this?" said I: "are you sure it is true?"--"Yes," he said, "I met this
morning in the street an old acquaintance of mine, an Armenian, or one
you call a Grecian, who is among them; he came last from Astracan, and
was designing to go to Tonquin; where I formerly knew him, but has
altered his mind, and is now resolved to go back with the caravan to
Moscow, and so down the river of Wolga to Astracan."--"Well, Seignior,"
said I, "do not be uneasy about being left to go back alone; if this be
a method for my return to England, it shall be your fault if you go back
to Macao at all." We then went to consult together what was to be done,
and I asked my partner what he thought of the pilot's news, and whether
it would suit with his affairs: he told me he would do just as I would;
for he had settled all his affairs so well at Bengal, and left his
effects in such good hands, that as we made a good voyage here, if he
could vest it in China silks, wrought and raw, such as might be worth
the carriage, he would be content to go to England, and then make his
voyage back to Bengal by the Company's ships.

Having resolved upon this, we agreed, that, if our Portuguese pilot
would go with us, we would bear his charges to Moscow, or to England, if
he pleased; nor, indeed, were we to be esteemed over-generous in that
part neither, if we had not rewarded him farther; for the service he had
done us was really worth all that, and more; for he had not only been a
pilot to us at sea, but he had been also like a broker for us on shore;
and his procuring for us the Japan merchant was some hundreds of pounds
in our pockets. So we consulted together about it; and, being willing to
gratify him, which was, indeed, but doing him justice, and very willing
also to have him with us besides, for he was a most necessary man on all
occasions, we agreed to give him a quantity of coined gold, which, as I
compute it, came to about one hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling
between us, and to bear his charges, both for himself and horse, except
only a horse to carry his goods.

Having settled this among ourselves, we called him to let him know what
we had resolved: I told him, he had complained of our being like to let
him go back alone, and I was now to tell him we were resolved he should
not go back at all: that as we had resolved to go to Europe with the
caravan, we resolved also he should go with us, and that we called him
to know his mind. He shook his h