
On 3 March 1516, the eighty-ton Swan returned to Plymouth from Genoa and Cadiz under your command. Italian goods and sixty barrels of wine fill the hold, though nine men will not answer roll after battle, storm, and one shore quarrel. You step into this one-chapter preview with Diggory Beggs at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. Father and son waited while the counting room decided what danger money could authorize. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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