Part 9 (2/2)

The boatswain defended this quarrel ere afterwards on board He said it was true that we seemed to break the truce, but really had not; and that the as begun the night before by the natives themselves, who had shot at us, and killed one of our men without any just provocation; so that as ere in a capacity to fight theht also be in a capacity to do ourselves justice upon theh the poor ht not to have been murdered, and that in such a villainousbut as just and what the laws of God allowed to be done to h to have warned us against going on shore ast the heathens and barbarians; but it is impossible to make mankind wise but at their own expense, and their experience seeht

We were now bound to the Gulf of Persia, and from thence to the coast of Coroo's design lay at the Bay of Bengal, where, if he o out to China, and return to the coast as he came home The first disaster that befell us was in the Gulf of Persia, where five of our ulf, were surrounded by the Arabians, and either all killed or carried away into slavery; the rest of the boat's creere not able to rescue thean to upbraid them with the just retribution of Heaven in this case; but the boatswain very warht I went further in my censures than I could show any warrant for in Scripture; and referred to Luke xiii 4, where our Saviour intimates that those men on whom the Tower of Siloam fell were not sinners above all the Galileans; but that which put me to silence in the case was, that not one of these five men ere now lost were of those ent on shore to the h our men could not bear to hear the word _ to them on this subject had worse consequences than I expected; and the boatswain, who had been the head of the attempt, caht that affair continually upon the stage; that I made unjust reflections upon it, and had used the men very ill on that account, and hier, and had no coe, they were not obliged to bear it; that they did not know but I n in my head, and perhaps to call theland; and that, therefore, unless I would resolve to have done with it, and also not to concern myself any further with him, or any of his affairs, he would leave the shi+p; for he did not think it safe to sail with h till he had done, and then told hi opposed the ascar, and that I had, on all occasions, spoken h notno command in the shi+p, that was true; nor did I exercise any authority, only took the liberty of speaking s which publicly concerned us all; and what concern I had in the voyage was none of his business; that I was a considerable owner in the shi+p In that claiht to speak even further than I had done, and would not be accountable to hian to be a little ith hiht the affair had been over

We were at this ti to see the place, I went on shore with the supercargo in the shi+p's boat to divert o on board, when one of the men came to me, and told me he would not have me trouble myself to come down to the boat, for they had orders not to carry uess what a surprise I was in at so insolent a e to me? He told o, and told hi that I foresaw there would be a o iht have spared this intelligence, for before I had spoken to him on shore the unner, the carpenter, and all the inferior officers, as soon as I was gone off in the boat, came up, and desired to speak with the captain; and then the boatswain,all he had said to one peaceably on shore, they were loath to use any violence with one on shore, they would otherwise have done, to oblige ht fit to tell him that as they shi+pped themselves to serve in the shi+p under his command, they would perform it well and faithfully; but if I would not quit the shi+p, or the captain oblige me to quit it, they would all leave the shi+p, and sail no further with him; and at that word _all_ he turned his face towards the reed on, when the seaether there, cried out, ”_One and all_! _one and all_!”

My nephew, the captain, was a h he was surprised, yet he told them calmly that he would consider of thein it till he had spoken to uments with them, to show the, but it was all in vain; they swore, and shook hands round before his face, that they would all go on shore unless he would engage to them not to suffer me to come any more on board the shi+p

This was a hard article upon hiht take it So he began to talk smartly to them; told them that I was a very considerable owner of the shi+p, and that if ever they caain it would cost them very dear; that the shi+p was mine, and that he could not put me out of it; and that he would rather lose the shi+p, and the voyage too, than disoblige ht do as they pleased However, he would go on shore and talk with o with hiht accommodate the matter with me But they all rejected the proposal, and said they would have nothing to do with o on shore ”Well,” said the captain, ”if you are all of this o on shore and talk with him” So away he cae had been brought to lad to see my nephew, I must confess; for I was not without apprehensions that they would confine him by violence, set sail, and run aith the shi+p; and then I had been stripped naked in a re to help myself; in short, I had been in a worse case than when I was alone in the island But they had not coth, it seems, to my satisfaction; and when my nephew told me what they had said to him, and how they had sworn and shook hands that they would, one and all, leave the shi+p if I was suffered to come on board, I told him he should not be concerned at it at all, for I would stay on shore I only desired he would take care and send s on shore, and leave land as well as I could This was a heavy piece of news to my nephew, but there was no way to help it but to coain, and satisfied the men that his uncle had yielded to their ioods from on board the shi+p; so that the matter was over in a few hours, the an to consider what course I should steer

