"Not so."
"Why not? I have thy papers—I make no secret of that—and thou hast mine."
"Are not these the same?"
"No. But let us exchange, and give over all talk of robbery." Basil got up and went to a little press in the wall. Before opening the door he turned again to Dan. "Thou wilt observe that I am not afraid of turning my back to thee. I have more faith in thine honour than thou hast in mine."
The sailor flushed and fidgeted. "Thou didst deceive me under the guise of friendship," he muttered.
"Pshaw, man! thou wert undone by thine own foolishness. Why didst chatter to a stranger about thy papers? Is not all England agog to find the land of 'El Dorado'? Dost think that any man breathing could resist the temptation to gain a knowledge of the way thither? I suffer from no gold hunger, but I would like the honour of discovering that notable country. So wouldst thou; so would Admiral Drake. I shall have done thee no harm, but rather given thee a lesson in caution if I restore thy papers."
"Wilt do so?"
Basil opened the press, and tossed a packet on the table. "There they are."
Dan snatched it up, and turned it round and round in his fingers. "Why dost thou give them back?"
"They are thine, and thou hast come for them."