Page:The Dark Frigate (Hawes).djvu/83

“And whence does good Captain Candle expect his men?”

“Say to Captain Candle that thou and this handsome young gentleman who says so little are come from the Mersey, where thy vessel, the Pride o’ Lancashire, lies to be repaired, and that Master Stephen Gangley sent thee.”

She looked at Phil, who had learned long before to hold his tongue in strange places, and he smiled; but Martin laughed hoarsely. ‘‘Th’ art the Devil’s own daughter. And does this Master Stephen Gangley in all truth dwell in Liverpool?”

‘Dost think my wits are wandering, Martin? Nay, I be old, but not so old as that. Go hastily through the town lest thou be seen and known. Thou, of all the gentlemen, most needs make haste.”

The two stopped just inside the door. ‘‘You have chalked down the score against us?”

She laughed in her skinny throat. "I be old, but not so old as to forget the score. The gentlemen always pay.”

She pushed Martin out and shut the door behind him, then, seizing Phil by the arm, she whispered, "Leave him.”

Martin angrily thrust the door open again and she gave Phil a shove that sent him stumbling over the threshold. The door slammed shut and they heard the bolt slide.

“They pay,” Martin muttered. ‘Yea, they pay in full and the old witch hath got rich thereby, for ’t is pay or hang. So much does she know of all that goes on at sea! In faith, I sorely mistrust she is a witch in all earnest; but even be it so, a most useful witch.”