Whilst these dispositions were making, the first proposer, perceiving advantages from the circuitous voyage of the second which had escaped his observation, to make amends for his first omission, improved both on his own proposal and on that of the person who had improved on him. He therefore applied for leave to take two hundred and fifty chests on his own account, which he said could "be _readily disposed of_ at the several places where it was necessary for the ship to touch for wood and water, or intelligence, during her intended voyage through _the Eastern Islands_." As a corrective to this extraordinary request, he assured the board, that, if he should meet with any unexpected delay at these markets, he would send their cargo to its destination, having secured a _swift-sailing_ sloop for the _protection_ of his ship; and this sloop he proposed, in such a case, to leave behind. Such an extraordinary eagerness to deal in opium lets in another view of the merits of the alleged dulness of the market, on which this trade was undertaken for the Company's account. The Council, who had with great condescension and official facility consented to every demand hitherto made, were not reluctant with regard to this last. The quantity of opium required by the freighters, and the permission of a trading voyage, were granted without hesitation. The cargo having become far more valuable by this small infusion of private interest, the armament which was deemed sufficient to defend the Company's large share of the adventure was now discovered to be unequal to the protection of the whole. For the convoy of these two ships the Council hire and arm another. How they were armed, or whether in fact they were properly armed at all, does not appear. It is true that the Supreme Council proposed that these ships should also convey supplies to Madras; but this was a secondary consideration: their primary object was the adventure of opium. To this they were permanently attached, and were obliged to attend to its final destination.