oming out of its cliffs, but man could not get up
to see what the place contained. This account was received with marked
interest, and to Bigelow's surprise, it did not appear to awaken the
distrust he had secretly apprehended it might. On the contrary, he was
asked to repeat his account, and all who heard it, though a good deal
embellished this time, appeared disposed to believe what he said.
Encouraged by this success, the poor fellow undertook to mystify a
little concerning the Reef; but here he soon found himself met with
plump denials. In order to convince him that deception would be of no
use, he was now taken a short distance and confronted with Waally!

Bigelow no sooner saw the dark countenance of the chief than he knew he
was in bad hands. From that moment, he abandoned all attempts at
concealment, the condition of the Peak excepted, and had recourse to an
opposite policy. He now exaggerated everything; the number and force of
the vessels, giving a long list of names that were accurate enough,
though the fact was concealed that they mostly belonged to boats; and
swelling the force of the colony to something more than two thousand
fighting men. The piratical commander, who went by the name of 'the
admiral' among his followers, was a good deal startled by this
information, appealing to Waally to know whether it might be relied on
for truth. Waally could not say yes or no to this question. He had heard
that the colonists were much more numerous than they were formerly; but
how many fighting men they could now muster was more than he could say.
He knew that they were enormously rich, and among other articles of
value, possessed materials sufficient for fitting out as many ships as
they pleased. It was this last information that had brought the
strangers to the group; for they were greatly in want of naval stores of
almost all sorts.

The admiral did not deem it necessary to push his inquiries any further
at that moment; apparently, he did not expect to find much at Rancocus
Island, Waally having, most probably, let him into the secret of its
uses. The houses and mills were visited and plundered; a few hogs and
one steer were shot; but luckily, most of the animals had been driven
into a retired valley. The saw-mill was set on fire in pure wantonness,
and it was burned to the ground. A new grist-mill escaped, merely
because its position was not known. A great deal of injury was inflicted
on the settlement merely fo