Sea-cuny I was, but I was man, and to no man would I be beholden in my way with women.

Hendrik Hamel might be one time part-owner of the old _Sparwehr_, with a navigator's knowledge of the stars and deep versed in books, but with women, no, there I would not give him better.
He smiled that thin-lipped smile of his, and queried: "How like you the Lady Om ?" "In such matters a cuny is naught particular," I temporized.
"How like you her ?" he repeated, his beady eyes boring into me.
"Passing well, ay, and more than passing well, if you will have it." "Then win to her," he commanded, "and some day we will get ship and escape from this cursed land.

I'd give half the silks of the Indies for a meal of Christian food again." He regarded me intently.
"Do you think you can win to her ?" he questioned.
I was half in the air at the challenge.

He smiled his satisfaction.
"But not too quickly," he advised.

"Quick things are cheap things.