“Russel answer’d, As to that, they might do as they pleas’d; what he spoke now was for the Good of the whole Company, and agreeable to the Articles, and he would fain see or hear that Man that should oppose him in it. He said, He was Quarter-Master of the whole Company, and, by the Authority of his Place, he would enter the Mate directly, and had a Pistol ready for the Man that should oppose him in it.
“Loe said, As for what was the Law and Custom among them (as what he now pleaded, was) he would neither oppose, nor argue against; but, if they thought fit to take the Man’s Mate from him, then they might let him have one of his own Men with him.
“Russel said, No; for all the Sloop’s Men were already enroll’d in their Books, and therefore none of them should go in her again. Gentlemen, continu’d he, you must consider I am now arguing, as well for the Good of the Company, as for the due Maintenance and Execution of the Laws and Articles; and as I am the proper Officer substituted and intrusted by this Company with Authority to execute the same, so (as I told you before) I have a Pistol and a Brace of Balls ready for any one, who dare oppose me herein; and turning to me, said, Master, the Company has decreed you your Sloop, and you shall have her; you shall have your two Boys, and that is all: You shall have neither Provisions, nor any Thing else, more than as she now is. And, I hear, there are some of the Company design to make a Gathering for you; but that also I forbid, by the Authority of my Place, because we are not certain but we may have Occasion ourselves for those very Things before we get more; and for that Reason I prohibit a Gathering; and I swear by all that is Great and Good, that if I know any Thing whatsoever carry’d, or left on Board the Sloop against my Order, or without my Knowledge, that very Instant I will set her on Fire, and you in her.
“Upon which I said, that since it was their Pleasure to order it thus, I begged that they would not put me on Board the Sloop in such a Condition; but rather begg’d, if they so pleas’d, to do what they would with the Sloop, and put me, and my two Boys, ashore on one of the Islands.
“Russel said, No; for they were to Leeward of all the Islands, and should hardly come near any of them this Season again.
“I said, I should rather be put ashore any where else, either on the Coast of Guinea, or on whatever Coast they came at first, than be put as a Victim on Board the Sloop; where I should have no Possibility of any Thing but perishing, except by an extraordinary Miracle.
“He told me, My Fate was already decreed by the Company, and he, by his Place, was to see all their Orders put in Execution; and he would accordingly see me safely put on Board the Sloop, in the exact Condition as he had but now mention’d.
“I was going to make him a Reply, but casting my Eye on Capt. Loe, he wink’d at me to be silent; and taking a Bumper, drank Success to their Proceedings. The Health went round, and Loe order’d the great Bowl to be fill’d with Punch, and Bottles of Wine to be set on the Table in the Cabbin, to which we all resorted, and spent the remaining Part of the Evening in Discourses on different Subjects: Only Frank Spriggs offer’d to perswade me to accept of what was first offer’d me, which Russel swore I should not now have, I having not once, but several Times already refus’d it. Capt. Loe not being then willing to have any more of that Kind of Discourse, broke it off by singing a Song, and enjoining every one present to do the same, except me, whom he said he would excuse ’till Times grew better with me: And thus they diverted themselves, and pass’d the Evening away ’till towards eight a-Clock, and then every one repair’d on Board their respective Ships; and, after they were gone, Loe and I, and two or three of his Confidents, smoak’d a Pipe, and drank a Bottle or two of Wine; in which Time he told me, He was very sorry that Jack Russel was so set against me. I said, So was I, and wonder’d what should be the Reason of it, having given him no Cause, unless by drinking that Health the preceding Night: I said, I had imputed to Liquor, the Fury he was then in, and was in Hopes, that after that had work’d off, his Resentments also would have cooled, and was not a little concern’d to find it otherwise. Loe said, The Health was not the Cause, but rather the Effect of his Anger, and a meer Pretence to cloak his Resentment for other Disappointments: Adding, That I did right to take his Hint given me by winking, to answer no more; For, says he, I knew that every Thing which you could speak to him, would be taken Edge-ways; and the more you said to excuse yourself, the more it would add Fuel to his Anger, which he turn’d against you who could not resist him, because he could not have his Will of us; but we will endeavour to draw him off by Degrees; and for that Reason will not discharge you, but I will keep you on Board with me, where he shall not hurt nor abuse you, except with his Tongue, which you must bear, ’till we see if we can alter his Temper, so as to deal with you a little more favourable than at present he designs.
“I thank’d him, and all of them present, for their Favours and Good-will, and it being near Midnight, we parted, and every one retired to his Rest, and I to my Hammock; and being pretty much fatigued the Night before, as well as the preceding Day, soon fell asleep; and about Day-dawning, I got up, and came upon Deck, and walking upon the Quarter Deck very solitary, one of the three Men, mention’d before, pass’d by me, and ask’d me how I did, and said he was very sorry for the Unkindness already shew’d me, and like to be shew’d; but it was what they expected, as they had before hinted to me, and that still there was like to be a tough Struggle about me: That Russel did design to be very barbarous to me, and that Loe, and a great Part of the Company, intended to oppose him in it; that there were a great many who were Russel’s Gang or Clan, and design’d to stand by him in it, and had threaten’d, that if there were much Disturbance about it, they would shoot me, and so put an End to the Controversy: That there were some, on the other Hand, that threaten’d hard if they did, to revenge my Death by some of theirs; so that it was likely to be an untoward Touch, and he wish’d it might not prove to my Disadvantage in the End; but would have me still to keep a good Heart, and trust in God, and hope for the best, and by no means to speak one Word, or concern myself either Way, but patiently wait the Issue, which he hoped would be better for me than some of them intended; and so heartily wishing me well, walk’d his Way.
“Now you must believe these Accounts were not a little shocking to me; but I had no Friend that I could really rely on, but God, to whom I made my Petitions, and whose Assistance I humbly besought, to extricate me, in his own good Time, out of these Difficulties and Snares which were laid for me on every Side, and, in the mean Time, patiently so to bear them, as not to murmur and repine at his fatherly Chastisements, nor, by their Extremity, through Desperation, wound my Conscience; but that in all Things I might, through the Guidance of the holy Spirit, be directed so as to submit myself entirely to his Will, who infinitely knew what was better for me than I knew myself.