The Lion Triumphant Read Online Free PDF Page B

importance to him that Honey was the wife of his host.
    Honey, however, seemed not to notice, or perhaps she was so used to blatant admiration that she accepted it as normal.
    I asked Jake where his last voyage had taken him.
    “Out to the Barbary Coast,” he said. “What a voyage! We had our troubles. Gales and seas enough to overturn us and such damage done to the ship that at one time it seemed we would have to limp home. But we braved it and we got into harbor and we tricked ourselves out to continue as we had meant.”
    I said: “You must face death a thousand times during one voyage.”
    “A thousand times is true, Mistress. That is why we love life so much. And do you not face death on land now and then?”
    I was grave. I thought of my mother’s anxious face and I remembered that my grandfather had lost his head for no reason than that he had sheltered a friend and my grandmother’s second husband had died at the stake because he held certain opinions.
    I said: “’Tis true. No one can be completely sure on one day that he or she will live to the next.”
    He leaned toward me. “Therefore we should enjoy each day as it comes along and the devil take the next.”
    “So that is your philosophy. Do you never plan for what is to come?”
    His bold eyes looked into mine. “Oh … often. Then I make sure that what I wish for comes to pass.”
    “You are very certain of yourself.”
    “A sailor must always be certain of himself. And I’ll tell you another thing. He’s always in a hurry. You see time is something he cannot afford to waste. When will you come to see my ship?”
    “You must ask my sister and her husband if they would care to make the inspection.”
    “But I was inviting you.”
    “I should like to hear of your adventures.”
    “On the Barbary Coast? They don’t make a pretty story.”
    “I did not expect they would.” I looked across the table at Mistress Crocombe, who was coyly begging Sir Penn to tell her of his adventures on the high seas. He began to tell fantastic stories which I was sure were meant to shock us all. It seemed that he had more adventures than Sinbad himself. He had struggled with sea monsters and fought with savages; he had landed his craft on the coasts and brought natives ashore to work in his galleys; he had quelled a mutiny, ridden a storm; there was nothing he had not done, it seemed; and everything he said was overlaid with innuendo. When he led a little party of his men into an African hamlet I saw those men seizing the women, submitting them to indignity, pillaging, robbing.
    Miss Crocombe covered her eyes with dismay and blushed hotly. She was a very silly woman and made her designs on Sir Penn too blatant. Did she really think he was going to marry her? I found it embarrassing to watch them together.
    Tenerife was mentioned. It was the largest of what were called the Dog Islands because when they were first discovered so many dogs were there. Now they were known as the Canaries.
    Tenerife was in the hands of the Spaniards.
    “Spanish dogs!” growled Sir Penn. “I’d beat them all out of the ocean, that I would, aye and will … I and a few more like me.” He became fierce suddenly, all banter dropped. I saw the cruel gleam in his eyes. “God’s Death!” he cried, hitting the table with his fist so that the Venetian glasses trembled. “These dogs shall be swept off the seas, for I tell you this, my friends, it is either them or us. There’s no room for us both.”
    “The oceans are wide,” I said, for there was something about these men which made me want to contradict them and prove them wrong if possible, “and much may yet be discovered.”
    He glared at me and his eyes had narrowed—little pinpoints of blue fire between the weather wrinkles. “Then we’ll discover them, Madam. Not they. And wherever I see them I’ll bring my guns out; I’ll blow them off the sea; I’ll take their treasure ships from them and bring them where they belong