om like a storm; anger strangled him, and he thought to have died;
but when the sailor, tired of this cruel play, dropped him all his
length upon the sand and turned to consult with his companions, he
instantly regained command of his temper. Here was a momentary respite;
ere they began again to torture him, he might have found some method to
escape from this degrading and fatal misadventure.

Presently, sure enough, and while his captors were still discussing what
to do with him, he took heart of grace, and, with a pretty steady voice,
addressed them.

"My masters," he began, "are ye gone clean foolish? Here hath Heaven put
into your hands as pretty an occasion to grow rich as ever shipman
had--such as ye might make thirty over-sea adventures and not find
again--and, by the mass! what do ye? Beat me?--nay; so would an angry
child! But for long-headed tarry-Johns, that fear not fire nor water,
and that love gold as they love beef, methinks ye are not wise."

"Ay," said Tom, "now y' are trussed ye would cozen us."

"Cozen you!" repeated Dick. "Nay, if ye be fools, it would be easy. But
if ye be shrewd fellows, as I trow ye are, ye can see plainly where your
interest lies. When I took your ship from you, we were many, we were
well clad and armed; but now, bethink you a little, who mustered that
array? One incontestably that hath made much gold. And if he, being
already rich, continueth to hunt after more even in the face of
storms--bethink you once more--shall there not be a treasure somewhere
hidden?"

"What meaneth he?" asked one of the men.

"Why, if ye have lost an old skiff and a few jugs of vinegary wine,"
continued Dick, "forget them, for the trash they are; and do ye rather
buckle to an adventure worth the name, that shall, in twelve hours, make
or mar you for ever. But take me up from where I lie, and let us go
somewhere near at hand and talk across a flagon, for I am sore and
frozen, and my mouth is half among the snow."

"He seeks but to cozen us," said Tom contemptuously.

"Cozen! cozen!" cried the third man. "I would I could see the man that
could cozen me! He were a cozener indeed! Nay, I was not born yesterday.
I can see a church when it hath a steeple on it; and for my part, gossip
Arblaster, methinks there is some sense in this young man. Shall we go
hear him, indeed? Say, shall we go hear him?"

"I would look gladly on a pottle of strong ale, good Master Pirret,"
returned Arblaster.--"How say y