Читать «Cup of Gold (Золотая чаша)» онлайн - страница 105

Nothing more to ask of me?"

"Nothing," he answered, and immediately went to piling the coins again.

The messenger entered from the street. He had drunk deeply, for the removed burden of his mission had made him joyous. He bowed to Ysobel and to Henry Morgan; bowed warily, with an eye to his balance.

"We must go, Seсor," he announced loudly. "The way is long." He led Ysobel to the white mare and helped her into the saddle. Then, at his signal, the column moved off down the street. Ysobel looked back once as they started, and it seemed that she had taken a mood from Henry Morgan, for there was a puzzled smile on her lips. But then she bent her head over the mare's neck; she was intently studying the mare's white mane.

The messenger had remained standing at Henry's side in the doorway. Together they watched the fluid line of riders swing away while the sunlight glinted on the soldiers' armor. In the center of the troupe, the white mare seemed a pearl in a setting of silver.

The messenger put his hand on Henry's shoulder.

"We know how to understand each other, we men of responsibilities," he said drunkenly. "It is not as though we were children to have secrets. We are men, brave men and strong. We may confide in each other. You may tell me the thing nearest your heart if you wish, Seсor."

Henry shook the hand from his shoulder. "I have nothing to tell you," he said brusquely.

"Ah; but then I will tell you something. Perhaps you wondered why the husband of this woman was willing to pay such a vast sum for her. She is only a woman, you say. There are many women to be had more cheaply-some for a real or two. Her husband is a fool, you say. But I would not have you think that of my master. He is no fool. I will tell you how it is. Her grandfather still lives, and he is the owner of ten silver mines and fifty leagues of fertile land in Peru. Doсa Ysobel is the heiress. Now if she were killed or carried off-But you understand, Seсor-Poof! The fortune into the King's arms!" He laughed at the cleverness of his reasoning. "We understand each other, Seсor. We have tough skulls-not the soft heads of chickens. Twenty thousand-it is nothing to be reckoned against ten silver mines. Ah, yes; we understand each other, we men of responsibilities."

He clambered into his saddle and rode away still laughing.

Henry Morgan saw him join the undulating cavalcade; and now there was a ruby with the pearl in the silver setting.

Captain Morgan went back to the treasure. He sat on the floor and took the coins into his hands. "The most human of all human traits is inconsistency," he thought. "it is a shock to learn this thing, almost as great a shock to a man as the realization of his humanity. And why must we learn that last? In all the mad incongruity, the turgid stultiloquy of life, I felt, at least, securely anchored to myself. Whatever the vacillations of other people, I thought myself terrifically constant. But now, here I am, dragging a frayed line, and my anchor gone. I do not know whether the rope was cut or merely worn away, but my anchor is gone. And I am sailing around and around an island in which there is no iron." He let the gold pieces slip through his fingers. "But perhaps here is my iron for the making of a new anchor," he thought. "This is hard and heavy. Its value may fluctuate somewhat in the economic currents, but at least it has a purpose, and only one purpose. It is an absolute assurance of security. Yes, perhaps this is the one true anchor; the one thing a man may be utterly sure of. Its claws hook tightly to comfort and security. Strangely, I have a craving for them both."