there, and I will have it. Am I a man to be
thwarted?"

Indeed, he was no such a man--only, as I whispered to him, he

must, if still he believed in his Geomancer, be very sharp. He would
be in his thirty-seventh year by the time he set foot on English
ground again.

"Ay, ay," says he, while he took a great drink from his cup and
passed it to me, "and so I shall, But before the thirty-seventh year is
gone, I shall be back again--and you shall be with me, Nick, an' you
will."

For myself 'twas very easy to say I would come. If James was
king now, then he would have for officers of his ships all those who
had served him when he was a sailor, and never had I been one of
those. Moreover, I had no interest with either Edward Russell--who is
now as I write Earl of Orford--or with Rooke, both of whom were like
to be the King's great seamen; so that there was little enough
likelihood that I should get another ship. There were just now
hundreds of worthy sailors waiting for appointments, and I had no
better chance than, if as good as, they. Also was I gone my time,
having been now at sea since 1656, when I went a boy of eight, so
that I was nigh forty years of age, and was never like now to be a
captain, being but a plain sailor and no gentleman courtier or page
of honour. Had I been that and not known the maintruck from the
keel, then, perhaps, might I have gotten a ship at twenty. But
enough of this, only I had a mind to come out with Phips if he came
again as an adventurer; and that we should see when we got home.

A week later we had wooded and watered from our isle, and the
wind being fair away we went, while the last piece of counsel we
received came from the beastly great negro of whom I have writ
before. This creature's name was Juan, he having been born at San
Domingo city, a Spanish slave, which he no longer was, and as we
had always thought, though we were never convinced thereof, had
egged on Brooks and the others to mutiny by telling of them that we
were a-fishing in the wrong pool--as anglers at home say--but that if
they could take the frigate from Phips, whom he hated, he could
show them where the plate really was.

So now he shouted to us from his periaga, as 'tis called there,

"Adios, Don Phipo, adios. Berry sorie, Massa, you no find platy,
but you look not in proper place. You ever come back again, which
not berry like, you send for Juan and pay him better, he show you
many tings if he not show it someone else firsty. Adios, Don Phipo,
adios cada uno, I hope you berry nice cruise to Englishy waters.
Adios," and with that he hoisted his little sail and was gone.

Phips scowled at him first and then burst out a-laughing, while
one of the sailors flung a musket ball at him, and so we sailed away
disappointed men.

"A very nice cruise" it was not our good fortune to have, for we
were teased and pestered with contrary winds and storms all the
way. Then we got into the Horse latitudes--where the Spanish used
to throw their horses overboard on their way to the Indie Islands, to
lighten their ships so that they could move in the calm--or called by
some the Doldrums--and here we lay for some weeks. There we
suffered much in every way. The sea is here like glass, there is not a
wind to stir a sa'l nor to refresh the panting men, and the air is like a
furnace. Moreover, here the seams of a ship will yawn, the meat
become rotten, and the hoops shrink away off the casks so that they
burst and leak, letting out the water--of beer we had naturally none
left. The sea, too, looks lyke oil and not water, while the setting of
the sun gives one the idea that the whole world is a-fire. Great
crimson fleaks of flames blaze all across the heavens, then tinges of
saffron, green, and pink shoot up, and then comes the grey
darkness, as though 'twas the smoke after the fire.
 And while we who were free all this time suffered so, 'twas far
worse and more terrible with the condemned mutineers, for, being
down in the ballast, since there was nought for them to do on deck
while we lay still, their agonies from the heat were insufferable. Five
of them did die--even though at the last they were fetched above--
and so 'twas better for them, since had they lived there was nought
but the hanging at Spithead before them.

Thus, when at last we got a wind which took us home--and a

roaring, tearing wind indeed it was, that sent us often under bare
poles with fear every moment that our crazy frigate with her open
seams must go to the bottom--we worked very short-handed. Yet
home at last we did get, looking like scarecrows in a field, and so
yellow that those who knew us said that, if we had found no silver,
at least we had brought a plenty of gold on our faces. Yet right glad
were we to see old England again after so long, and to sleep once
more in a good English bed.
 CHAPTER XII

THE BARK "FURIE."

Now I will not write down much as to how we found the state of
things on our return, yet somewhat must I say.

To begin with--all of which was very bad for our hopes of getting
another ship--we found the King a dreadful declared Papist and with
most of the nation against him. Moreover, he was passing daily laws
and regulations for the oppression of the Protestants, so that he was
much hated, and all the world wagged its head and said that so
extreme a tyrant must ruin England unless a change came. And
some there were who even went so far as to say he had poisoned
King Charles--though this was never proved, and concerns not my
history, to which I now return.

When the Algier Rose was paid off (which was done in a way
shameful to our navy--namely, by giving us but half of what was due
and the other half in promises, which were not fulfilled until the next
King's reign, and then only with difficulty to us) Phips and I, who
went to live together near the Strand, saw very soon that we should
get no other King's ship to go back to Hispaniola. His Ministers
laughed at us when we sounded them; one old nobleman asking us
if we thought his Majesty had not enough to do with his vessels,
without sending them on any such fool's errand as this? And, indeed,
he was right, for things were thickening round James, we being
come to the year 1687. People had not forgot the Monmouth
rebellion and its brutalities, of which we heard now for the first time;
they hated the King's doings and his mass in the chapel, and
although he had a great big army at Hounslow this year--which
Phips and I rode down to see--all the soldiers had an aversion to his
religion, excepting the few Papists among them. On the sea he was
not very busy just now, and no fighting done since we went away;
yet it was ever thought that trouble would come--as indeed it did,
though not in the way expected.

