y a little
further off, as it might be a couple of hours' sail, would serve us even
in better stead, and at least we resolved to explore it. So Lancelot and
Marjorie and I, with some thirty of our own men, resolved to cross over
in the shallop boat which had conveyed the first party to the island
while the weather was still fair, taking with us a great plenty of arms
and implements, canvas and abundance of provisions, as well as a
quantity of lights and fireworks, which we had saved from the ship, and
which Lancelot thought might be useful for many purposes. It was agreed
between us and the colonists that if we found the new island better than
the old we were to make great bonfires, the smoke of which could not
fail to be seen from the first island, or Early Island, as we came to
call it. This they should take as a signal to come with all speed to the
new camping-ground.

You must not think it strange that we set out upon this expedition
thoughtlessly and leaving the other folk unprotected. For, in the first
place, there were a goodly number of the colonists--as many in number as
the sailors; and, in the second place, the sailors were not so
well-armed as many of the colonists were, having nothing but their
knives and a few axes. Furthermore, as Cornelys Jensen was not among
them, and as it seemed most unlikely that the purpose, if purpose he
had, would hold with his fellows now that there was, as it were, no ship
to seize, we felt that there could be no danger to our companions in
leaving them while we went on our voyage of exploration. So you will
please to bear in mind how matters now stood. There was Captain
Marmaduke in the skiff, who had sailed away from us to seek succour for
us all. There was on the island with which we had first made
acquaintance the majority of our colonists--men, women and children,
together with the greater part of the sailors--under the authority of
Hatchett. There were, further, Lancelot and Marjorie and myself and our
thirty men, who had gone off in the shallop to explore the adjacent
islands in the hope of finding a better resting-place for our whole
party. As for Cornelys Jensen, I took him to be at the bottom of the
sea.

We had arranged that during our absence the administration of the colony
should be vested in a council, of whom the Reverend Mr. Ebrow was one
and Hatchett another, for, as the leading man among sailors, he could
not be overlooked, and I mistrusted him no more now t