However, upon second thoughts, we were willing to delay it till the next night, because the caravan being to set forward in the morning, we supposed the governor could not pretend to give them any satisfaction upon us when we were out of his power.  The Scots merchant, as steady in his resolution to enterprise it as bold in executing, brought me a Tartar’s robe or gown of sheep-skins, and a bonnet, with a bow and arrows, and had provided the same for himself and his countryman, that the people, if they saw us, should not be able to determine who we were.

All the first night we spent in mixing up some combustible matter with aqua-vitae, gunpowder, and such other materials as we could get; and, having a good quantity of tar in a little pot, about an hour after night we set out upon our expedition.

We came to the place about eleven o’clock at night, and found that the people had not the least jealousy of danger attending their idol.  The night was cloudy; yet the moon gave us light enough to see that the idol stood just in the same posture and place that it did before.  The people seemed to be all at their rest; only, that in the great hut, or tent as we called it, where we saw the three priests, whom we mistook for butchers, we saw a light, and going up close to the door, we heard people talking, as if there were five or six of them; we concluded, therefore, that if we set wildfire to the idol, these men would come out immediately, and run up to the place to rescue it from the destruction that we intended for it; and what to do with them we knew not.  Once we thought of carrying it away, and setting fire to it at a distance, but when we came to handle it we found it too bulky for our carriage; so we were at a loss again.  The second Scotsman was for setting fire to the tent or hut, and knocking the creatures that were there on the head, when they came out; but I could not join with that; I was against killing them, if it was possible to be avoided.  “Well then,” said the Scots merchant, “I will tell you what we will do; we will try to make them prisoners, tie their hands, and make them stand and see their idol destroyed.”

As it happened, we had twine or packthread enough about us, which we used to tie our fire-works together with; so we resolved to attack these people first, and with as little noise as we could.  The first thing we did, we knocked at the door, when one of the priests coming to it, we immediately seized upon him, stopped his mouth, and tied his hands behind him, and led him to the idol, where we gagged him that he might not make a noise, tied his feet also together, and left him on the ground.