I was now alone in a most reues by sea farther off froht travel here by land over the Great Mogul's country to Surat, o from thence to Bassora by sea, up the Gulf of Persia, and take the way of the caravans, over the desert of Arabia, to Aleppo and Scanderoon; froain to Italy, and so overland into France I had another way before lish shi+ps, which were coet passage on board theland But as I came hither without any concern with the East Indian Coo froreat favour of the captains of the shi+ps, or the coer

Here I had the mortification to see the shi+p set sail without me; however, my nephew left me two servants, or rather one companion and one servant; the first was clerk to the purser, whoo with ing in the house of an Englishwoed, solish what course to take I had sooods with me of value, and a considerable su ht, and a letter of credit for ht not be straitened, whatever e; and, as I originally intended, I bought here sos, were the most proper for me in my present circumstances, because I could always carryland, but none falling out to ed with me, and whom I had contracted an inti: ”Countryman, I have a project to coht I know, suit with yours also, when you shall have thoroughly considered it Here we are posted, you by accident and I by my own choice, in a part of the world very remote from our own country; but it is in a country where, by us who understand trade and business, a great deal of ot If you will put one thousand pounds to my one thousand pounds, ill hire a shi+p here, the first we can get to our o a trading voyage to China; for what should we stand still for? The whole world is in motion; why should we be idle?”

I liked this proposal very well; and the oodwill In ed circumstances, I was the fitter to e else

I ht perhaps say with so was; and no proposal for seeing any part of the world which I had never seen before could possibly coet a shi+p to our et English sailors--that is to say, so e the sailors which we should pick up there After solish; a Dutch carpenter, and three fore Indian seamen, such as they were, to make up

When all was ready we set sail for Achin, in the island of Sued some of our wares for opiureat price a the Chinese, and which at that tiht al I was very well satisfied with land often admire how officers, which the coenerally stay there, get such very great estates as they do, and sometimes come home worth sixty or seventy thousand pounds at a time; but it is little matter for wonder, e consider the innumerable ports and places where they have a free colish shi+ps corowth of all other countries, that there is a certain vent for the returns, as well as a ot so ht into the er, I should have been te my fortune; but as all this to a h, and ca the world than a covetous desire of gaining by it? A restless desire it really was, for when I was at hoo abroad; and when I was abroad I was restless to be at hoh already, nor had I any uneasy desires about getting e toht that by this voyage I had ht call it, to the place from whence I came, as to a home: whereas, my eye, like that which Solo I was come into a part of the world which I was never in before, and that part, in particular, which I heard much of, and was resolved to see as ht say I had seen all the world that orth seeing

But e his were the more suited to the end of a merchant's life: hen he is abroad upon adventures, is wise to stick to that, as the best thing for hiet the most money by On the other hand,boy, that never cares to see a thing twice over But this was not all: I had a kind of impatience upon me to be nearer hoo In the interval of these consultations, my friend, as always upon the search for business, proposed another voyage a of cloves fro in preparing for this voyage; the chief difficulty was in bringing , and as sitting still, to me especially, was the unhappiest part of life, I resolved on this voyage too, which weat Borneo and several other islands, and came horeat profit, to the Persian merchants, who carried them away to the Gulf My friend, e made up this account, smiled at me: ”Well, now,” said he, with a sort of friendly rebuke onabout here, like aat the nonsense and ignorance of the Pagans?”--”Why, truly,” said I, ”in to be a convert to the principles of ; but I ; for if I once conquer my backwardness, and embark heartily, old as I am, I shall harass you up and down the world till I tire you; for I shall pursue it so eagerly, I shall never let you lie still”

CHAPTER XI--WARNED OF DANGER BY A COUNTRYMAN

A little while after this there came in a Dutch shi+p from Batavia; she was a coaster, not an European trader, of about two hundred tons burden; thebeen so sickly that the captain had not hands enough to go to sea with, so he lay by at Bengal; and having, it see, for other reasons, to go for Europe, he gave public notice he would sell his shi+p This careat mind to buy it; so I went to him and told him of it He considered a while, for he was no rash --however, ill have her” Accordingly, we bought the shi+p, and agreeing with the master, we paid for her, and took possession When we had done so we resolved to engage theour business; but, on a sudden, they having received not their wages, but their share of the money, as we afterwards learned, not one of theth were told that they were all gone together by land to Agra, the great city of the Mogul's residence, to proceed froo by sea to the Gulf of Persia

