"There is no risk at all," Bob said, firmly. "You will get in there tomorrow, and you can start again, as soon as it becomes dark; and in the morning you will be able to sail into Marbella, and who is to know that you haven't been across to Malaga, as you intended?
"I tell you what, I will give you another fifty dollars for your fish; or you can sell them there, yourselves--they will fetch you quite that."
The men still hesitated, and spoke together in a low voice.
"Look here, men," Bob said, as he took the two heavy pistols from his bag, "I have come out from the Rock to do this, and I am going to do it. The question is, 'Which do you choose--to earn two hundred and fifty dollars for a couple of days' work, or to be shot and thrown overboard?' This boat is going there, whether you go in her or not. I don't want to hurt you--I would rather pay the two hundred and fifty dollars--but that fruit may save the lives of many women, and little children, and I am bound to do it.
"You can make another trip or not, just as you please. Now, I think you will be very foolish, if you don't agree; for you will make three times as much as I offer you, every thirty boxes of fruit that you can take in there; but the boat has got to go there now, and you have got to take your choice whether you go in her, or not."
"How do we know that you will pay us the money, when we get there?" one of the Spaniards asked.
Bob put his hand into his pocket.
"There," he said. "There are twenty gold pieces, that is, a hundred dollars. That is a proof I mean what I say. Put them into your pockets. You shall have the rest, when you get there. But mind, no nonsense; no attempts at treachery. If I see the smallest sign of that, I will shoot you down without hesitation.
"Now, row, and I'll put her head round."
The men said a few words in an undertone to each other.