"I remember Gnawbit well," I answered, with a shudder.
"Do you remember Charlwood Chase, and the Blacks that were wont to kill Venison there?"
"I do."
"And Mother Drum, and Cicely, and Jowler, and the Night Attack, and how near you were being hanged? Do you remember Captain Night?"
A Light broke in upon me. I recognised my earliest Protector. I seized his Hand. I was fairly blubbering, and would have rushed into his Arms; but there was something Cold and Haughty in his Manner that repulsed me.
"'Tis well," he said. "I am a Knight of the most Illustrious Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and an Italian Cavalier of Degree. You——"
"I am a Spy," I cried out half-sobbing. "What was I to do? My Malignant Fate hath ever been against me. I am despicable in your Eyes, but not so despicable as I am in mine own."
"There, there," he cries out, very placably. "There's no great harm done, and there's much of a muchness between us. When you first came across me, was I not stealing the King's Deer in Charlwood Chase, besides being in trouble—I don't mind owning to you now—on account of King James? 'Twixt you, Jack Dangerous, Flibustier, Saltabadil, and Spy, and Captain Night, now called Don Ercolo et cetera, et cetera di San Lorenzo, and a Knight of Malta, there is not much, perhaps, to choose. The World hath its strange Ups and Downs, and we must e'en make the best of them. Sit you down, Jack Dangerous, and we will have t'other Flask."
We had t'other Flask, and very good Wine it was; and for the rest of the time I remained in Malta, Don Ercolo continued to be my Fast Friend, even as he had been in my Youth. And yet 'twas mainly through his Instrumentality that I quitted the Island; for he sent his Page to me with a Letter, written in our own dear English Tongue, in the which he instantly desired me, as I valued my Life and the Interests of my Employers, to put the Broad Seas between myself and the Grand Master; for that an Inkling of my Errand had got wind, and that the Party unfavourable to France being then uppermost, I ran immediate risk of being cast into a Dungeon, if not Hanged. For this Reason, said Don Ercolo, he must forbear any further Commerce with me (not wishing to draw Suspicion on himself, for the Knights are very jealous in Political Affairs); but he assured me of his continued Friendship, and desired if I stood in Need of any Funds for my Journey, to inform the Page, that he might furnish me secretly with what Gold I needed. But I wanted nothing in this way, having ample Credits; so making up my Valises with all convenient Speed, the Chevalier Escarbotin bade adieu to Malta.
I took a passage in a Speronare that was bound to Candia, where I hoped to find some Trading Vessel of heavier Burden to take me to Constantinople. The Mediterranean Sea here very beautiful, and delightful to see the Dolphins, Tunnies, and other Fish, that frequently leapt out of the Water, and followed our Ship in great Numbers. Also a Waterspout, which is a Phenomenon very well known to Seamen in the Levant Trade, and reckoned very dangerous. It looked mighty Fierce and Terrific; and our Sailors, to conjure it away, had recourse to the Superstitious Devices of cutting the air with a Black-Handled Knife, and reading the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel, accounted of great Efficacy in dispersing these Spouts.