At length we arrived at Pekin.I had nobody with me but the youth whom my nephew had given me to attend me as a servant and who proved very trusty and diligent; and my partner had nobody with him but one servant, who was a kinsman.As for the Portuguese pilot, he being desirous to see the court, we bore his charges for his company, and for our use of him as an interpreter, for he understood the language of the country, and spoke good French and a little English.Indeed, this old man was most useful to us everywhere; for we had not been above a week at Pekin, when he came laughing."Ah, Seignior Inglese," says he, "I have something to tell will make your heart glad." - "My heart glad," says I; "what can that be? I don't know anything in this country can either give me joy or grief to any great degree." - "Yes, yes," said the old man, in broken English, "make you glad, me sorry." - "Why," said I, "will it make you sorry?" - "Because," said he, "you have brought me here twenty-five days' journey, and will leave me to go back alone; and which way shall I get to my port afterwards, without a ship, without a horse, without PECUNE?" so he called money, being his broken Latin, of which he had abundance to make us merry with.
In short, he told us there was a great caravan of Muscovite and Polish merchants in the city, preparing to set out on their journey by land to Muscovy, within four or five weeks; and he was sure we would take the opportunity to go with them, and leave him behind, to go back alone.
I confess I was greatly surprised with this good news, and had scarce power to speak to him for some time; but at last I said to him, "How do you know this? are you sure it is true?" - "Yes," says he; "I met this morning in the street an old acquaintance of mine, an Armenian, who is among them.He came last from Astrakhan, and was designed to go to Tonquin, where I formerly knew him, but has altered his mind, and is now resolved to go with the caravan to Moscow, and so down the river Volga to Astrakhan." - "Well, Seignior," says I, "do not be uneasy about being left to go back alone; if this be a method for my return to England, it shall be your fault if you go back to Macao at all." We then went to consult together what was to be done; and I asked my partner what he thought of the pilot's news, and whether it would suit with his affairs? He told me he would do just as I would; for he had settled all his affairs so well at Bengal, and left his effects in such good hands, that as we had made a good voyage, if he could invest it in China silks, wrought and raw, he would be content to go to England, and then make a voyage back to Bengal by the Company's ships.
Having resolved upon this, we agreed that if our Portuguese pilot would go with us, we would bear his charges to Moscow, or to England, if he pleased; nor, indeed, were we to be esteemed over-
generous in that either, if we had not rewarded him further, the service he had done us being really worth more than that; for he had not only been a pilot to us at sea, but he had been like a broker for us on shore; and his procuring for us a Japan merchant was some hundreds of pounds in our pockets.So, being willing to gratify him, which was but doing him justice, and very willing also to have him with us besides, for he was a most necessary man on all occasions, we agreed to give him a quantity of coined gold, which, as I computed it, was worth one hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling, between us, and to bear all his charges, both for himself and horse, except only a horse to carry his goods.Having settled this between ourselves, we called him to let him know what we had resolved.I told him he had complained of our being willing to let him go back alone, and I was now about to tell him we designed he should not go back at all.That as we had resolved to go to Europe with the caravan, we were very willing he should go with us; and that we called him to know his mind.He shook his head and said it was a long journey, and that he had no PECUNE to carry him thither, or to subsist himself when he came there.We told him we believed it was so, and therefore we had resolved to do something for him that should let him see how sensible we were of the service he had done us, and also how agreeable he was to us: and then I told him what we had resolved to give him here, which he might lay out as we would do our own; and that as for his charges, if he would go with us we would set him safe on shore (life and casualties excepted), either in Muscovy or England, as he would choose, at our own charge, except only the carriage of his goods.He received the proposal like a man transported, and told us he would go with us over all the whole world; and so we all prepared for our journey.
However, as it was with us, so it was with the other merchants:
they had many things to do, and instead of being ready in five weeks, it was four months and some days before all things were got together.