But the young merchant was of a
quick disposition and presently must talk. For some distance
around us spread bare earth set only with shrubs and stones.
Also the rising moon gave light, and with that and our own
strength we did not truly look for any attack. We sat and
talked at ease, though with lowered voices, Rodrigo somewhere
away and the rest of the picture sleeping. The merchant
asked what had been my last voyage.
I answered, after a moment, to England.
"You do not seem to me," he said, "a seaman. But I
suppose there are all kinds of seamen."
I said yes, the sea was wide.
"England now, at the present moment?" he said, and
questioned me as to Bristol, of which port he had trader's
knowledge. I answered out of a book I had read. It was
true that, living once by the sea, I knew how to handle a
boat. I could find in memory sailors' terms. But still he
said, "You are not a seaman such as we see at Palos and
San Lucar."
It is often best not to halt denial. Let it pass by and
wander among the wild grasses!
"I myself," he said presently, "have gone by sea to Vigo
and to Bordeaux." He warmed his hands at the fire, then
clasped them about his knees and gazed into the night.
"What, Juan Lepe, is that Ocean we look upon when we
look west? I mean, where does it go? What does it
strike?"
"India, belike.
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