out of danger, we had time to examine into
the occasion of this fray; and indeed our supercargo, who had been often
in those parts, put me upon it; for he said he was sure the inhabitants
would not have touched us after we had made a truce, if we had not done
something to provoke them to it. At length it came out, viz. that an old
woman, who had come to sell us some milk, had brought it within our
poles, with a young woman with her, who also brought some roots or
herbs; and while the old woman (whether she was mother to the young
woman or no they could not tell) was selling us the milk, one of our men
offered some rudeness to the wench that was with her, at which the old
woman made a great noise. However, the seaman would not quit his prize,
but carried her out of the old woman's sight, among the trees, it being
almost dark. The old woman went away without her, and, as we suppose,
made an outcry among the people she came from; who, upon notice, raised
this great army upon us in three or four hours; and it was great odds
but we had been all destroyed.

One of our men was killed with a lance that was thrown at him, just at
the beginning of the attack, as he sallied out of the tent we had made;
the rest came off free, all but the fellow who was the occasion of all
the mischief, who paid dear enough for his black mistress, for we could
not hear what became of him a great while. We lay upon the shore two
days after, though the wind presented, and made signals for him; made
our boat sail up shore and down shore several leagues, but in vain; so
we were obliged to give him over; and if he alone had suffered for it,
the loss had been the less.

I could not satisfy myself, however, without venturing on shore once
more, to try if I could learn any thing of him or them. It was the third
night after the action that I had a great mind to learn, if I could by
any means, what mischief he had done, and how the game stood on the
Indian side. I was careful to do it in the dark, lest we should be
attacked again; but I ought indeed to have been sure that the men I went
with had been under my command before I engaged in a thing so hazardous
and mischievous, as I was brought into it without my knowledge
or desire.

We took twenty stout fellows with us as any in the ship, besides the
supercargo and myself; and we landed two hours before midnight, at the
same place where the Indians stood drawn up the evening before. I landed
here, because m