ot let such an idea oppress you," I answered. "God never lets us
foresee the future, though we may predict what is likely to happen, by
close observation of past and present events. You have been exposed to
so many dangers and horrors, that it is not surprising that your spirits
should be low."

"Indeed I have," said Eva. "Not long ago a large war party came back,
bringing with them thirty human heads, which they carried round the
village with the most terrific shouts, and then, after baking them, hung
them up in their head-house; when, for a whole month afterwards, they
attended nightly singing and shouting at them. I have been every day
expecting their enemies to retaliate; but they have not done so, and I
hope have forgiven the outrage."

"Such scenes were sufficient, indeed, to make you low-spirited," I said;
"but I want to know all about yourself--all your adventures, and how you
came here."

On this, she rapidly ran over all that had occurred to her from the time
she went on board the _Emu_. She told me, that when off the coast of
Borneo, the master had been shot by some of the crew and thrown
overboard, and that Kidd was then elected captain; that the brig entered
a river in Borneo, where the people were very nearly cut off by the
natives; but that they escaped and proceeded southward, when they
commenced attacking vessels of all sorts indiscriminately.

At first they only plundered them of the lighter and more valuable
portion of their cargoes, but at length the crews were frequently
murdered, and the vessels sunk or burned. Mrs Clayton had, from the
first, discovered the sort of persons into whose hands she had fallen;
and it so preyed on her spirits that she sank rapidly under it. The
crew had been disappointed at the amount of the dollars she had brought
on board; and had it not been for Kidd, who told them that they could
realise much more by her ransom some time or other, they would have
treated her with but little ceremony. Sometimes they received
volunteers out of the vessels they destroyed. Among those whose lives
were spared was a young lad from Java, and he was kept to serve them in
the cabin. He was very honest and faithful; and Mrs Clayton had
employed him to try and sell a few jewels she had secreted, to bribe
some of the crew to assist in her escape. They took the bribe, but she
remained a prisoner. Kidd had shown some interest in Eva from the
first, and this much increased on his o