They told me, like seamen, they would warrant it they would come off again, and they would take care, &c.  So away they went.  I entreated them to consider the ship and the voyage; that their lives were not their own; and that they were entrusted with the voyage in some measure; that if they miscarried, the ship might be lost for want of their help; and that they could not answer it to God and man.  I said a great deal more to them on that head, but I might as well have talked to the main-mast of the ship; they were mad upon their journey; only they gave me good words, and begged I would not be angry; said they would be very cautious, and they did not doubt but they would be back again in about an hour at farthest; for the Indian town, they said, was not above half a mile off; though they found it above two miles before they got to it.

Well, they all went away as above; and though the attempt was desperate, and such as none but madmen would have gone about, yet, to give them their due, they went about it warily as well as boldly.  They were gallantly armed, that is true; for they had every man a fusil or musket, a bayonet, and every man a pistol; some of them had broad cutlasses, some of them hangers, and the boatswain and two more had pole-axes; besides all which they had among them thirteen hand-grenadoes.  Bolder fellows, and better provided, never went about any wicked work in the world.

When they went out their chief design was plunder, and they were in mighty hopes of finding gold there; but a circumstance, which none of them were aware of, set them on fire with revenge, and made devils of them all.  When they came to the few Indian houses, which they thought had been the town, which were not above half a mile off, they were under a great disappointment; for there were not above twelve or thirteen houses; and where the town was, or how big, they knew not.  They consulted therefore what to do, and were some time before they could resolve; for if they fell upon these they must cut all their throats, and it was ten to one but some of them might escape, it being in the night, though the moon was up; and if one escaped he would run away, and raise all the town, so they should have a whole army upon them.  Again, on the other hand, if they went away, and left those untouched (for the people were all asleep), they could not tell which way to look for the town.

However, the last was the best advice; so they resolved to leave those houses, and look for the town as well as they could.  They went on a little way, and found a cow tied to a tree:  this they presently concluded would be a good guide to them; for they said the cow certainly belonged to the town before them or the town behind them, and if they untied her they should see which way she went:  if she went back they had nothing to say to her, but if she went forward they had nothing to do but to follow her; so they cut the cord, which was made of twisted flags, and the cow went on before them.  In a word, the cow led them directly to the town, which, as they reported, consisted of above two hundred houses or huts; and in some of these they found several families living together.