So, therefore, as now you will see who read, we had to turn our
thoughts to other ways, and at once we began to look about for
some proprietors who would send us forth to look again for the
Hispaniola plate.

At first we had no success. Indeed, in the City, to which we

resorted, the project was treated by the merchants and goldsmiths
with extreme contempt, they jeering at us; while one of the latter
told us he had gotten together more plate than he desired, and
would cheerfully sell us some. But this was not our business, so we
looked again. And now, at last, we heard of one who we thought
would do for us--our knowledge of him being produced and brought
to us by a friend who knew what we were seeking for. And the
person to whom he pointed was Christopher Monk, the second Duke
of Albemarle.

This nobleman had in no ways ever done aught to carry on the

great reputation of his father; but, instead, he had, on coming into a
most enormous fortune at that father's death, twenty years ago,
given himself up to loose and vicious courses, as well as having a
ravenous liking for drink. Yet one fancy he had which improved on
this, and was very good for us and our desires--viz., he loved to hear
of treasure-finds, of the sacking of cities for plunder: such as those
of Drake in the Indies in the Great Queen's reign, or of Sir Henry
Morgan, the buccaneer who sacked Panama and Porto Bello,
wherefore the late King gave him the government of Jamaica, which
Albemarle was afterwards himself to have; and, above all, of the
digging up of hidden wealth. So to him, having obtained a letter
introducing us, away went Phips and I to see what might be done.
 He listened very attentively to us and, when Phips said he did in
truth believe there was three hundred thousand pounds under the
water, he sighed and said he would he could have some of it, for he
wanted money badly. This we could well believe; for though his
father left him so vast a fortune, he was a heavy gambler, and his
Duchess--a half-witted creature, granddaughter of the Duke of
Newcastle, to whom he was married before his dying father, as he
lay on his bed--had ravaged him with her extravagance and debts.

So says Phips to him:

"Then, your Grace, if you will have it you shall. Find me but a ship
well fitted and this very year--no other--it shall be yours. It is there,
I know; I have much evidence it is; and though I have fished in the
wrong place hitherto, yet now will I find it. And, as I say, it is my
year."

"Why, sir," said the Duke, "why this year more than any other?"

Yet this Phips would not tell him--confiding in me afterwards that,

though he believed in the astrologer, he was ashamed of his belief.
So, then, next says the Duke:

"But why seek not the Spanish, or the French, who have now
gotten possession of the North of Hispaniola, if not all of the island,
for this plate? 'Tis worth their while, if 'tis worth mine."

"Your Grace," says Phips, "it is not possible they should seek for
it. Ever and always are they fighting together for possession, when
not massacring of the natives--of whom three millions have been
slain since Columbus's day--and truly they have neither time nor
inclination, even if they believe, which all do not. Then, for private
adventurers, there are none among them who can or will risk the
money; so that if any find it it must be an Englishman."

In this way, and with many other arguments and proofs, did Phips
press it on the Duke--particularly leaning on the boat that came
ashore, after the wreck of the carrack, full of plate; so that, at last,
he said he would think well upon it, and bade us come again in a
week's time.

"For," says he, "of myself I cannot now do it, though I could very
well once"--and here he sighed--"when I had my father's fortune.
But now I am no longer rich and am even petitioning the King for
employment, and have the promise of Jamaica. Still I will see among
my friends, and I will ask the King's permission. He, you know, must
have a tenth and adventure nothing."

"Let his Majesty have it," says Phips, "and then I'll warrant your
Grace there shall be enough to satisfy all."

"Sir, you are very sanguine," says the Duke. "But there, come in a
week and you shall hear."

So we made our bow and left him.

Now, I have so much yet to write of the finding of the plate and
then all that followed, as well as to tell you, who may read, how you
shall also find a fortune if you will seek, that I must waste no space,
but crowd on with my story.

So I will briefly write down that, when the week was past, we
went to the Duke's again, and he coming up to us--a little flustered
with his morning tankard, as I thought, though no ways drunk--takes
Phips by the hand and then me, and says he:

"Gentlemen, I think it is done, and we must send you out. So now

listen to what I have attempted."

And with that he bade his serving-men begone and see he was
not interrupted till he called. Then he went on:

"I have gotten," he said, "a ship for you, not so good as a King's
ship, yet well found, of a good burthen. The crew you shall pick up
yourselves--God knows there are many sailors now in London
wanting bread! Then, as for repayment, you and Captain Crafer"--for
so he called me, though I was no captain--"must be willing to be
paid by return, or what the merchants call a 'per centum.' Now, are
you willing to do this?"

We said we were very willing provided we were put to no expense

for provisions or furnishing of the ship, which we could not do, and
he said that matter should be arranged, as well as the payment of
the sailors, which must be part now and part hereafter, when we
returned, out of the proceeds. So after many more particulars we
agreed to all, and we left the Duke to go into the city and see the
merchants, and then to attend to fitting of the ship.

She was, we found, when we got to her in Limehouse Pool, after

we had spoken with the merchants very satisfactory, a good bluff-
bowed bark named the Furie, who had been employed in the slave
trade, about which we did not inquire too curiously, knowing very
well what uses the Guinea merchants put such ships to. Suffice it,
therefore, if I say she was large and roomy for her size, with many
good cabins, especially on the deck, a good main cabin, and a clear
fo'castle. And so we set to work to pick up a crew.

