ould come along
in my absence. Neither did I like to send any of the officers under me
to execute the commission, it being one of such exceeding delicacy and
secrecy. At this juncture, and all of my passengers knowing that we
could not leave that place till I had communicated certain papers to the
Company's agent at the king's town, comes Captain Leach to me and
volunteers to deliver the pacquet addressed to Mr. Longways. At first I
was but little inclined to accept of his complacency, but having a
secret feeling that I might be wronging him by my prejudice against him,
I determined to give second thought to the matter before I hastily
declined his offer of aid. Indeed, I may truthfully say I would have
felt more inclined to refuse his assistance if I had entertained a more
high opinion of his person. As it was, I could see no reason for not
accepting his offer; he was regarded everywhere as a man of rectitude
and of honor, and I had no real grounds to impeach this opinion; so the
end of the business was that I accepted his aid with the best face that
I was able to command, though that was with no very good grace, and gave
him leave to choose ten volunteers as a boat's crew for the
expedition.

II.

(The reader will be pleased to observe that, in pursuance of the plan
above indicated, I here begin a second part or chapter of my narrative,
the first dealing with our voyage out as far as the island of Juanna,
and matters of a kindred nature, whilst the following relates to an
entirely different subject, namely, the nature of the trust imposed upon
me, mention only of which has heretofore been made.)

I do not now nor ever have believed that Captain Leach had any other
designs in offering to execute my commission than that of seizing so
excellent an opportunity to see a strange country and people after a
long and tiresome voyage upon the sea. Nevertheless, my allowing him to
go was one of the greatest mistakes in all of my whole life, and cost
me dearly enough before I had redeemed it.

The expedition under him was gone for three days, at the end of which
time he returned, in company with a great canoe manned by a crew of
about twenty tall, strapping black fellows, and with two or three
sitting in the stern-sheets of the craft, bedecked with feathers and
beads, whom I knew to be chiefs or warriors.

In the _Cassandra's_ boat was a stranger who sat beside Captain Leach,
talking very gayly, and who I knew could