"You offer a reward, also, in addition, for the discovery of Marti,—Captain Marti, of the smugglers,—do you not?"
"We do, and will gladly make good the promise of reward for any and all information upon the subject," replied Tacon.
"First, Excellency, do you give me your knightly word that you will grant a free pardon to me, if I reveal all that you require to know, even embracing the most secret hiding-places of the rovers?"
"I pledge you my word of honor," said the commander.
"No matter how heinous in the sight of the law my offences may have been, still you will pardon me, under the king's seal?"
"I will, if you reveal truly and to any good purpose," answered Tacon, weighing in his mind the purpose of all this precaution.
"Even if I were a leader among the rovers, myself?"
The governor hesitated for a moment, canvassing in a single glance the subject before him, and then said:
"Even then, be you whom you may; if you are able and will honestly pilot our ships and reveal the secrets of Marti and his followers, you shall be rewarded as our proffer sets forth, and yourself receive a free pardon."
"Excellency, I think I know your character well enough to trust you, else I should not have ventured here."