to extend his conquests, by taking
possession of the mountain visited by him the year previously. A grand
expedition was accordingly planned, and a hundred canoes had actually
sailed from the group, with more than a thousand warriors on board, bent
on achieving a great exploit. In this expedition, Unus, the brother of
Peggy, had been compelled to join, being a warrior of some note, and the
sister had come along, in common with some fifty other women; the rank
of Unus and Peggy not being sufficient to attract attention to their
proceedings. Waally had postponed this, which he intended for the great
enterprise of a very turbulent life, to the most favourable season of
the year. There was a period of a few weeks every summer, when the
trades blew much less violently than was usually the case, and when,
indeed, it was no unusual thing to have shifts of wind, as well as light
breezes. All this the Indians perfectly well understood, for they were
bold navigators, when the sizes and qualities of their vessels were
considered. As it appeared, the voyage from the group to Rancocus
Island, a distance of fully a hundred leagues, was effected without any
accident, and the while of that formidable force was safely landed at
the very spot where Betts had encamped on his arrival out with the
colonists. Nearly a month had been passed in exploring the mountain, the
first considerable eminence most of the Indians had ever beheld; and in
making their preparations for further proceedings. During that time,
hundreds had seen Vulcan's Peak, as well as the smoke of the volcano,
though the reef, with all its islands, lay too low to be discerned from
such a distance. The Peak was now the great object to be attained, for
there it was universally believed that Betto (meaning Betts) and his
companions had concealed themselves and their much-coveted treasures.
Rancocus Island was well enough, and Waally made all his plans for
colonizing it at once, but the other, and distant mountain, no doubt was
the most desirable territory to possess, or white men would not have
brought their women so far in order to occupy it.

As a matter of course, Unus and Peggy learned the nature of the intended
proceedings. The last might have been content to wait for the slower
movements of the expedition, had she not ascertained that threats of
severely punishing the two deserters, one of whom was her own husband,
had been heard to fall from the lips of the dread Waally