Immediately he went out of the cabin to give his orders, and they began working the ship, &c. But, through all this manœuvring, I saw very well that it was only a feint on their part to intimidate me and induce me to offer them two thousand piastres, which they had already demanded for my ransom. Nevertheless, as I had a great desire to free myself from their hands, although I did not let it appear outwardly, I took occasion to call Captain Potter and say to him, “that he need not be influenced by my views; that he could at any time send a boat to Cayenne to make the proposals which he judged proper, leaving it to Monsieur the Commandant to accept or reject them.” He followed this suggestion, and begged me myself to dictate the letter which he wished written; and this I did, as his secretary, following exactly what he caused me to say. I also, on my own account, wrote a few words to Monsieur d’Orvilliers and Father de Villeconte (our Superior-General), praying the first to stipulate in the articles of negotiation, if he had an opportunity, that they should return to me every thing in their possession belonging to my church; offering myself to pay as much silver in weight as would equal that of the silver vessels, and a certain sum on which we would agree for the furniture, ornaments, and linen. At the same time, I begged our Father, if this negotiation succeeded, to send me the silver and the necessary balance for the account, by the return of the boat, to the place where the exchange of prisoners was to be made,--that is to say, half-way between the ship and the land. All these letters being prepared, the boat was dispatched, and they sent in it, as the bearer of these letters, a sergeant who had been made prisoner at Oyapoc. He was ordered to use the utmost diligence; and, as he was an energetic man, we should have had a prompt reply, but the wind and the current were so contrary that they could not make the port of Cayenne. We were all exceedingly disappointed: the English, because they began to be in want of water and their ship drifted again considerably, having only, as I have said, one small anchor, which they were obliged to manage with a grappling-iron; and we Frenchmen, because we were very anxious to regain our liberty. It was necessary, however, to be patient and to resign ourselves to the will of God until He should cause some new way to be opened. At last, on Wednesday morning, having determined to ask the captain what course he had determined to pursue, I was agreeably surprised by hearing him say “that if I wished to go to Cayenne I was my own master, with the condition that I should cause to be sent back all the English who were prisoners there.” “That does not depend upon me,” I said to him; “but I will promise to make every effort with Monsieur the Commandant to obtain it.”