"Now," says he, "I perceive why she was so anxious to start off betimes, and why she urged that you, being unused to traveling on these rivers, could never endure the teasing of the flies that do infest the water, and so should go as far as you might by road."
"Our mules are still fresh," says Lady Biddy; "can not we get to our destination by following this road still further?"
"Nay," says he, "for Dom Sebastian's seat, where he designed you should stay with his lady until it might be safe to return to Castello Lagos, lies yet some distance up the river, and is only to be reached by boat from the point below. For the river winds one way, and this road the other; nor is there any other means of getting at it that I know of. But I will make sure of this by questioning the men, who know these parts better than I."
While he was parleying with his men, Lady Biddy narrated this conversation to me, and, as she was saying the last words, he comes back, still feigning to be greatly vexed.
"I am sorry to tell you, madam," says he, "that my men, one and all, agree with me there is no road to the governor's seat; so I see nothing for it but to divide my company, and give you one half to cover your return to Castello Lagos."
"But why divide the company?" says Lady Biddy in alarm; "surely you will return with us?"
"Nothing would give me greater joy," says he, "but I am only a poor merchant, and these are my possessions" (with his head in his shoulders and his hands extended towards the company of footmen and mules). "I offering you half my servants, I jeopardize as much as I can afford, for I doubt if I shall see e'er a one of 'em alive again."
When Lady Biddy had translated this to me, she says, in a tone of terror:
"If he does not expect his men to save their lives in returning to the town, how may we hope to escape? We can not return thither. Oh, Benet, what shall we do?"
I was myself prodigiously taken aback, and not a little scared, by this new turn of affairs; yet, seeing how my dear lady was upset, I tried to calm her mind by making light of the matter.