CHAPTER VI.
SCHEMES AND STRATAGEMS.
I was not minded to let Captain Nunez and the crew—every man of which was either Spaniard or Portugee—see that I had any knowledge of the man whom they had rescued, and therefore I presently went below and kept out of the way for a while. Somehow I felt a considerable sense of gratification at the thought of the Cornishman’s presence on board. He seemed to me a man of resource and of courage, and I no sooner set eyes on him in this remarkable fashion, than I began to think how he might aid me in making my escape from my present position.
After a time Nunez came down into the cabin where I sat, and began to talk with me.
“We have fallen in with a countryman of yours, Master Salkeld,” said he, regarding me closely, as if he wished to see how I took the news.
“Indeed!” said I. “The man just come aboard?”
“The same. A native of Cornwall, with an outlandish name, and an appetite as large as his body, judging by the way he eats.”
“He is no doubt hungry, Senor,” I said. “Perhaps he has been tossing about for a while.”