“ Tell me all. What did Robert Bovill seek? And where?”
“ We sought the Mountain of God,” said the seaman reverently.
“ I never heard o't. My own Manoa, maybe, where gold is quarried like stone.”
“ Nay, not Manoa. The road to it is from the shore of the Mexican gulf. There was much gold.”
“ You found it?”
“ I found it and handled it. Enough, could we have brought it off, to freight a dozen ships. Likewise jewels beyond the imagining of kings.”
Raleigh had raised himself on his elbow, his face sharp and eager.
“ I cannot doubt you, for you could not lie were it to win salvation. But, heavens! man, what a tale! Why did I not know of this before I broke my fortune on Tom Keymis' mine?”
“ I alone know of it, the others being dead.”
“ Who first told you of it?”
“ Captain Bov
