e time to rig her, and to obtain
suitable provisions and casks for holding water.

I don't know whether Motakee suspected the design of the Englishmen; but
when I spoke of taking a cruise in her, he replied that he would not
expose me to the dangers she might encounter, and I found that I was
more narrowly watched than ever.

Dick came back one day, looking very much out of spirits.

"The other men have formed a plan for escaping, but I cannot agree to
it," he said. "They intend to let as many natives as choose to come on
board, and, as soon as they are out of sight of land, to rise upon them
and heave them overboard, so that their provisions and water should not
be exhausted, should they have to make a long voyage. And another thing
is, Charley, I won't go without you."

Motakee had not entered into the views of his countrymen with regard to
the vessel the Englishmen were building: he either suspected their
design or believed that she would not prove as successful in attacking
their foes as the rest supposed. When I asked his leave to go on board,
he took me by the arm and whispered--

"I know your tricks; you should not have told me how you managed to get
away and join your friend. No, no; I shall shut you up till the vessel
has sailed."

He was as good as his word, and from that day I was not allowed to leave
the hut without the company of one of his most trusted followers. He
allowed Dick, however, to go about as he chose, apparently caring but
little whether or not he made his escape.

Dick had been absent for three days. I could not believe that he had
gone without me, and yet I felt very anxious about him. On the fourth
day he returned.

"They have gone, Charley," he exclaimed; "all our people and thirty
natives. I stopped to the last, trying to persuade them to give up
their wicked plan; but they answered that the natives had murdered our
friends and burned our ship, and that they had a right to treat them as
they chose. I said that I was sure we ought not to return evil for
evil, and that they might have found some other way of making their
escape, and that no good could possibly come of what they were about.
They abused me, and asked me if I was going to betray them, and that if
I would not come with them, I must take the consequences, as the natives
were sure to murder us, as soon as they discovered what had become of
their countrymen. Even now I think I was wrong in not warning Motakee,
f