This Letter, Having Being Kept Till The 17th, Mentioned The
Safe Arrival Of Mr Fowler And The Rest Of My Company At Zenan.
The
general likewise informed me, that God had raised him a friend in the
midst of his enemies, being the Raha,[358] who is next in dignity to
the pacha.
This letter made me alter my purpose of stopping the India
ships, lest it might prove injurious to the general and his companions
in captivity, as also to our countrymen trading in the Mediterranean.
[Footnote 358: Probably a typographical error for Kaha, called Cahya
in the narrative of Sir Henry Middleton, and meaning the Kiahya. - E.]
The 7th February, the Trades-increase returned to me in the road of
Assab, Mr Thornton bringing me another letter from the general, desiring
me yet to forbear revenging our manifold wrongs, as he and his company
expected to begin their journey back to Mokha in five days. The 2d
March, a boat from Mokha brought me a letter from the general, stating
that his journey was delayed, and desiring me to forbear taking revenge.
The 5th, I sent the Darling over to Mokha, on which day our general and
his company arrived there. Mr Pemberton found in the road of Mokha a
great ship belonging to Dabul, called the Mahomet. The 11th, fearing
some accident had befallen the Darling, owing to her long absence, I set
sail with the other two ships, meaning to have gone over to Mokha; but
before I reached Crab island, we saw the Darling coming over, on which
we stood back to Assab. In the evening, Mr Pemberton came to me with
twenty-two of the betrayed people of the Trades-increase, and fourteen
of my people belonging to the Pepper-corn. He likewise brought me a
letter from the general, giving me assurance of his enlargement as soon
as the India ships were all arrived, and the wind came round to the
westwards.
The 18th, I stood over to Mokha in the Pepper-corn, and arrived there on
the 19th. Before I had anchored, I had a letter from the general,
giving me to understand that the presence of my ship alarmed the
Dabullians and displeased the aga, wherefore he wished me to go back to
Assab. I immediately sent George Jeff ashore with two letters, by one of
which I gave a brief account of our wants, and my opinion that the Turks
only fed him with false hopes to serve their own purposes. In the other,
written purposely that he might shew it to the aga, I stated, that so
long as he was detained a prisoner, he had no power to command us who
were free, and could not therefore keep us from the road of Mokha, or
from doing whatever we saw meet for ourselves. To these the general
wrote me the following answer:
Captain Downton, your overmuch care may work your own harms, and do me
and my company no good, and therefore take nothing to heart more than is
cause, for I have had and still have my full share.
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