“First I want a hundred crowns to pay John Haring, who has helped me get your daughter out of Haarlem.”
“I will—I’ll give Haring a thousand. And I’ll give you my love, my devotion, whatever else you want for saving my Mina from despair and death,” answers the merchant in grateful voice.
“Your life, perhaps.”
“Yes, I’ll give that too, to get vantage of Alva.”
“Then,” says Guy, “listen to me.” And swearing Bodé Volcker very solemnly to secrecy, he tells him everything—everything connected with Alva’s statue, everything connected with Alva’s treasure, for he believes in no half confidences to this man, the risk of whose life he demands for his own selfish purpose.
“Very well. What do you want me to do?” answers the Dutchman, his eyes lighting up as he hears of Alva’s buried treasure, the joy of pirate plunder [[207]]coming into his merchant’s soul. “Should I not have a little more—interest, at least?”
“Yes, interest—six hundred thousand, or, as your life is worth something—we’ll make it seven hundred and fifty thousand.”
“Very well—to business! What do you want?”
“First, for time presses, I want clearance papers procured as soon as possible from the town of Amsterdam for the Esperanza that I have still at Flushing harbor. Can you procure them?”
“From Amsterdam? Impossible. But I can get you clearance and cargo from Stockholm.”