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第6章 虚伪的虎炎

　　The women were easily made sensible of the meaning of the thing,and were very well satisfied with it, as, indeed, they had reasonto be: so they failed not to attend all together at my apartmentnext morning, where I brought out my clergyman; and though he hadnot on a minister's gown, after the manner of England, or the habitof a priest, after the manner of France, yet having a black vestsomething like a cassock, with a sash round it, he did not lookvery unlike a minister; and as for his language, I was hisinterpreter. But the seriousness of his behaviour to them, and thescruples he made of marrying the women, because they were notbaptized and professed Christians, gave them an exceeding reverencefor his person; and there was no need, after that, to inquirewhether he was a clergyman or not. Indeed, I was afraid hisscruples would have been carried so far as that he would not havemarried them at all; nay, notwithstanding all I was able to say tohim, he resisted me, though modestly, yet very steadily, and atl

　　WIFE. - Why you no tell me long ago?

ed with trampling andrunning through the fire; others their hands burned; one of thewomen had fallen down in the fire, and was very much burned beforeshe could get out again; and two or three of the men had cuts intheir backs and thighs, from our men pursuing; and another was shotthrough the body and died while I was there.

　　When the two poor frightened men had secured their wives and goods,they sent the other slave they had of the three who came with thewomen, and who was at their place by accident, away to theSpaniards with all speed, to give them the alarm, and desire speedyhelp, and, in the meantime, they took their arms and whatammunition they had, and retreated towards the place in the woodwhere their wives were sent; keeping at a distance, yet so thatthey might see, if possible, which way the savages took. They hadnot gone far but that from a rising ground they could see thelittle army of their enemies come on directly to their habitation,and, in a moment more, could see all their huts and household stuffflaming up together, to their great grief and mortification; forthis was a great loss to them, irretrievable, indeed, for sometime. They kept their station for a while, till they found thesavages, like wild beasts, spread themselves all over the place,rummaging every way, and every place they could think of, in searcho

　　My coming was a particular relief to these people, because wefurnished them with knives, scissors, spades, shovels, pick-axes,and all things of that kind which they could want. With the helpof those tools they were so very handy that they came at last tobuild up their huts or houses very handsomely, raddling or workingit up like basket-work all the way round. This piece of ingenuity,although it looked very odd, was an exceeding good fence, as wellagainst heat as against all sorts of vermin; and our men were sotaken with it that they got the Indians to come and do the like forthem; so that when I came to see the two Englishmen's colonies,they looked at a distance as if they all lived like bees in a hive.

　　The first thing, however, which I inquired into, that I might beginwhere I left off, was of their own part; and I desired the Spaniardwould give me a particular account of his voyage back to hiscountrymen with the boat, when I sent him to fetch them over. Hetold me there was little variety in that part, for nothingremarkable happened to them on the way, having had very calmweather and a smooth sea. As for his countrymen, it could not bedoubted, he said, but that they were overjoyed to see him (it seemshe was the principal man among them, the captain of the vessel theyhad been shipwrecked in having been dead some time): they were, hesaid, the more surprised to see him, because they knew that he wasfallen into the hands of the savages, who, they were satisfied,would devour him as they did all the rest of their prisoners; thatwhen he told them the story of his deliverance, and in what mannerhe was furnished for carrying them away, it was like a dream tothem, and their astonishment, he said, was somewhat lik

she will tell me it cannotbe true that this God I shall tell her of can be just, or canpunish or reward, since I am not punished and sent to the devil,that have been such a wicked creature as she knows I have been,even to her, and to everybody else; and that I should be sufferedto live, that have been always acting so contrary to what I musttell her is good, and to what I ought to have done." - "Why, truly,Atkins," said I, "I am afraid thou speakest too much truth;" andwith that I informed the clergyman of what Atkins had said, for hewas impatient to know. "Oh," said the priest, "tell him there isone thing will make him the best minister in the world to his wife,and that is repentance; for none teach repentance like truepenitents. He wants nothing but to repent, and then he will be somuch the better qualified to instruct his wife; he will then beable to tell her that there is not only a God, and that He is thejust rewarder of good and evil, but that He is a merciful Being,and with infinite goodness and long

　　I had nothing to do but to acquiesce, and make professions to himof my having no end in it but a sincere desire to serve him. Heembraced me very passionately, and assured me he was sensible ofthat, and should always acknowledge it; and with that he offered mea very fine present of sables - too much, indeed, for me to acceptfrom a man in his circumstances, and I would have avoided them, buthe would not be refused. The next morning I sent my servant to hislordship with a small present of tea, and two pieces of Chinadamask, and four little wedges of Japan gold, which did not allweigh above six ounces or thereabouts, but were far short of thevalue of his sables, which, when I came to England, I found worthnear two hundred pounds. He accepted the tea, and one piece of thedamask, and one of the pieces of gold, which had a fine stamp uponit, of the Japan coinage, which I found he took for the rarity ofit, but would not take any more: and he sent word by my servantthat he desired to speak with me.

　　W.A. - No, indeed, my sins are all presumptions upon His goodness;and He would be infinitely just if He destroyed me, as He has doneother men.