"Mervan," he said, speaking quickly, "you must be made acquainted with my history--I will tell it you. To-night, when we ride forth again; but not now. See, our horses are ready, they are bringing them from the stables. When we are on the road I will tell you my story. 'Twill not take long. Come, let us pay the bill, and away."
"I will pay the bill," I said; "later we can regulate our accounts. And as you say, we had best be on the road. For if that old man has seen me, or if his black servant has done so--it--it--may be serious."
"Serious!" he repeated. "Serious! For you, my friend?" And as he spoke there was in his voice so tender an evidence that he thought nothing of any danger which could threaten him, but only of what might befall me, that I felt sure, now and henceforth, of the noble, unselfish heart he possessed. "Oh! not serious for you."
"Ay," I replied. "Ay. Precious serious! Remember, he knows I went ashore in Lagos bay, that I sailed in the English fleet to Vigo. What will happen, think you, if he warns them at Lugo that such a one as I--an Englishman--who assisted at the taking of the galleons, is on the road 'twixt here and there?"
"My God!" the boy exclaimed, thrusting his hand through the curls clustering over his eyes--as he always did when in the least excited. "It might mean----"
"Death," I said, "sharp and swift; without trial or time for shrift; without----"
"But--whether he be Eaton--or--Carstairs--he is English himself."
"Ay, and so he is." I answered, "But be sure he has papers--also he can speak Spanish well, will doubtless pass for a Spaniard. Also, unless I am much mistook, had a cargo in one of those galleons--for what else has he followed up here? For what--but the hopes of getting back some of the saved spoil which has been brought to Lugo? That alone would give him the semblance of being Spanish--would earn him sympathy. Meanwhile, what should I be deemed? A spy! And I should die the spy's death."
"What then to do next?" Juan asked, with a helpless, piteous look.
"There is but one thing for me to do," I replied. "One thing alone. As I told you ere we set out from Viana, my task is to ride on straight, unerringly, to my goal--on to Flanders, through every obstacle, every barrier; to crash through them, if heaven permits, as Hopson crashed through that boom at Vigo--to reach Lord Marlborough or to fall by the wayside. That is my duty, and I mean to do it."