Now, as the Duke had truly said, there was no want of sailors just
now; for, firstly, we were not at war with any power; and, secondly,
the men went in but slowly to the King's ships of war because their
pay was so uncertain; and, thirdly, because all were against him,
hating the Papists he had gotten both into the navy and army, and
hating him too, as well as his Papist Queen, who had passed off a
false heir on the nation, as they said; and also his beastly mistress,
Sedley, now made Lady Dorchester. So when we went about the
taverns of Blackwall and Wapping, we soon picked up a likely crew
enough, and when we told what our cruise was for--namely, to get
up a treasure-ship--they were all eager to come. Therefore, at last
we did get more offers than we could well accept, seeing that we
wanted but twenty, and so made a good pick. Of them some were
old King's men who had seen much service like myself, two had
taken part in Sir Robert Holme's "bonefire," when he burnt up the
Dutch ships, some more had fought under Prince Rupert--as I did--
when he beat De Ruyter, others had fought against Selvagees'
Armada, and all were of much experience.

Now, therefore, we had but to victual the bark and to put in our
beer and water, and all was ready; so to it we went, the merchants
behaving very generously. Yet, since Phips felt sure--owing to his
belief in his precious geomancer, who was doubtless hanged for a
knave ere now--that we should not be gone a year, we by no means
overloaded her. Still, all was very well; we went out with a plenty of
beef and pork, a gallon of beer a man every day for some months,
with, after that, some spirituous liquors, and with good pease and
oatmeal as well as bread. Also, which was of equal need, we had
good arms, taking with us new cutlashes and muskets, several
cannon, including two thirty-two-pound ones and a twenty-four,
some pierriers, or swivel-guns, very useful, and several others. And,
since this time we hoped not to fail, we took all applications for
diving, such as a bell, pumps, bladders for the head, and so forth,
such as was used at Mull for fishing up part of the Spanish Armada
in the beginning of the late King's reign.

And so we went away again to find, as you shall read, the

Hispaniola Plate. But to set it down baldly and to say only that we
did so find it, would be to give no help to those who shall come after
me, whensoever that shall be. Therefore, when next I take up my
pen I must tell of all our doings, of the way in which the treasure
was gotten, and of that uncommon villain who was soon now to
appear amongst us, and who did, in very truth, by his extreme
villainies, lead to my crowding the paper as I do for the benefit of
those who follow me.
 CHAPTER XIII.

THE OLD MAN'S STORY.

Now, therefore, we are again at Hispaniola and have got near

unto the Bajo de la Plata, or Boylers, once more, having made an
extreme good cruise from England. The Furie was indeed, we found,
a good little barky, she sailing well on the wind, which was ever
most favourable for us, and so bringing us across the ocean in
twenty-four days.

But ere we went out to the reef there were some things that
passed which I must write down. First, we anchored off Porto de la
Plata, which, as I have writ, was so named from the boat that went
ashore full of plate from the wreck fifty years--or now more--before,
and which is now the port of St. Jago de los Cavalleros; and here we
purchased a tender which it was our intention to use, so that there
might be two searchings made for the lost ship. Also we meant to
have some canoes, or periagas, so that they could go where neither
the ship nor the tender could go themselves, and thereby we did
intend to scour all the water round about the reef.

But, Lord! who would not have been discouraged by all the
merriment that our return caused--who, I say, but Phips? For those
who lived at Porto did openly make mock of us, jeering at us for our
coming back, and calling of us the mad Englishmen; while, if it may
be believed, people did even come over from St. Jago, which is
inland, to see us and our silly ship, as they called it. Now, the people
here were of all kinds--there were Spaniards and Portugees, and
also some French who had by now gotten all that part of the isle to
the west of Monte Christo on the N. and Cape Mongon on the S.,
though no legal settlement until later, as well as Creoles and
mulattoes, and many more. And with one accord all laughed at us,
saying, "There is no plate, be sure, or we would have had it long
ago."

Yet still Phips, and with him all of us, believed it was there.

But now there came and sought us out the great monstrous
negro diver, Juan, who, after finding through me that Phips bore him
no ill-will for his last fleering farewell of us, said that he had
somewhat to tell us if we would hearken to him. So I gave him an
appointment to see the Captain the next day, and a promise that he
should be safe from any harm; and so he came out in his periaga to
where we lay a league off shore. And he brought along with him the
queerest of old men that ever I did set eyes on--an old shrivelled-up
Portugee who looked as though he was an hundred, half-blind, and
with a kind of shaking palsy all over him.

Then, when I took them into the cabin where Phips was, he,
being ever of a jocund vein, called out:

"And good morning to you, Signor Juan, and how do you do? You
see you were no true prophet, since here we are come back again."

The hideous negro made a shambling bow, and hoped his honour
was well, and then in a jargon of Spanish and English, very hard for
me to understand, and not to be faithfully written down, he said:

"Masser Phips, I bery sorry I larf at you when you went away. But
I never tink, no never, that you come back again. But since you
come, I tell you many tings I have founder outer. Sir, this old Signor,
he know much, he berry old"--and here the brute opened and shut
his great hands nine times, very quick--"he have see ninety
summers."

"Has he, indeed?" says the Captain, "that seems a long while to
me who have seen but thirty-six as yet. And what has the Signor
seen in all that time?"

"He see many tings. He see the boaty come ashore with the silver
plate--beautiful plate, many candlestickies, bagges of pieces, salivers
and lumpes. All gone now!"

