Granny Toothacre used to say that if there's a thing
you fight against all your life it'll come to you sooner or later."
"So she did," said Drake with a grim smile as he passed. "Takes a woman
to tell a fortune, after all."
"D'you ever hear what become of the old Don we picked up that time?"
Moone asked in a lowered voice.
"Not since he sent Frankie the dagger with the gold work and the jewel.
Why?"
"'Cause the pilot o' the _Spit-silver_ he knowed un. He say the plague
broke out in the Low Countries, and the old Don took and tended that
Gallego servant o' his and then he died--not o' the pestilence--just
wore out like. I reckon maybe he told Mus' Drake. I didn't."
Silence fell. Then Will said thoughtfully, "He won't be Mus' Drake much
longer--by rights--but you never know what a woman'll do. She keep her
presents and her favors for them that ha'n't earned 'em--as a rule."
Moone presently hummed half aloud,
"When I served my master I got my Sunday pudden,
When I served the Company I got my bread and cheese.
When I served the Queen I got hanged for a pirate,
All along o'sailin' on the Carib Seas!"
It was a reckless jest, for every one knew that if Elizabeth were dead
or married to a Catholic or at peace with Spain when they saw England
again, it was extremely likely that the gallows would be their reward.
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