"First," he said, "no man knows whether it will come. And, next, I for one am not sure if I even wish for it."
Mr. Bassett laughed loudly.
"You will dance for joy!" he said. "And why do you not know whether you wish it to come?"
"I have no taste to be a Spanish subject."
"Why, nor have I! But the King of Spain will but sail away again when he hath made terms against the privateers, whether they be those that ply on the high seas against men's bodies, or here in England against their souls. There will be no subjection of England beyond that."
Mr. John was silent.
"Why, I heard from Sir Thomas but a week ago, to ask for a little money to pay his fines with. He said that repayment should follow so soon as the fleet should come. Those were his very words."
"You sent the money, then?"
"Why, yes; I made shift that a servant should throw down a bag with ten pounds in it, into a bush, and that Brittlebank—your brother's man—should see him do it! And lo! when we looked again, the bag was gone!"
He laughed again with open mouth. Certainly he was an inspiriting man with a loud bark of his own; but Robin imagined that he would not bite too cruelly for all that. But he saw another side of him presently.