Then here the old Portuguese screamed out, also in a sort of

English,

"Yees, yees. All gone now, Spanish sailors drink all up, then die.
Die very soon afterwards. Drink all day and danze with the girls,
then die."

"Well," says Phips, "what good's that to me? If the drink and the
girls got all, I can profit nothing."

"He, he," laughed the old man, till he nigh choked, "got all that
came in the boat, not all under the water. No, no!"

"Plenty more under water," grunted Juan, "so he say. Plenty more.
Only no one able to get it and no one believe. He poor old Portygee,
me poor negro, so no one believe."

"What, does he know?" says Phips, "and, if you knew, why had
you no mind to speak when first we came here and I employed
you?"

"Signor Phips," said the black, "then I knew of nothing; I only

suspect you fished in wrong place. Then when you go away to
English land there make much talk about you, and all ask me if
English captain find much? And I say, no, and don't tink anyone find
anyting. Then old man here--he ninety summers old!--then old man,
Geronimo, he come in from mines of Hayna in middle of country,
where he lived forty year, and hear of talk about you and the silver,
and of me the Buzo" (which means a diver), "and he say he wish he
come back sooner much, because he know where carrack lie, where
shift off reefy."
 "Shift off the reef!" exclaimed the Captain and myself together,
with a glance at each other. "Is that so indeed?"

Then the old Portygee burst out laughing and then choking, and
then when he found his voice again, he said,

"Yees, yees; that so. I see sailors come ashore with plate. I drink
with them, I danze with girls, too, only I not die. That very long ago
now; girls all dead, too. He! he! Oh!" and again he had his spasms.

Then once more he went on:

"And so, Signor, because I was a fisherman, I go out to the Bajo

and I look about, only I fear Tiburons (sharks), and once when
water very low I see down deep a cannon, then I know the ship had
shifted. So another day I go look again, and there floated up a piece
of the ship, a rail, so I know for certain she move. Then I speak to
many and I say I know where carrack is, but they believed not and
would do nothing. And now they all dead, too, like the sailors and
the girls. He! he! Ha! ha! Oh! oh!"

We talked long with this miserable relic of the past--who so

angered Phips with his recollections of the dead and the gone,
especially the girls, that he almost ordered him out of the ship--and,
indeed, it did seem as if at last we had lighted on some good news.
He said, when he could persuade no one to believe or lend a hand
to search further, he went away to the mines of Hayna, in the
interior, where a fresh find of gold was made, and there he stayed
for all the years, making a little livelihood and forgetting all about
the plate ship. Then, having at last struck ninety--on which he laid
great stress, as though an action of credit done by himself--he came
back to Porto where he belonged, and fell in with Juan. And this
black told us that when he did, indeed, come back and heard that
we had been and gone, he fell into such a paroxysm of rage and
grief that he nearly died, "for now," said he, "my chance is gone."
 So the old figger thought all was lost to him, and bemoaned his
fate and nigh went mad, until one day the Buzo went off to find him
and tell him that the Captain Phips was come once more back, but in
another ship. Whereupon he did once more go nearly mad, this time
with joy, and then made Juan bring him out in his periaga to us.

So, after hearing all this, Phips says to him:

"Supposing you put us in the way to find this plate, what terms
are we to make? What do you want?"

"Half," says the old man. "I am now ninety years of age. I want to
be rich for the rest of my life."

"Tush!" says the Captain, "this is foolishness. Why should I give

you half? I know now the carrack has shifted; I can find it for
myself. You shall have nothing."

"No, no!" screamed the old Portygee, while the big black negro
began to mutter; and then Geronimo as he was called, threw himself
down on his knees with most marvellous dexterity for his great age.
"No, no!" says he, "not that. I will tell you, and you shall offer me
what you will. Me and Juan. Give us what you will."

"Indeed I shall," says Phips, "seeing that you came to me, and
not I sought you. Therefore, let us see. How much think you there is
below the water?"

"The Saints only know," said Geronimo, "but since she was taking
home to Spain the fortunes of many from Cuba, as the sailors told
me, she must have been full. Oh! Signor Capitano, promise me
something, give me something!" and he clasped the Captain's legs
about and wept.

"Well, now," says Phips, "see what I will do for you. You and this
negro diver shall tell me exactly where she lies, or as near as may
be, and if I find her you shall have this."
 "The Saints bless you, capitano; I am nearly ninety years."

"Be still. You shall have this between you, the negro to dive for
me with my own English diver. You shall have for every five pounds
of silver or of gold, one ounce, no matter whether we find much or
little. Are you content?"

At first both of them began to grumble, saying it was not enough.

But soon Phips persuaded them to reason in a way that was all his
own.

"Then," says he, doing so all in an appearance of sudden

violence, "begone out of my ship. Away with you! What! shall I come
from England twice to find what I knew of a surety five years ago
was here, only to traffic with such as you, and you?" pointing his
finger at each. "Nay, never! We will find it by ourselves. Begone, I
say!"

But to begone was not their purpose, since very well they knew
that without us they could do nought. Strange as it may seem--and
very strange it was--none in Hispaniola would hearken to the story
of the plate ship lying so near--for the Boylers are not a dozen
leagues out from the island--and so would do nothing, and therefore
they could do nought themselves. For to do anything a small vessel
at least was wanted, and the means wherewith to dive--and
certainly the Portygee had no money for this, while the black was
little than a beggar. Therefore, at once they sang another song,
becoming directly very lowly, and saying, "Well, then, they would
take the Captain's offer," only I liked not the look on the face of
Juan, the Buzo, and from that moment determined to watch him
well.

