"What to do?" I ask for this question did still perplex me.
"What to do? Why, to get gold, to be sure."
"I thought you had decided not to set foot ashore," said I.
"And so we have; for what Englishman has ever got gold that went out of his ship to get it? The fools have thrown more gold into Guiana than ever they have taken out of it, a hundredfold."
"Ay! And gold is not the only thing they have thrown away," says Parsons, "but many a good and honest Englishman's life as well."
"For every man that has come home," says Rodrigues, "a hundred have been left behind—slain by Indians, stung by serpents, dead of fevers, or slaves to the Spaniard."
"And them as do come home are none the better for having gone thither," chimes in t'other rascal, "as we do testify; for here am I short of one eye, and Rodrigues a sight to see."
"That there is gold in Guiana no one can doubt," says Rodrigues; "but the only men who can get it are the Indians, and their only masters are the Spaniards and Portugals."
"Then where did you get the treasure you brought to England?" I asked.
"Why, from the Spaniard, to be sure, and as fairly as he got it from the Indian."