“Then did Da Suhares, Master Fowler, and I take counsel together upon the matter to imagine what this might mean. For I called to their memory the tale of the escaping Mayans, and Da Suhares vouched for the truth of the same. For his own brother had been of the company of conquistadores that had advanced south from Mexico, had seen the men of the escaping fleet fare out into the deep, and had with others made strenuous effort to overtake and capture them before they launched forth to sea. For report went that they carried with them the ancient treasures of that hapless race for centuries back. Adding that within a month an expedition of adventurers had set forth to track them along the southern coasts, but had returned empty and rewardless. And common talk held that he who should find that company would also find wealth beyond desire or conception. Here he doubted not that we had one of them. For when we came to examine their barque there was great store of gold upon her, not as treasure indeed for the most part, but put to plain uses; for though the ornaments upon each corpse were of gold, yet were the very baling vessels made of wood shod with golden bands and held with strips of golden metal. Upon each man’s breast also was a medal, or some such decoration, bearing upon it the similitude of the same wondrous beast that appears upon the mystic scroll which you have herewith. So we reasoned upon the matter, and in much thought the solution thereof came to us. “The expedition had sailed, and had come to some secure sanctuary as they had desired. Now they sent back this small company to advise their fellows left in bondage of the same, that they too might leave their own land, over-run by the Spaniards, and come also to safety and a sure dwelling-place. And the more we thought on this, the more the truth of it came home to our minds.