Now, therefore, I have to say that all terms were made, and we
were ready to go out to the reef. We bought a tender, and we meant
when we got to our little isle of old, where the second mutiny was,
to make some canoes of some excellent cotton trees that were
there, with which we could go about, and see better when near the
reef down into the water.

The negro Juan was to come, first as diver, next as on behalf of

himself and Geronimo to see we played fair, and he it was also to
whom the Portygee confided the exact spot where he had seen the
rail float up years ago, since he would not tell us, saying Juan would
take us to the place.

So we went away, being delayed, however, two days by the

accursed Blackamoor, who we thought at first had played us false--
perhaps, indeed, found new employers who would pay him better.
However, at last we saw him coming out in his periaga--and none
too soon neither, since we meant to go without him next morning if
he came not, and try our luck alone--and when he and his craft were
gotten aboard, he excused himself by saying he had been having a
festa on shore and getting drunk with some of his friends.

"Good," says Phips when he heard this, "only, my black treasure,

remember there is no drunkenness for you here. Because, you see,"
he went on, "I'm Captain aboard this craft, and if anyone displeases
me I let them understand it. So, if you want to keep your brains in
your head and your ebony skin whole, remember that. And now,
bos'un," says he, "pipe all hands on deck and loose sail for the reef."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE WRECK IS FOUND.

 And now I have to write down what we found, only, as such long
writing is even now difficult to me, I must do it in my own fashion.
And that fashion is, that I can do nothing except by proceeding
leisurely and describing each incident as it came about. Which I now
again attempt.

The soft wind carried us out past the Boylers the next day at
noontide, and then, as we went by, we parted with our tender, the
ship going on to our little isle of old. For 'twas here we meant to
construct the cotton-wood canoes, to take in some of the island
water--the sweetest I ever tasted, which caused us to take it from
there--and to leave some stores. The tender which we left behind--
though not very far, since the isle was but three leagues beyond the
Bajo--was in charge of our master mate, as he was rated, an old
King's man like myself, and, like myself, sick of the King's service. He
was a good sailor and named Ayscough. His orders were to proceed
to whatever point near that the African should suggest as the
reputed place where the carrack was shifted to, to anchor if possible,
or, if not, to put out the floating anchors, and there to remain until
we returned. But no matter what was perceived, even should it be
the carrack herself at the bottom, neither our own diver nor the
Black was to be allowed to descend, especially not the last.

Then, having given these orders, we did remain on our isle two
days, what time Phips worked as hard as any man in the ship with
his own hands, shaping and arranging of the cotton-wood canoes,
inspiring every one with his ardours and cheering them on. What,
however, did not cheer any of us, was a-finding that some of the
bodies of the mutineers of the isle had the sand blown all off them
where they were buried on the beach, and that their skeletons were
lying white and bleached before us. Verily, a dreadful memorial of
their wickedness!

Moreover, another thing we saw which we liked not any too well;
namely, we found drawn up in a little cove a ship's boat, with on it
the name, "The Etoyle, Provydence," and in it many ropes, hooks,
and head-bladders, all carefully wrapped up and evidently for use in
diving.

"Now," says Phips, "this is not well. There is nought to dive for
here but one thing--the Plate Ship--therefore it seems to me that
someone else has been about our office. Yet it is certain they have
not been successful. Had they been we must have heard of it at
Porto. What think you, Nick?"

"That depends," says I, "on which Provydence those who own the
boat hail from. If 'tis that of the Bahamas, then 'tis very well, since
they are ours again since '66, and as King James takes his tenth of
our find, we have the precedence of all. So 'tis, if it's that by
Connecticut, which is but a hamlet. But if 'tis that off Honduras, then
'tis bad, since 'tis inhabited by buccaneers only, if inhabited at all;
and, if them, we may have some trouble."

"Well, well," says he, "we must see. Meanwhile I incline to it

hailing from the Bahamas. For look you, Nick, 'Provydence' is good
English and not Spanish, as most of the buccaneers are. And by the
same token it may be the Provydence in our own American colonies.
Moreover, the buccaneers as a rule put no markes in their crafts."

"Etoyle," says I, "is not English, though!"

"Neither," replies he, "is it Spanish. And," with his fierce lion look
upon his face, he went on, "belong it either to English, French, or
Spanish colonist or to pirate, they shall not have our treasure while
we are above water."

So, all being done, we went back to rejoin the tender.

Now, when we got to her we heard that the Blackamoor had

directed that she should proceed to a spot immediately on the other,
or eastern side, of the reef, from which we had previously fished,
since there it was that the old man, Geronimo, had laid down that
we should find the wreck. So Ayscough had taken her to this spot,
namely, half a league away from the Boylers, and we found all
preparations made for a descent, Juan, the Buzo, being particularly
keen to go down at once. But now we summoned our own diver--a
straightforward, honest Englishman, whose name was Woods--to
come and confer with us, and asked him what he thought. Then he
told us that the soundings were good enough for a descent, since
the bottom was not more than twenty fathoms below where we
were anchored, and that the tallow brought up soft sand and
limestone, which showed a good bed.

"Therefore," says Phips, "you can reach the bottom, can you not?"

"If not, sir," says he, "I can at least descend so far as to see the
bottom, and if then I find the wreck it shall go hard but that I will
get down to her. My diving chest can sink easily to forty feet, and
with Mister Halley's[3] new dress I am confident I can touch the
bottom here."