Nothing had so ood while as that I shouldwith theht, and in such couarded and diverted n; and I should have both seen the world and gone homeward too But I was much better satisfied a few days after, when I came to knohat sort of fellows they were; for, in short, their history was, that this unner only, not the coe, in which they had been attacked on shore by some of the Malays, who had killed the captain and three of his men; and that after the captain was killed, theseresolved to run aith the shi+p, brought her to Bengal, leaving the et the shi+p how they would, we cah we did not, I confess, exaht; for we never inquired anything of the seamen, ould certainly have faltered in their account, and contradicted one another

Somehow or other we should have had reason to have suspected, them; but the man showed us a bill of sale for the shi+p, to one Emanuel Clostershoven, or soery, and called himself by that na no suspicion of the thing, ent through with our bargain We picked up solish sailors here after this, and soe to the south-east for cloves, &c--that is to say, a the Philippine and Malacca isles In short, not to fill up this part of my story with trifles hat is to come is so remarkable, I spent, fro froood success, and was now the last year within the shi+p above o to Sia by contrary winds obliged to beat up and down a great while in the Straits of Malacca and aot clear of those difficult seas than we found our shi+p had sprung a leak, but could not discover where it was This forced us to make some port; and my partner, who knew the country better than I did, directed the captain to put into the river of Calishto take the charge of the shi+p upon reat bay or gulf which goes up to Sia often on shore for refreshunner'sin the saer toto tell you that very nearly concerns you I aht I see, you have no knowledge of it”--”I know no danger I am in,” said I, ”but that my shi+p is leaky, and I cannot find it out; but I intend to lay her aground to-morrow, to see if I can find it”--”But, sir,” says he, ”leaky or not leaky, you will be wiser than to lay your shi+p on shore to-morrohen you hear what I have to say to you Do you know, sir,” said he, ”the town of Caues up the river; and there are two large English shi+ps about five leagues on this side, and three Dutch?”--”Well,” said I, ”and what is that to me?”--”Why, sir,” said be, ”is it for a man that is upon such adventures as you are to come into a port, and not examine first what shi+ps there are there, and whether he is able to deal with them? I suppose you do not think you are a match for them?” I could not conceive what he meant; and I turned short upon hiine what reason I have to be afraid of any of the company's shi+ps, or Dutch shi+ps I am no interloper What can they have to say to me?”--”Well, sir,” says he, with a smile, ”if you think yourself secure you must take your chance; but take my advice, if you do not put to sea immediately, you will the very next tide be attacked by five longboats full of ed for a pirate, and the particulars be exaht, sir,” added he, ”I should haveyou a piece of service of such irateful,” said I, ”for any service, or to any man that offers me any kindness; but it is past n upon me for: however, since you say there is no tin on hand against o on board this minute, and put to sea immediately, if o away ignorant of the cause of all this? Can you give ht into it?”

”I can tell you but part of the story, sir,” says he; ”but I have a Dutch seaman here with me, and I believe I could persuade him to tell you the rest; but there is scarce time for it But the short of the story is this--the first part of which I suppose you knoell enough--that you ith this shi+p at Sumatra; that there your captain was murdered by the Malays, with three of his men; and that you, or some of those that were on board with you, ran aith the shi+p, and are since turned pirates This is the sum of the story, and you will all be seized as pirates, I can assure you, and executed with very little ceremony; for you know et thelish,” said I, ”and I thank you; and though I know nothing that we have done like what you talk of, for I a such a work is doing, as you say, and that you seeuard”--”Nay, sir,” says he, ”do not talk of being upon your guard; the best defence is to be out of danger If you have any regard for your life and the lives of all your h-water; and as you have a whole tide before you, you will be gone too far out before they can coh-water, and as they have twenty et near two hours of theth of the way: besides, as they are only boats, and not shi+ps, they will not venture to follow you far out to sea, especially if it blows”--”Well,” said I, ”you have been very kind in this: what shall I do to make you a to make me any amends, because you may not be convinced of the truth of it I will make an offer to you: I have nineteen months' pay due to land in; and the Dutchman that is with ood our pay to us ill go along with you; if you find nothing more in it ill desire no more; but if we do convince you that we have saved your lives, and the shi+p, and the lives of all the men in her, ill leave the rest to you”