ores I had received of him, then I sent for a notary,
and caused him to draw up a general release or discharge for the 470
moidores, which he had acknowledged he owed me in the fullest and
firmest manner possible; after which, I caused a procuration to be
drawn, impowering him to be my receiver of the annual profits of my
plantation, and appointing my partner to account to him, and make the
returns by the usual fleets to him in my name; and a clause in the end,
being a grant of 100 moidores a year to him, during his life, out of the
effects, and 50 moidores a year to his son after him, for his life: and
thus I requited my old man.

I was now to consider which way to steer my course next, and what to do
with the estate that Providence had thus put into my hands; and indeed I
had more care upon my head now, than I had in my silent state of life in
the island, where I wanted nothing but what I had, and had nothing but
what I wanted: whereas I had now a great charge upon me, and my business
was how to secure it. I had ne'er a cave now to hide my money in, or a
place where it might lie without lock or key, 'till it grew mouldy and
tarnished before any body would meddle with it: on the contrary, I knew
not where to put it, or who to trust with it. My old patron, the
captain, indeed was honest, and that was the only refuge I had.

In the next place, my interest in the Brasils seemed to summon me
thither, but now I could not tell, how to think of going thither, 'till
I had settled my affairs, and left my effects in some safe hands behind
me. At first I thought of my old friend the widow, who I knew was
honest, and would be just to me; but then she was in years, and but
poor, and for ought I knew, might be in debt; so that in a word, I had
no way but to go back to England my self, and take my effects with me.

It was some months however before I resolved upon this; and therefore,
as I had rewarded the old captain fully, and to his satisfaction, who
had been my former benefactor, so I began to think of my poor widow,
whose husband had been my first benefactor, and she, while it was in her
power, my faithful steward and instructor. So the first thing I did, I
got a merchant in Lisbon to write to his correspondent in London, not
only to pay a bill, but to go find her out, and carry her in money, an
hundred pounds from me, and to talk with her, and comfort her in her
poverty, by telling her she should, if I lived, have a further su