Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/407

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 167 what he said was understood. At length, one was brought forward who could speak English, and that so well as to leave little doubt in Bigelow s rnind about the stranger s being either an Englishman or an American. Communi cations between the parties were commenced through this interpreter. Bigelow was closely questioned touching the number of people in the different islands, the number of vessels they possessed, the present situation and employments of those vessels, the nature of their cargoes, the places where the property transported in the vessels was kept, and, in short, everything that bore directly on the wealth and movable possessions of the people. From the nature of these ques tions as well as from the appearance of the strangers, Bige low had, at once, taken up the notion that they were pirates. In the eastern seas, piracies were often commit ted on a large scale, and there was nothing violent in this supposition. The agitated state of the world, moreover, rendered piracies much more likely to go unpunished then than would be the case to-day, and it was well known that several vessels often cruised together, when engaged in these lawless pursuits, in those distant quarters of the world. Then the men were evidently of different races, though Bigelow was of opinion that most of them came from the East Indies, the coasts, or the islands. The offi cers were mostly Europeans by birth, or the descendants of Europeans ; but two-thirds of the people whom he saw were persons of eastern extraction ; some appeared to be Lascars, and others what sailors call Chinamen. Bigelow was very guarded in his answers; so much so, indeed, as to give great dissatisfaction to his interrogators. About the Peak he assumed an air of great mystery, and said none but birds could get on it; thunder was some- times heard coming out of its cliffs, but man could not get up to see what the place contained. This account was received with marked interest, and to Bigelow s surprise, it did not appear to awaken the distrust he had secretly apprehended it might. On the contrary, he was asked to repeat his account, and all who heard it, though a good deal embellished this time, appeared disposed to believe what he said. Encouraged by this success, the poor fel-