hed countrymen.

When I asked the now affable Marnoo why it was that he had not previously
spoken to me, he eagerly inquired what I had been led to think of him from
his conduct in that respect. I replied, that I had supposed him to be some
great chief or warrior, who had seen plenty of white men before, and did
not think it worth while to notice a poor sailor. At this declaration of
the exalted opinion I had formed of him, he appeared vastly gratified, and
gave me to understand that he had purposely behaved in that manner, in
order to increase my astonishment, as soon as he should see proper to
address me.

Marnoo now sought to learn my version of the story as to how I came to be
an inmate of the Typee valley. When I related to him the circumstances
under which Toby and I had entered it, he listened with evident interest;
but as soon as I alluded to the absence, yet unaccounted for, of my
comrade, he endeavoured to change the subject, as if it were something he
desired not to agitate. It seemed, indeed, as if everything connected with
Toby was destined to beget distrust and anxiety in my bosom.
Notwithstanding Marnoo's denial of any knowledge of his fate, I could not
avoid suspecting that he was deceiving me; and this suspicion revived
those frightful apprehensions with regard to my own fate, which, for a
short time past, had subsided in my breast.

Influenced by these feelings, I now felt a strong desire to avail myself
of the stranger's protection, and under his safeguard to return to
Nukuheva. But as soon as I hinted at this, he unhesitatingly pronounced it
to be entirely impracticable; assuring me that the Typees would never
consent to my leaving the valley. Although what he said merely confirmed
the impression which I had before entertained, still it increased my
anxiety to escape from a captivity, which, however endurable, nay,
delightful it might be in some respects, involved in its issues a fate
marked by the most frightful contingencies.

I could not conceal from my mind that Toby had been treated in the same
friendly manner as I had been, and yet all their kindness terminated with
his mysterious disappearance. Might not the same fate await me?--a fate too
dreadful to think of. Stimulated by these considerations, I urged anew my
request to Marnoo; but he only set forth in stronger colours the
impossibility of my escape, and repeated his previous declaration, that
the Typees would never be brought to consent