Читать книгу Beyond the Great South Wall: The Secret of the Antarctic онлайн

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“Thus have I put down the matter plainly for my children to wot of, and if I come not back to them, a charge do I lay upon them. Ten years have I sought, and wrought, and toiled, sparing none of mine and least of all myself, and it may well be that from this last adventure I come not back. Ten years, therefore, do I lay upon you that come after me, ten years each of you unto the tenth generation, and the blessing of the Almighty be with you in your search. Do the matter diligently, but in secret, lest it come to the ears of the Spanish folk, and they triumph at the last. If ye find this people (and of a verity I know in my soul that they still walk God’s earth) be to them a safeguard from their enemies, using the might of England to bulwark them from their foes, and get to your race and family great honour. So do, and my blessing be upon you. Forego this quest, any one of you, and my curse rest with you unceasingly. To which charge I put my hand and seal this nineteenth day of December in the Annus Mirabilis, one thousand five hundred and eighty-eight.