Therefore it was that when, on the next day after he was made a
prisoner, we were come to anchor off that island which the savages
called Gaudaloupe, and Nathaniel had been permitted to go on shore in
one of the boats, I could tell my master of the wondrous waters which
were found there.
Nathaniel told me that water spouted up out of the earth so hot, that
when Captain Newport threw into it a piece of pork tied to a rope, the
meat was cooked in half an hour, even as if it had been over a roaring
hot fire.
After that we passed many islands, the names of which I could not
discover, until we came to anchor within half a musket shot from the
shore of that land which is known as Nevis. Here we lay six days, and
the chief men of the company went on shore for sport and to hunt, save
always either Captain Martin or Captain Kendall, who remained on board
to watch the poor prisoner, while he, my master, lay in his narrow bed
sweltering under the great heat.
During all this while, the seamen and our gentlemen got much profit and
sport from hunting and fishing, adding in no small degree to our store
of food. Had Captain Smith not been kept from going on shore by the
wickedness of those who were jealous because of his great fame as a
soldier, I dare venture to say our stay at this island of Nevis would
have been far more to our advantage.
From this place we went to what Master Hunt told me were the Virgin
islands, and here the men went ashore again to hunt; but my master,
speaking no harsh words against those who were wronging him, lay in the
small, stinging hot room, unable to get for himself even a cup of water,
though I took good care he should not suffer from lack of kindly care.
Then on a certain day we sailed past that land which Captain Gosnold
told me was Porto Rico, and next morning came to anchor off the island
of Mona, where the seamen were sent ashore to get fresh water, for our
supply was running low.
Captain Newport, and many of the other gentlemen, went on shore to hunt,
and so great was the heat that Master Edward Brookes fell down dead,
one of the sailors telling Nathaniel that the poor man's fat was
melted until he could no longer live; but Captain Smith, who knows more
concerning such matters than all this company rolled into one, save I
might except Master Hunt, declared that the fat of a live person does
not melt, however great the heat. It is the sun shining too fiercely on
one's head that brings about death, and thus it was that Master Brookes
died.