of a
familiar and cunning face. Meanwhile the last touches were being given
to the _Golden Boar_; her captain, John Drake, younger brother of the
famous admiral, was daily aboard, and her three principal
owners--Raleigh, Johnnie Morgan, and Captain Dawe--had arrived in
Plymouth. They had given up all hope of seeing Dan's mysterious
Spanish papers. But hope was not dead in the volatile Dan.

Chapter XXVIII.

THE PARLOUR OF THE "BLUE DOLPHIN."

On the Cornish side of the Sound, and directly facing the harbour of
Plymouth, lay a snug fisher village. In the gray, weather-beaten
church were plentiful records of the births, marriages, and deaths of
the Pengellys. The homeless and wandering Dan might have claimed
relationship with half the inhabitants of the place had he chosen to do
so. Yet, being Plymouth born and at sea four-fifths of his time, he
had never visited the place since his boyhood. He thought less of a
voyage to the Indies than of a trip across the estuary of the Tamar.
And in this place, that echoed with his family name, and where he
himself might walk as a stranger, lodged the man he sought in every
street, byway, and tavern in Plymouth.

Dan had been down to the _Golden Boar_, and had talked with Captain
Drake and Master Morgan. They wanted news of his papers; he could give
them none.

"Then," said John Drake, "we can wait here no longer. Maybe thy papers
would give us the very route to 'El Dorado's' land, and save us a world
of danger and trouble; maybe they are about some other matter entirely.
In any case, I must sail in three days' time. We are thoroughly armed,
manned, and victualled; winter is gone, and the winds will serve. 'Tis
westward ho! and take the risks that other bold fellows have taken
before us. Yet I had rather the little priest had not gotten the
manuscript from thee. The cunning thief may be garnering gold whilst
we but reap wounds and fever. The New World is a big place, the
Orinoco a mighty stream; no man can say what lands lie along its
margin, and what mighty nations dwell on those lands. I have no fear
of the night, but 'tis a good thing to have a lantern in hand when one
walks in dark places."

Master Morgan agreed, and Dan resolved upon a desperate attempt to
recover his lost treasure. He left the harbour, sought and found the
Johnsons, and formulated a plan of action.

An hour or so later, Nick and Ned and the two stranger mariners entered
the "Blue