"I hope so, too," Mrs. Harcourt said. "I will see Captain Colomb. He will be sure to give you a letter for his wife. I shall talk it over with him and, if he thinks that she had better go straight home, if any opportunity offers, I shall tell Amy to go with her; and stay with my sister, at Gloucester, till the siege is over, and then she can come out again to us. I will bring you down the letters, myself, at seven o'clock."
From her, Bob went to Dr. Burke.
"I have just come from your house, Bob. I found your sister in a despondent state about you. I assured her you had as many lives as a cat; and could only be considered to have used up two or three of them, yet, and were safe for some years to come. I hinted that you had more to fear from a rope than either drowning or shooting. That made her angry, and did her good. However, it was better for me to be off; and I thought, most likely, that you would be coming round for a talk.
"So you are going officially, this time. Well, what disguise are you going to take?"
"That is what I have been thinking of. What would you recommend, doctor?"
"Well, the choice is not a very extensive one. You can hardly go as you are because, if the Moors have joined the Spaniards, you would be arrested as soon as you landed. Gerald tells me that, probably, two of the Jew traders will go away with you. If so, I should say you could not do better than dress in their style. There are many of them Rock scorpions, and talk Spanish and English equally well; but I should say that you had better take another disguise."
"That is what I was thinking," Bob said. "The boatman will know that I have something to do with the governor, and the two Jews will certainly know that I don't belong to the Rock. If they find that the Moors have joined the Spaniards, these Jews may try to get through, themselves, by denouncing me. I should say I had better get clothes with which I can pass as a Spanish sailor, or fisherman. There are almost sure to be Spanish ships, in there. There is a good deal of trade between Tangiers and Spain.
"Then again, I shall want my own clothes if I have to take passage in a neutral, to Lisbon. So I should say that I had better go down to the town, and get a sort of trader's suit, and a fisherman's, at one of the low slop shops. Then I will go as a trader, to start with; and carry the other two suits in a bag."
"That will be a very good plan, Bob. You are not likely to be noticed much, when you land. There are always ships anchored there, waiting for a wind to carry them out. They must be accustomed to sailors, of all sorts of nationalities, in the streets. However, I hope you will find no occasion for any clothes, after you land, but your own. The Moors have always been good friends of ours; and the emperor must know that the Spaniards are very much more dangerous neighbours than we are, and I can hardly believe he will be fool enough to throw us over.
"I will go down with you, to buy these things."