a trading vessel, with whom he
had stayed three years, living part of the time with him at Sidney in
Australia, and that at a subsequent visit to the island, the captain
had, at his own request, permitted him to remain among his countrymen.
The natural quickness of the savage had been wonderfully improved by his
intercourse with the white men, and his partial knowledge of a foreign
language gave him a great ascendancy over his less accomplished
countrymen.

When I asked the now affable Marnoo why it was that he had not
previously spoken to me, he eagerly inquired what I had been led to
think of him from his conduct in that respect. I replied, that I had
supposed him to be some great chief or warrior, who had seen plenty
of white men before, and did not think it worth while to notice a poor
sailor. At this declaration of the exalted opinion I had formed of him,
he appeared vastly gratified, and gave me to understand that he had
purposely behaved in that manner, in order to increase my astonishment,
as soon as he should see proper to address me.

Marnoo now sought to learn my version of the story as to how I came
to be an inmate of the Typee valley. When I related to him the
circumstances under which Toby and I had entered it, he listened
with evident interest; but as soon as I alluded to the absence, yet
unaccounted for, of my comrade, he endeavoured to change the subject, as
if it were something he desired not to agitate. It seemed, indeed, as
if everything connected with Toby was destined to beget distrust and
anxiety in my bosom. Notwithstanding Marnoo's denial of any knowledge
of his fate, I could not avoid suspecting that he was deceiving me; and
this suspicion revived those frightful apprehensions with regard to my
own fate, which, for a short time past, had subsided in my breast.

Influenced by these feelings, I now felt a strong desire to avail myself
of the stranger's protection, and under his safeguard to return to
Nukuheva. But as soon as I hinted at this, he unhesitatingly pronounced
it to be entirely impracticable; assuring me that the Typees would never
consent to my leaving the valley. Although what he said merely confirmed
the impression which I had before entertained, still it increased
my anxiety to escape from a captivity which, however endurable, nay,
delightful it might be in some respects, involved in its issues a fate
marked by the most frightful contingencies.

I could not conceal from my mind