where he could venture to land till they reached the islands I
speak of. Here the master, for his own purposes, at first behaved
better to the natives than he was accustomed to do, as he wanted to
obtain some pigs, cocoanuts, and other provisions. They consequently,
without hesitation, came on board in considerable numbers. Many of them
were observed to wear necklaces of white beads, which the captain
supposed to be made of glass, and to have been obtained from some
previous trader. On examining, however, one of the strings of beads,
what was his surprise to find that they were pearls! Being a cunning
fellow, he kept his discovery to himself till he had obtained all he
could induce the natives to part with, when, though he fancied that he
had made his fortune, he formed the design of kidnapping as many people
as his schooner would hold, as an effectual way of preventing other
traders from having any friendly intercourse with the islanders and
discovering his secret, and thereby spoiling his market. Tom Platt was
the only person among the crew who suspected what the white beads really
were, and he managed, unknown to the captain, to obtain a necklace,
which he hid in his pocket. The very evening before the natives were to
have been seized a heavy gale sprang up, and the schooner was driven out
to sea. Before many days had gone by she was cast away on an
uninhabited island, when all hands, with the exception of Tom Platt,
were lost. He supported existence on shell-fish and a few birds he
knocked down, while a small cask of water washed ashore saved him from
dying of thirst. Just as it was exhausted, he was taken off by a vessel
bound for this place. I met him, looking very ill and wretched,
wandering about the street the very day he landed. We recognised each
other, and I took him to my house, where he became so much worse that,
had it not been for the careful way he was nursed, I believe he would
have died. He seemed to think so himself, and was very grateful. While
I was sitting with him one day, having a yarn of old times, he gave me
an account of the pearl islands, and assured me that he could find them
again, having carefully noted the distance the schooner had run to the
reef on which she was wrecked, as also its position on the chart. He
then showed me the necklace, of which he had not spoken to any one. His
narrative first put our proposed venture into my head. When I told him
of my idea he at once