"So be it," says Phips, "and now about the Black. Here you, sir,"
then he calls out to Juan, who was even now leaning over the
gunwale, peering down into the hot sea, "come here and tell us how
you propose to reach the bottom."

"That very easy, sir," answered he; "I have new dress Massa
Woods lend me, which I am sure I manage very nicely. I go down if
the Signor Capitan wish me."

"No," says Phips, "Woods shall go down first. And since 'tis a calm
morning, get you ready now, Woods."

At once the man did this, going forward to where he berthed in

the ship, and returning presently a strange figure to behold, since
now he was all enveloped in Mr. Halley's new improved dress, all
over cords for lowering and pipes for a-taking in the air.

"For," says he, "I will try this, sir, now, and see how far I can go
down."
 You may be sure all watched him with eagerness. For besides that
we hoped he should find below what we sought, but a few of us had
ever seen this dress before, and were almost afraid of what might
come to him. Yet, he assured us, we need to have no fear; he had
made many experiments and descents as trials at home in the sea
and river Thames, and was confident of what he could do. So, as
calmly as if he were going down the stairs of a house, he bade the
sailors lower him over from the gangway, and descended by the
lines he had arranged and was gone beneath the sea, and in a few
moments there was nought but a few bubbles to mark the spot
where he had been.

Presently we knew by a signal agreed upon with those who held

the ropes, that he had reached the bed, and then by the paying out
of his pipes that he was moving about. And so he stayed thus for
some twelve minutes, when we also knew he was returning to below
the ship, and then there came the next signal to haul him up again,
which, being done, his great helmet with its fierce goggle eyes
appeared above the water once more, he following.

Tied on to him he bore two things, one a great beam of wood in

which was stuck pieces of jagged rock, which looked for all the world
like the great teeth of some beast that had been fastened in't and
then broken off--they were indeed bits of the reef--the other a great
piece of limestone as big as my head, all crusted and stuck over with
little disks or plates, which were, we found, rusty pieces of eight.

"A sign! A sign!" says Phips, taking them from him; "now get your
breath, Woods, and tell us what you have found," and this the man
did, puffing and blowing freely for a time ere he could speak.

Then he said, "Of the wreck, sir, I have seen nought, but surely I
have found the track. All the bottom of the sea is scored as though
some great thing had passed over it, and everywhere there lie great
lumps of limestone such as this, and great beams such as that."
 "Ha!" says Phips, and with that he takes the diver's axe and splits
open the lump, and there, wedged in all over it, were many more
rusty old pieces. "Ha! she has left a silver track as she passed along.
Go on."

"So I do think, sir," says the diver, "and she cannot be afar off
where I descended, unless she is all gone to pieces. And even then
the bed of the sea must be full of all she had gotten inside her. But,
sir, I think this is not so; I think she has been brought up short, for,
close by, as I gather, is another reef."

"How far off? How far off?" suddenly called out the captain, full of
strange excitement.

"Not two cables off, I think, sir," replies Woods, "since the bottom
where I was begins to rise towards it, and therefore--"

"And therefore," exclaims Phips, "it is the reef itself! Marvellous

strange it seemed to me that a great Spanish galleon should have
shifted at the bottom of the sea--whoever heard of a ship that
moved below the water!--yet all would have it so; even you, Woods,
thought so yourself! But now I know all. She struck upon a spur of
the reef and not the reef itself, and she has never moved. In which
direction does the rise of bottom of which you speak begin?"

The diver look't round, tracing his course beneath, and then,
pointing to the Boylers, or Bajo, said, "There, sir."

"Why, so 'tis, of course," says Phips. "And, as I say, her keel took
the first, or outside spur of the reef as she passed along, and she
never got nearer to the main one. She is there! She is there! Hearts
up, my lads, we have found the treasure ship!"

I gave the word and up went a roaring cheer from all, one for
Phips, one for the galleon, and one for what she had got in her, or
about her, if she had broken up. Then Phips, all alive now, gives an
order to shift the tender to the spot where Woods did consider the
ridge of the spur should be, and bade the diver come along with us
in it to go down again. Though, a moment afterwards, he paused,
saying in his kindly way,

"Yet no, Woods. You have done enough work for to-day. You shall
rest easy. Now, where is that Blackamoor? He shall go."

The negro came forward, his eyes glistening--perhaps with the

hope of what he should find--and to him says Phips,

"Get you into the dress, or, since you are new to that, into the
diver's chest; that shall do very well for finding of the reef, and,
perhaps, the carrack--she cannot be afar. Come, away with you."

So, into the tender got the captain and I and the negro, and the
sailors told off to her, and in a few moments we were apeak of the
spot where Woods said the reef must be. And then to our
astonishment--for we had never been this side of the Boylers before,
and, consequently, had never seen any shoal water--of which,
indeed, there was little ever--on looking down we saw, not three feet
below the surface, the long sharks-toothed back of the spur.

"Great Powers!" says Phips, "'twas here all those years we wasted
on the other side, and we never thought to even come round to this.
Fools! fools! that we were. We might have had the treasure back
into London long ago. Now," says he, turning from his meditations to
actions, "now," to the black, "into your tub and down with you."

