A Set of Rogues

the way of robbing wi

ry as short as he possibl

aly, whither he had been sent as embassador by the Protector. He sailed from Livorno with

Evans, "as stout a ship

from her convoy, and the next day she was pursued and overt

e same," cries Evans, "tho

nchez, "the corsairs succeeded in boarding the Se

I had been there to

the living to the dead they cast all overboard save Mrs. Godwin and her daughter. Her lot was even worse; for her wounded

lies, you must understand," explains Eva

re Mrs. Godwin and her daughter were sol

score there," says Evans, "an

her liberty and to be sent home to her country, saying that what price (in reason) he chooses to set upon their heads she will pay from her estate in England--a thing which she had proposed before to Sidi, but he would not hear of it because of his love for Judith and his needing no greater fortune than he had. But this Bare, though he would be very well content, being also an old man, to have his household managed by Mrs. Godwin and to adop

ognise this han

Godwin, answers quickly enough: "Aye,

anding the other to Eva

ns, "but the meaning of it I know not, for I can't tell g

Dellys in Barbary the persons of Mrs. Godwin and her daughter against the payment o

nd after us two poor relicts) have taken possession of his estate in the belief we were all lost in our voyage from Italy, I do pray you for the love of God and of mercy to deliver us from our bondage by sending hither a ship with the money for our ransoms forthwith, and be assured by this that I shall not dispossess you of your

pkins, returning the letter.

one penny's value of the estate has been misemployed since it has been in his hands, yet will he give nothing--no, not a maravedi to the redemption of his mistress, saying that the letter is addressed to Rich

ould the venture fall through, the next heir might call upon him to repay out of his own

nly relatives I have been able to

at our soiled clothes, "are not, I venture to t

are but two poor shopkeepers of

nture upon the redemption of these two ladies in Barbary, upon the hazard of being repaid by Mrs. Godwin when she recovers her estate." And

ucats--about two thou

g. "Then, Robert Evans, what charge is y

d pounds," says he, "and I won't go from my

at deal of money,

o much for my carcase and a ship of twenty me

ery small likelihood

for though I have the Duke's pass, these Moors are no fitter to be trusted than a sackf

you would make this voyage for the tenth part o

tside the straits for an hundr

, and setting down some f

the risk at Robert Evans' own valuation (which I take to be a very low one), I m

e I know to be worth

her. Not the steward--you have shown me that. Who then remains but this Richard Godwin who cannot be found? If," adds he, getting up from his seat, "you can find Richard Godwin, put him in possession of

rner, "I can't wait for a blue moon; and if so be we don't sign articles in

s. Godwin and her daughter shall be redeemed from captivity. To-morrow I shall show you what ki

s old clothes at a Jew's, and I a very neat, presentable suit of cloth, etc., and the rest of the money we take back to Don Sanchez without taking so much as a penny for our other uses; but he, doing all things very magnificent, w

to me), and on very good horses a long ride to Chislehurst And there coming to a monstrous fine park, Don Sanchez stayed us before the gates, and bidding us look up

h not a spark of fire on the hearth but a few ashes, no hangings to the windows, nor any ornament or comfort at all, but only a table and half a dozen wooden stools, and a number of shelves against the wall full of account books and papers protected by a grating of stout wire secured with sundry padlocks. And here, behind a tabl

Don Sanchez, "to conclude the b

ere we get to this dry matter let's have a bottle to ease the way,

all fetch thee a jug of water from the well;

l have none of it. Let's get this matter done and away, for I'd

sk his life, and here a merchant adventurer of London who will hazar

es, as likewise did Simon, and both in a snuffling voice render thanks to Heaven in words which I do not

me in mind, friend Peter, that to-night we p

hez, "it will cost your mistress

and he stared at Don Sanchez in bewilderment, then getting the face to speak, he gasps out, "

retty much the same words as Mr. Hopkins used, the risk of the venture, e

friend, 'tis half of all I have made of the estate

harge, for which your fine park must be felled, your farms cut up, and your economies

that is an

y carcase and a ship of twenty men, you may seek a cheaper market and

. Thus Mrs. Godwin and her daughter may be redeemed for thirty-five hundred p

seeking to affright the steward from an honest course, but rath

that he might the better realise his position. "But you say, friend m

thirty-one thousand pou

done for a tenth

risk, sir, and n

riend sailor, that you stand in danger

re like

e gone; and the peril is to be run aga

o show his books that we might see he had taken not one penny beyond his bare expenses from the estate, save his yearly wage, and that no more than Sir Richard had given him in his lifetime. And on Don Sanchez showing Mrs. Godwin's letter as a fitting authority to draw out this money for her use, he first feigns to doubt her

es up his shoulde

nd as for me, I'm not going to hang in a hedge for a blue moon. So if you won't clap hands on the bargain without more ad

d willingly draw out of

t not hazard thy money for such a prodigious advantage." Then turning to P

friend Simon," replies Pe

ore righteous than to lay faith in our own vain effort. So do thou,

Simon fetches a book with a plan of the estate, whereby he showed us that not a holding on the estate was untenanted, not a si

ing what you have shown, with your sanction to my making this ventu

of paying anything at all), until Don Sanchez, losing patience, declared he would certainly hunt all London through to find that Mr. Richard Godwin, who wa

on Don Sanchez writing another affirming that he had seen Mrs. Godwin and her daughter in Barbary, and was g

em the captives, and that it would be no harm at all to put a cheat upon the miserly steward. Whether we were any way mo