it'll be easier to reach it after we've done the business we intend
doin', Panyma bein' a seaport, an' plenty o' vessels sailin' from it.
After gettin' there we'd be able to go every man his own way. Them as
wants can cross over the Isthmus, an' cut off on t'other side. An'
Panyma bein' full o' strangers goin' to Californey, an' returnin' from
it, we'd be less like to get noticed there. Whiles if we land on the
coast here, where thar an't no good-sized town, but only some bits o'
fishin' villages, we'd be a marked lot--sartin to run a good chance o'
bein' took up, an' put into one o' thar prisons. Just possible too, we
might land on some part inhabited by wild Indyins, an' lose not only the
shinin' stuff, but our scalps. I've heerd say thar's the worst sort o'
savages livin' on the coast 'long here. An' supposin' we meet neither
Indyins nor whites, goin' ashore in a wilderness covered wi' woods, we
might have trouble in makin' our way out o' them. Them thick forests o'
the tropics an't so easy to travel through. I've know'd o' sailors as
got cast away, perishin' in 'em afore they could reach any settlement.
My advice, tharfore, shipmates, be, for us to take the barque on into
the Bay; an' when we've got near enough the port, to make sure o' our
bein' able to reach it, then put in for the shore. Panyma Bay's big
enough to give us plenty choice o' places for our purpose."

"We've heard you out, Mr Blew," rejoins Gomez, "Now, let me say in
answer, you haven't given a single reason for going by Panama Bay, that
won't stand good for doing the very opposite. But there's one worth
all, you haven't mentioned, and it's against you. While running up into
the Bay, we'd be sure to meet other vessels coming out of it--scores of
them. And supposing one should be a man-of-war--a British or American
cruiser, say--and she takes it into her head to overhaul us; where would
we be then?"

"An' if they did," returns Blew, "what need for us to be afeerd? Seein'
that the barque's papers are all shipshape, they'd have to leave us as
they found us. Let 'em overhaul, an' be blowed!"

"They mightn't leave us as they found us, for all that," argues Gomez.
"Just when they took it into their heads to board the barque, might be
when we would be slipping out of her. How then? Besides, other ships
would have the chance of spying us at that critical moment. As I've
said, your other arguments are wrong; I'll answer them in detail. But