omised. And this, dear good friend," adds he, slyly, "thee mayst well
take on account of thine own share,--and none dispute thy right, for
'tis thy money hath done all. And from what I see of him, smoking of
pipes in the public way and drinking with any low fellows in alehouses,
this Captain Evans is but a paltry, mean man who may be easily put off
with a pound or two to squander in his pleasures; and as for the Spanish
grandee, he do seem so content to be with our mistress that I doubt he
needs no pretext for quitting her, added to which, being of a haughty,
proud nature, he should scorn to claim his own, to the prejudice of a
merchant who hath nought but his capital to live upon. And I do implore
thee, good friend, to lay this matter before my mistress in such a way
that she may not be wroth with me."

I told him I would do all he could expect of me in reason, but bade him
understand that his chance of forgiveness for having broke his first
engagement depended greatly upon his exactitude in keeping the second,
and that he might count on little mercy from us if the other three
thousand were not forthcoming as he promised. So I took the money and
gave him a quittance for it, signing it with my false name, James
Hopkins, but, reflecting on this when I left him, I wished I had not.
For I clearly perceived that by this forgery I laid myself open to very
grievous consequences; moreover, taking of this solid money, disguise it
how I would, appeared to me nothing short of downright robbery, be it
whose it might. In short, being now plunged up to my neck in this
business, I felt like a foolish lad who hath waded beyond his depth in a
rapid current, hoping I might somehow get out of it safely, but with
very little expectation. However, the sight of all this gold told up in
scores upon the table in our closed room served to quiet these qualms
considerably. Nevertheless, I was not displeased to remember our bargain
with Don Sanchez, feeling that I should breathe more freely when he had
taken this store of gold out of my hands, etc. Thus did my mind waver
this way and that, like a weather-cock to the blowing of contrary winds.

'Twas this day that Moll (as I have said) dressed herself in her Moorish
clothes for the entertainment of her new friends, and Dawson, hearing
her voice, yet not daring to go into the state room where she was, must
needs linger on the stairs listening to her song, and craning his neck
to catch a glimpse of