BIMBO
Fetch him here.
(The Deaf-and-Dumb Man and the Man with the Braided Beard push Robert to the table and into a chair there, where Bimbo forces a quill pen into his hand.)
ROBERT (as this is done)
They shall not make me! Let me go, you black villains! I defy you!
BIMBO (forcibly guiding his hand on the parchment)
There! You’re writing it, my lad. “Robert.” That’s done. It’s a bad hand, but legible. What’s your last name?
ROBERT (panting)
You’ll never know.
BIMBO (grimly)
Never mind. Robert is enough. Your hand’s been to our parchment, and you’re one of us by law.
LYDIA (crying out)
Oh! Ha’ mercy!
BIMBO
Hold him here while I get the old man and his daughter back to their own vessel. (Moving toward the door.) Come, mistress.
LYDIA (rushing to her father)
Father, you can save him. You can pay ransom for him. You can promise to send them coin from England. Father!
BIMBO (to the Gunner)
Bring them with me!
LYDIA (despairingly)
Father, tell them you’ll pay them. Father——