sea.  This, with the abhorrence of the inhuman errand these wretches came about, filled me with such indignation, that I came down again to Friday, and told him I was resolved to go down to them, and kill them all; and asked him if he would stand by me.  He had now got over his fright, and his spirits being a little raised with the dram I had given him, he was very cheerful, and told me, as before, he would die when I bid die.

In this fit of fury, I took and divided the arms which I had charged, as before, between us:  I gave Friday one pistol to stick in his girdle, and three guns upon his shoulder; and I took one pistol, and the other three guns, myself; and in this posture we marched out.  I took a small bottle of rum in my pocket, and gave Friday a large bag with more powder and bullets; and, as to orders, I charged him to keep close behind me, and not to stir, or shoot, or do any thing, till I bid him; and, in the mean time, not to speak a word.  In this posture, I fetched a compass to my right hand of near a mile, as well to get over the creek as to get into the wood, so that I might come within shot of them before I should be discovered, which I had seen, by my glass, it was easy to do.

While I was making this march, my former thoughts returning, I began to abate my resolution:  I do not mean that I entertained any fear of their number; for, as they were naked, unarmed wretches, it is certain I was superior to them; nay, though I had been alone.  But it occurred to my thoughts, what call, what occasion, much less what necessity I was in, to go and dip my hands in blood, to attack people who had neither done or intended me any wrong?  Who, as to me, were innocent, and whose barbarous customs were their own disaster; being, in them, a token indeed of God’s having left them, with the other nations of that part of the world, to such stupidity, and to such inhuman courses; but did not call me to take upon me to be a judge of their actions, much less an executioner of his justice; that, whenever he thought fit, he would take the cause into his own hands, and, by national vengeance, punish them, as a people, for national crimes; but that, in the mean time, it was none of my business; that, it was true, Friday might justify it, because he was a declared enemy, and in a state of war with those very particular people, and it was lawful for him to attack them; but I could not say the same with respect to myself.  These things were so warmly pressed upon my thoughts all the way as I went, that I resolved I would only go and place myself near them, that I might observe their barbarous feast, and that I would act then as God should direct; but that, unless something offered that was more a call to me than yet I knew of, I would not meddle with them.