All this was untrue, as I knew full well, having aided him in such
work as a real clerk would have done, and had there been a plot,
I must have found some inkling of it in one of the many papers I
read aloud to him, or copied down on other sheets that the work of
the quill might be more pleasing to the eye.
Besides that, I had been with the captain a goodly portion of the
time while the ships were being made ready for the voyage, and if
he had harbored so much of wickedness, surely must some word of it
have come to me, who sat or stood near at hand, listening attentively
whenever he had speech with others of the company of adventurers.
CAPTAIN SMITH A PRISONER
When the voyage was begun, and the captain no longer had need of
me, I was sent into the forward part of the ship to live, as has
already been set down, and therefore it was I knew nothing of what
was being done in the great cabin, where the leaders of the company
were quartered, until after my master was made a prisoner. Then it
was told me by the seaman who had been called by Captain Kendall,
as if it was feared my master, being such a great soldier, might
strive to harm those who miscalled him a traitor to that which he
had sworn.
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