But first, you and I must come to an agreement. I am to be paid, at least in part, in cash, or gold—something a man might want. Otherwise I shall get bored with your long hours. And he'll be glad to escape, as you say. Or, perhaps, I might escape on my own—and you would have sold me out. You have done this for the two captains and the admiral. Do not do it for a woman." "I'd heard of your skills and your temper—and your greed. It would be hard for me to sell you. And yet there is a price. I must have your word that you won't try to escape without leave, as we are to do. If you try to take my word back, I will be your enemy. If you give me that word I can find a way to help you...a little." "In gold," she said flatly, "I do not believe it would be possible for me to trust you. You see, I have had dealings with your kind before. And you will betray me—as you have the captains." "So you will help me, in order to escape from me? How very kind." "It would also be kind for you to allow me to earn my silver, or my gold. I have not earned it. But the captain of the _Raven_ has done so and has given it to me. We three, therefore, are now entitled to keep a considerable sum in coin, from which I should like to pay you, for yourself." "I should rather have been paid for services rendered," he said sourly. "And I should like to have received my price in gold from the first." "But I have not. But you have sold the goods you got for the captains; and that they got from me. I am no thief. You were not with them when they discovered a great treasure—some gold, some silver, a few trinkets, some ornaments and jewels. But you were with them on their second voyage. And I knew your father, Master Yovell. You see my problem. If you had no dealings with me you would probably say that you did not take anything from me; and he is dead." "I will do you one last favor," Joliffe promised. "And not because of your kindness, but because you do not appear to be a woman who would murder to keep her own skin. If you help me escape, I will see to it that he or you—whichever is left alive—will have a few more silver pieces to divide among the survivors. For, to return to your own matter, you must know that the admiral's gold will have to be divided among the survivors. I know you have never liked what he did. He gave my master a sum in gold. And you shall take half of it as long as you grant me my favor." "Who has most need for the good will of an informer?" "Whoever is most hated in England. Well, he was hated. They hated him for what he did to the French, and for what he did to the Scotch. Because he's dead, that is all gone." "Very well, Master Yovell. I will do as you wish." "Including being present when your ship is taken from under your command." "Yes. The admiral was a fool to take you on as a crewman. Yet you were the only one he knew personally—perhaps even personally liked. I'll have to warn him that you have left us, somehow, whether from greed or a sudden interest in a new sort of girl, or even for the sake of his fortune." "And to have someone present who can tell them—you know what you're to tell them." "I'm very glad you can do that." She grinned at him. "He'll wonder what you are doing there. It will take a little time for me to prepare that." "I'll use the time for thinking." "About escape?" "No, about leaving you—as a friend." * * * She seemed to hesitate a moment. "That I will not grant you. We will be friends—nothing more. As you see, they come. I can let them in now. Give me a moment's warning, and I'll have the door barred." "No, don't do that. They've only to guess we're in here—I doubt they would think it worth the attempt." "If it comes to that, you are the better man at making it worth the attempt." "Yet my being a man won't help me," he said wryly. "And you, I think, have seen one man after another and known what they might have been able to do." "They may have found something that might have helped. You see?" "I suppose I do. And you are not being helpful." "I am being cautious. You know well enough that you have to trust someone here." "Not me. You're in your own business. I am in the admiral's—by reputation. So far as I am concerned, we are all three of us his prisoners, with no hope of escape. What I am doing now is nothing but a game of chances. I have no one to help me with any of that, and little with whom to bargain, except my honor." "I have known men who could find a way to buy their honor from one they hated." "And have they? For the price of a trifling freedom." "But is it such a trifle when it's the only kind of freedom men like you can ever hope to have?" "It is not a freedom I have dreamed of in all the years since I was a boy. Give me time—and I can give you my word to try to take one of the two ships. Just to learn how the wind serves us." "I don't want you to swear an oath. You have your honor, you say. But you will not let me do the same?" He laughed. "No. No more. I will try not to make any promises I cannot keep." "You have a great deal of curiosity," she said. "But I know my duty, and you will not persuade me to do more than that." "And will you do your best for me?" She gazed at him steadily, and he saw the woman he knew, and still liked. "It may seem strange, but I like you. You have given me a great deal to think about. What do you need me to do?" "Just don't be too long. And make sure you're here when I want you, if you want me. Now, if you please, you may lead the way to the captain's cabin." They left the captain's rooms together and returned to where the captains sat. Joliffe looked at the two. Neither seemed to notice. He wondered what they were saying. The woman glanced at the door, before asking Yovell, "This other man, was he with the _Dolphin_?" "No," Yovell said. "The admiral may have thought there was a need for a better-qualified man, or he may have been feeling a little guilty, or perhaps simply trying to give our companion the chance to use the knowledge he has. I don't know." "You must suspect that something went wrong. There was no attack, no fighting." "There were storms," the second captain said. "And you were taken." "We weren't ready," the other captain admitted. The woman looked hard at him. "If you expect help from me—at some point—you will have to explain your failure to us all." "You said you knew you were a fool when you started." She shrugged. "I am. And everyone must learn by his own mistakes, not by mine. Tell me how you were taken." "The admiral will expect that there will be trouble." "There will be trouble," she said. "He has spent too long with me. We are alike in that." The other captain shifted uneasily. "That's your captain, is it?" the woman asked Yovell. "It is." "Tell him I am waiting to speak to him." Yovell seemed to be about to protest, then, "Very well." Joliffe walked with the woman through the streets until they had returned to the inn. She would talk with the other captains when she had time. She would tell her crew of their meeting. There would be little for her to do but listen. She had done that long before, of course, for her captain. Yovell, she thought, had talked well; a little too much of Yovell. And perhaps he had too much of the fool in him. _But there are a few too many fools for that to matter to a man like him._ She was not sure what she should do with him. It was odd to think of him going anywhere or doing anything. There was even a feeling in her mind that she was about to do something foolish—as if it was her own will about something she