The boat having passed by, I thought at first we should
have left the town. But no such matter. My lord con-
tinued his stay in Albany where he had no ostensible affairs,
and kept me by him, far from my due employment, and
making a pretense of occupation. It is upon this passage I
expect, and perhaps deserve, censure. I was not so dull but
what I had my own thoughts. I could not see the master
intrust himself into the hands of Harris, and not suspect
some underhand contrivance. Harris bore a villainous
reputation, and he had been tampered with in private by
my lord; Mountain, the trader, proved, upon inquiry, to be
another of the same kidney ; the errand they were all gone
upon being the recovery of ill-gotten treasures, offering in
itself a very strong incentive to foul play ; and the character
of the country where they journeyed promised impunity to
deeds of blood. Well, it is true I had all these thoughts and
fears, and guesses of the master's fate. But you are to con-
sider I was the same man that sought to dash hira from the
bulwarks of a ship in the mid-sea; the same that, a httle
before, very impiously but sincerely offered God a bargain,
seeking to hire God to be my bravo. It is true again that
I had a good deal melted toward our enemy. But this I
always thought of as a weakness of the ilesh and even
culpable; my mind remaining steady and quite bent against



234 U/orl^s of F^obert Couis Steuei^soQ

him. True yet again that it was one thing to assume on my
own shoulders the guilt and danger of a criminal attempt,
and another to stand by and see my lord imperil and be-
smirch himself. But this was the very ground of my inac-
tion. For (should I any way stir in the business) I might
fail indeed to save the master, but I could not miss to make
a by- word of my lord.
