“And what will befall me at Vera Cruz?”
“He, being a pious man, will hand you over to the Holy Office.”
“To the Holy Office! You mean the Inquisitors? And they——”
“They will burn you for a Lutheran dog, master.”
We were both silent for awhile. I was thinking of naught but the fiendish cruelty which existed in such a man as Manuel Nunez. Presently I thought of Pharaoh Nanjulian.
“And yourself?” I said. “What will he do with you?”
“I am to share your fate, master. Senor Nunez is a good and pious son of Mother Church, and he will wipe out a score or two of sins by presenting the stake with two English heretics.”
After that I thought again for a time.
“Pharaoh,” I said at last, “we will not die very willingly. I have a good deal to live for. There is my sweetheart and my uncle to go back to, and also I have an account to settle with Jasper Stapleton. I will make an effort to do all this before my time comes.”
“I am with you, master,” said he.