Nothing loth, for the great beast was as eager for gain as any of
us, into the chest did he get and was lowered away, but scarce had
the top of it sunk beneath the water when the rope quivered, then
the signal was given to haul up, and back he came, and, jumping
out of the chest, or bell, exclaimed excitedly,

"Oh! Signor Phips. Oh, Signor Capitan Commandante. The shippy

all down there. Fust ting the chest knock on cannon sticking up in
water, then against her sidy, then I bery much frighted, for I see
dead man's head looking at me out of hole. Oh! Capitan
Commandante, the shippy there, and she full of dead men. Oh!
capitan, send Massa Woods down to see if I speak truf."

So you see we had found the ship

"And," says Phips, that night, as we drank together, "it is my

thirty-seventh year!"

CHAPTER XV.

WHAT THE FIRST SEARCH REVEALED.

Now, therefore, have I to write down of all that, having found the
ship, we found in her. Yet how shall I begin?

Firstly, let me describe how it was with the carrack herself.

She lay canted right over on to her larboard side, the whole of her
larboard forepart broke away and stove in, and crushed as would be
an egg beaten in with a hammer. And in the fifty years--if it were so
long--in which she had been there she seemed to have grown so
much to the reef, or the reef to her, that they seemed part and
parcel of one another. She must, we could see at once, have struck
full head on, and the wicked teeth of the rock had torn her forepart
to pieces. Whether at once she heeled over and sank was never to
be known now, or whether she filled and sank after a while. Perhaps
'twas the latter, since, otherwise, it was not to be understood how
those sailors whom Geronimo had known and danced with, and sang
with, could, had she turned over in a sudden shock, have ever
collected together the plate they had, and have gotten away in the
open boat.

Aft, from the beginning of her waist above, she was not broken
into at all, being quite sound Od her starboard side as she lay,
though, as we found, her larboard side aft, which lay on the bottom,
had rotted somewhat and bulged away, so that what was in her on
that side was, indeed, lying on the sea's bed. Her masts and yards
were all broke off short, and the broken pieces, into which the
limestone had not wedged itself and so held them down, had
doubtless risen and floated. And this must have been the case with
the stern-rail which the old Portuguese had seen, though why that
went adrift we never rightly understood, since no other part of the
stern was gone. We found all this out later on, as you shall see,
when we determined what we must do; but now Phips and I went
apart to hold a conference, the first thing he said being,

"Nick, we have found the plate ship, therefore is one, nay, the
greatest, of our difficulties over. But with this begins the necessity
for great caution. For, see you, Nick, we cannot trust the overhauling
of this ship to the two divers alone. We must know all that is in her,
and we must see that all comes safe up and into our hands. What,
therefore, shall be done?"

"Easy enough," says I, "to answer that. It's for you or me, sir,
who are the responsible officers, to be divers too." This I said, for I
had quickly caught his meaning. Then I went on, "As for myself, I
will cheerfully go down."

"Have you ever dived?" asked he.

"No," I replied, "but I can soon learn myself to do so. Woods had
never used this dress until a little while ere he came aboard the
Furie; yet, now, see what he can do; and what he can, so can I.
Therefore, unless you go I will."
 He thought a little while--perhaps communing with himself as to
whether 'twas not his duty to go--but at last he said,

"Well, that way is p'raps best. You shall go, but to-day--since it
grows on apace--there shall be no new descent. To-night we will
rest, and then begin the work to-morrow. That shall suffice."

So we did no more that day, only we signalled for the bark to

come nearer to us and so anchored her a little closer to the Bajo,
and then all who were in the tender went off and into her for the
night, the spot by the reef being buoyed, though there was little
enough need for that, since, now we knew where to look, we could
easily see the shoal water.

One thing we desired to know, so sent for the black to tell us--
namely, what he meant by saying that he saw a dead man looking at
him from a hole.

"Oh! signor," he said, when he had come in to us, "oh, signor, I

see him berry plain. He leanie right out of big porthole, his body half
way out, his bony hands holding to the sides, his bony skull turned
up to me."

"Nonsense," says Phips, "his hands and head would have fallen
off long ago. You dreamed it, man!"

But the black asseverated that he had not dreamed it, and so we
left it until to-morrow to see.

Now, when the morning came, at once we made our preparations

for the descent. Woods and I were to go down first, he telling me
that it was nought to do; that to begin with I should feel a
suffocation which would soon pass away, and that, excepting I
would seem to be surrounded by green glass full of bubbles, 'twould
not be so very strange. Moreover, he told me to fear nothing, no, not
even a shark if he came near me, for he would be more affrighted
than I, since he knew not what I might be.
 So down to the carrack we descended.

First went Woods, saying he would wait for me at the bottom to

set me on my feet, and so, as easy as ever, over he went and
disappeared from all sight, and then my turn came, and the sailors
lowered me from the gunwale.

In a moment I was sinking through the waters, all blue and green
and bubbling, passing as I went the cannon sticking up from its port-
-it had been left run out when the ship sank, and was a long Spanish
one, its muzzle formed like a snake's mouth, and looking three times
the size it really was, since the water much magnified it--and so
down, seeing fishes dart all around me, looking with frighted eyes at
my strange figure. Then I felt my feet clasped by Woods and placed
firm upon the bottom, and I was there.

And what a strange sight did meet my eyes! Firstly I perceived I

was not on the bottom at all, but standing on the upturned
starboard side of the ship, quite near by the great cannon, and also
to an open port. Yet, as she was not entirely canted over but lay at
an angle, 'twas very hard work to support oneself steady, and I was
very glad to cling to a stanchion for the time. But, now, Woods
taking me by the hand did lead me up the chain wales and so over
the bow, until I stood with him upon the deck, which was here not
difficult; and then I look'd around.

