ed, should he succeed, to carry home the intelligence
to his friends of his being alive. Some time afterwards, Batten said,
he managed to escape from the Indians, when he made his way towards the
seashore. Lying hid in a thick bush for fear of being discovered by the
natives, he one day caught sight of a party of Englishmen advancing at
no great distance off. Delighted at the thoughts of meeting his
countrymen, he was about to rush out of his place of concealment, when
he saw a large body of Indians coming towards them. He waited to see
the result, when to his horror the Indians drew their bows, and before
the strangers were aware of their danger, every man among them was
pierced by an arrow. Some fell dead; others drew their swords; but with
terrific war-whoops the Indians, setting on them, killed the whole with
their tomahawks.

"Batten gave up all hopes of saving his life, but, wishing to put off
the fatal moment, he remained concealed till near nightfall, when the
Indians cutting off the scalps of the slain, went away inland, singing a
song of triumph. He now stole out of his hiding-place, and ran on all
night, intending to build a raft and make his way along the coast, when
just at day-break, as he reached the shore, great was his joy to
discover an English boat with two men in her. He rushed towards them,
and gave an account of the way he had seen the Englishmen murdered. No
sooner did they hear this than they shoved off from the shore and pulled
with all their might down the river. For several days they continued
toiling, till they reached their bark, the _Sally Rose_ which lay some
way down towards its mouth; but the master, on hearing that the pilot
and all the officers had been killed, forthwith weighed anchor, and,
setting sail, stood for England. The _Sally Rose_ sprang a leak, and
scarcely could she be kept afloat till, coming up Channel, they entered
the port of Dartmouth. Here landing, Batten was making his way without
a groat in his pocket to London, when Providence directed him to our
door.

"On hearing this strange narrative, I sent Gilbert to fetch our mother
and sister Lettice, who listened to it with breathless interest; and
getting such answers as we could from the seaman to the questions put to
him, we were all convinced that he had given us a faithful account, and
that our father was really alive. We now earnestly consulted with him
what to do; not forgetting to seek for guidance fro