He tell me he no will: yes, I will satisfy
your hunger with plenty more of my fish and yams, and your thirst I
will quench with rum and palm wine. Eh! you thief man, you are no
good, English captain, no will!' He then stamped on the ground, and
gnashing at me with his teeth like a dog, he cursed me again and
again.
"It is true I did not feel perfectly easy at this severe rebuke, and
under such taunting reproaches; but I refrained from giving utterance
to a single thought till after he had concluded his abuse and
anathematizing. Had a spirited person been in my situation, he might
have knocked him down, and might have had his head taken off for his
pains, but as for me, all such kind of spirit is gone out of me
entirely. Besides we had, though unintentionally, deceived King Boy,
and I also bore in mind the kindness which he had done us, in
ransoming us from a state of slavery. Most of what he had asserted
was most unquestionably true, and in some measure, I was deserving
his severest reprehension and displeasure.
"The fury of Boy having been somewhat appeased by my silence and
submission, as well as by his own extraordinary and violent
agitation, I ventured mildly to assure him, on the strength of my
brother's letter, that his suspicions were entirely groundless, that
Mr. Lake had certainly a will or inclination to enter into
arrangements with him for the payment of his just demands, and that
when he should convey our people and myself to the Thomas, every
thing would be settled to his complete satisfaction.