The first thing to be perceived was that the whole of the deck was
swept clean of most that had been on't, except such things as the
hatch-hoods which were fixed, the after bittacle, the stumps of the
broken masts, and so forth. The cannons, too, had slid down owing
to the incline of the wreck, and did all lie huddled on the lower, or
larboard side, and the hatches were mostly open. Wedged in among
the cannon were some bones and a skull, so that now I knew that
the negro had seen this in his descent, and had thought the black
muzzle of the cannon was a porthole.
 And now, Woods making to me a sign to follow him and pointing
to my air-pipe--which, he had told me before he came down, I must
by no means get twisted, or the air would cease--he set his foot
upon the after hatch-ladder, and, so, slowly descended, I following.
So did we go down to the middle deck, around which were placed
the cabins or berths. And now I was to see a sight enough to freeze
anyone's blood, even though so old a sailor as myself. For first we
went into the main or living cabin, and there we observed what
Death had done in its most grisly way. We saw huddled into a corner
of it the clothes of a man and woman, within them still their bones,
and they were, or had been, locked in each other's arms--the long
hair of the woman lying close by the fleshless head. Then did we see
in another corner another woman--her mass of hair pale and golden,
like to an Englishwoman's, and in her bony arms she held also some
little bones and a skull, which told a sad tale--it was a mother and
her poor babe, who had perished together. And, around and about
all, there swam and darted away as we drew near hordes of fishes,
though 'twas long since they had made a meal of these poor dead
things.

But now I could stay no longer, being as yet not used to my

strange head-dress of copper, so I made to Woods a sign that I must
go above, and so we went forth, and, giving of the signal, were
drawn up to the surface again. And once more I breathed the air of
Heaven and was very grateful therefore.

Then Phips took both me and Woods aside, asking us what we

had found, and we told him--he sighing at the sad news from below-
-and also did we tell him how, as yet, we had done no more; so says
he,

"Well, courage, Nick; when next you go down you shall find better
than these poor dead ones--what think you, Woods?"

"I hope so, sir," says he, "since all around the main cabin are
many sleeping ones in which there should be some sort of things of
value, and then must we break away the middle-deck to get to the
lower, where the plate, if any, should be."

"If any!" exclaims Phips. "Why, now, I do believe from all reports I
got from Cuba years ago, that she is full of it! She was, besides
being a galleon, taking home the Adelantado, or Governor, and his
family, and also some others. If we find not a hundred thousand's-
worth at least 'twill be little enough good for me."

Woods opened his eyes at this, for tho' all knew we sought for
treasure, none knew that she might have so much within her;
indeed, none had been told what she might contain. And, now that
both ship and tender were apeak over the wreck and nothing could
be brought up without being seen by all in them, there was no
longer any secret to be made.

Soon again, after we had refreshed ourselves, we were ready

once more to go down, and Juan the Black was to go with us, only
both I and Woods were ordered by Phips to keep an eye on him.
This brute was, as we knew, a Coromantee, and, from all accounts,
they are not only the biggest thieves of all the Blacks but very
ferocious as well. Moreover, neither the Captain nor I fully believed
in his keeping us waiting off Porto only so that he might get drunk,
and we knew not if he and the old Portyguese, or he and some other
villains, might not have been concocting some precious scheme to
defeat us.

But we had no dress for him, only a copper bladder-head, which,

however, would do very well, since the creature was ever naked and
certainly wanted no garments in which to enter the water, and was
so strong that he said the water could not press on him to hurt; and
so, taking the longest air-pipes we had for all of us, again down we
went, all arriving on the middle deck one following the other--Woods
first, I next, and the negro last. As we passed into the main cabin
we saw the Black's great copper head bent over to the dead where
they lay huddled, and then suddenly darted back, so we knew--or, at
least, I did know--that to his other qualities he added that of fear
and timorousness.

And now, seeing that on the bulkheads, or on the cabin doors,

could be still read the painted names, such as "Capitan," "Teniente
Po,"[4] "Pasagero,"[5] and others, I motioned to Woods to burst open
with his axe the captain's door and let us see what was within. This
was soon done, since in nature the woodwork was somewhat rotten,
and, moreover, 'twas not fast, and so we entered, or clambered, into
it. The bed, or bunk, which was very large and roomy, we could
observe, even after the fifty years that had passed, had not been
slept in since it was made; therefore we did conclude the captain
was above when the ship struck, and so was lost. For the rest there
were, all shifted into the corner of the cabin, two great heavy chests
clamped with iron, and on them great padlocks, and these we
decided must at once go up to the tender. So we lifted them up with
much ado and affixed them to the slings, and then they were gotten
up.

And now I was becoming so used to my strange habit that,

beyond a singing in my ears that went and came, I felt no
inconvenience, and was, though not rash, very busy about the main
cabin. And in this way I entered into a berth which we made no
doubt was that set apart for the Adelantado of Cuba, since all
showed it to be so. The swords about the cabin, the rich clothes,
though soaked with water, of both a man and a woman proved this
to be the case, as did the great chests that had slipped about the
place and the bed. And herein was another terrible and ghastly
sight. In that bed lay two human forms, or what had been human
forms once, though now but skeletons, the two skulls being side by
side, the woman's hair being a great black mass upon the coverlet
like a pall. So they had died together, he who had ruled Spain's
greatest colony and she who had acted for Spain's Queen. And this
was all left of their greatness! Poor things!