him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the
castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to
make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and
went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box,
begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good
fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to
count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure
that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they
heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the
ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, _item_
his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse,
which he gave to him. _Summa_. Before long I had my riches in my pocket,
and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I
found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow
(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his
companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was
very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing
to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I
should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the
castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself
before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I
was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse
myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the
strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I
had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that
I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he
believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though
not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly
he let me go.